Each flash from the gun revealed something new about the snake. All the numerous tails curving out of the ouro were bent over and pointing toward me when their rattles went off. Its forked tongue flicked in the air, missing my hands by only centimeters as a bullet embedded in its flesh. Black, beady eyes met mine in the next flash. There was no soul behind those eyes; there was nothing but insatiablehunger.
On the next flash, Corson leapt from theshadows.
Flash…. Corson clung to the monstrouscreature.
Flash…. His talons were buried straight through thesnake’shead.
Flash…. Pulling backward, Corson tore a line down the center oftheouro.
My stomach turned. My gun clicked as I continued to squeeze the trigger a few more times before registering that the weapon was empty. I shoved it back into my holster and pulled my knife free from where it hung on my hip. No matter what happened, I’d make the ouro regret swallowing me every inch of my way down its vastthroat.
I gripped the knife, holding it steady in preparation for an attack. I no longer experienced nervousness or doubt when it came to fighting. There was no room for either, and I’d taken on so many demons over the years that fighting was as normal to me as eating. Once, years ago, I’d questioned what that said about me and who I was becoming, but those questions had long sinceceased.
I barely remembered the girl I’d been before the gateway opened, and it often felt like she was an entirely different person. I knew she’d enjoyed apples and baking cakes, pies, and cookies. She’d loved dolls and dresses. Her favorite dress had been black with a fluffy skirt and red apples all over it. She’d twirled in it for her parents, who had laughed and clapped over herantics.
I wouldn’t be caught dead in a dress now, I had zero use for dolls, and the extent of my baking was sticking an animal on a spit to roast it. That girl wouldn’t have survived a week in the Wilds. I had survived fourteenyears.
I strained to hear anything over the incessant ringing in my ears. Something screeched against the rocks, Corson grunted again, and the creature released a hissing scream that caused my ear ringing to ratchet up a notch. I tried to follow the sounds of the fight while I hunted the ouro with my knife at theready.
Then something hit me with the weight of a door bashing against my whole body. Flung back, my breath exploded out of me when I smashed into a wall. Rocks and dirt fell around me; my teeth knocked together so violently I was certain they’d shattered, but I managed to keep myknife.
Revulsion swept me when one of the rattles on a smaller tail ran over my face. Another tail slithered up and down my arm while the tip of another ran over my outer thigh. I thrust my knife into the ouro. The blade caught in the thick snakeskin before giving way beneath the weight ofmybody.
The skin felt a foot thick, too thick for my blade to get too far into the ouro, but it had to have hurt the serpent as one of the tails started thumping the side of my face. A rattle beat on my head and another one hit my arm with enough force to bruisethebone.
“Son of a bitch!” I gasped and tore myknifefree.
I swung the knife at one of the tails and embedded it in the bottom of it. As I sawed back and forth, more rattles went off and beat me. I didn’t stop, not until I succeeded in severingthetail.
Hot liquid gushed over my face. I recoiled from the blood pumping forth as another tail bashed into my arm and the ouro thrashed to the side. I didn’t know if I was the one causing the ouro to writhe in pain, if it was Corson, or if it was a combination of the two of us. Either way, I wasn’t about to stop slicing itapart.
My palms slipped on the handle of the knife as I gripped it in both hands, lifted it over my head, and drove it down. The snake hissed, and another tail pummeledmyhead.
ChapterTwelve
Corson
My talons slid over the back of the ouro as I felt it throw its head up. Something crashed and I guessed the sound was that of the ouro driving its nose into the ceiling when debris rained down on me. Stones pelted my skin with so much force that some of them broke in half before tumbling away. I held onto the creature, refusing to let it flee from me again. It would only continue to stalk us if it escaped now, waiting for us to become too exhausted tofight.
The hoods on the sides of the ouroboros’s head opened with a swish before they battered back against my chest. Not being able to see the thing was infuriating, but I felt my way over it as I worked todestroyit.
Wren’s gun fired in brief flashes that revealed where she was as she dashed around the tunnel. The bullets hit the ouro with a thud; the creature hissed and lunged forward as I dug deeper into it. I sliced it from the top of its head, downitsneck.
Wren’s shots ceased. The ouro flung up the back half of its body, bashing it off the ceiling. My head bounced off the rocks above me, and a chunk of my hair tore out as the ouro tried to batter me off it. I ducked before the serpent could smash my brains out and slid totheside.
My talons sliced across the ouro’s neck and throat as I swung down. The ouro reared back; more debris fell when it rose again to attempt burrowing its way out of there. When it failed to knock me free, its head twisted in such a way that I knew it was trying to sink its poisonous fangsintome.
Wren groaned, and rock shattered. Renewed fury surged through me. I’d tear this thing apart piece by piece; I’d make it pay in the most excruciating ways possible for harming her. The scent of the ouro’s blood filled my nostrils, fueling mybloodlust.
I pulled my other hand back and drove my talons into its throat. The ouro released a choking sound that did nothing to ease my wrath over whatever it had done to Wren. As I worked to destroy the ouro, I strained to hear anything from Wren, but I didn’t perceive any soundsfromher.
She has to be alive; she hastobe!
I bared my teeth at the possibility she wasn’t and pulled my hand back again. I swung my fist forward to batter the ouro with my talons. I was determined to end this so I could get to her. Ihadto touch her again and know shewasokay.
I pummeled the ouro until I tore away enough flesh to maneuver into its throat and grasp its tongue. When I yanked the ouro’s tongue backward, the snake recoiled as I tore its tongue out and sliced it off. The ouro released a strange screaming hiss before its body exploded with movement and it reared upwardagain.
The deafening cacophony of rattles bounced off the tunnel walls. The ouro tried to thrash me off but only succeeded in raining down more rubble on us. I scrambled up the side of the snake, my talons digging through scales and corded muscle as I worked myself around its back and down to its throat. It continued to twist in attempt to sink its fangs into me or knock me off as it rose up, but it couldn’t shakemeoff.
