Chapter 0 - Melinda's Close Encounters


[ltr]The primitive camp was quiet within the vast jungle around the settlement. A dozen homes had been built by the survivors from wood, straw and leaves. Others lived in cloth tents reinforced with fur or surrounded by small stakes set around as a makeshift fence. Another sturdier wood fence bordered the camp with large stakes connected by wiring.[/ltr]

While most were asleep, a handful of settlers were on guard for the night. Two were gathered around a fire enjoying its warmth and laughing and talking about the day's events.

“And that's how I got the ox!” Roxanne boasted, having finished telling the tale of how she caught a large hairy ox by herself and tying its legs together so that the villagers could take it back for meat. The silver blond tomboy was always a braggart and proud of her ability as a hunter. “What do ya think Mel?”

“Not bad.” Melinda remarked curiously, happy but not as excited as Roxanne probably wanted. Whereas Roxanne was loud, proud and boastful, Melinda was curious, passionate though much calmer and introverted. Sometimes, she preferred keeping to her research than talking to others since she tended to bluntly say things that angered people. “A branch trap would've worked better though.”

Case in point, the green eyed silver blond grumbled and sat back down. “Fine...you go hunting next time...”

“I didn't mean you were bad at it or anything...” Melinda assured. “It's...it's just an idea for next time. That way you're in less danger.”

“Who cares about that?” Roxanne scoffed. “It's not like death means anything in this place anyway.”

“Yeah...” Melinda agreed, still not happy with the idea of how the cycle of life happened upon the ARK. One would think that being practically immortal would be great as you could just live forever through ever recycling bodies that gain your memories. But it still felt wrong to Melinda, something was unnatural about it and she never quite got used to it despite choosing to make the best of it.

Then again, the ARK was not really natural at all. The large island was more of a self-contained superstructure where the people sent here were part of an ongoing experiment. One where the people would survive, live, build and fight in interaction with various creatures and animals. Neither Melinda nor Roxanne knew how long ARK had been housing people or anyone had actually managed to tame one of the beasts that inhabited the island.

“I mean...that doesn't mean I don't care about you...” Roxanne assured Mel, trying to cheer her up as the boastful girl blushed. “I mean...I care enough to like you and keep you alive. And I like myself! Yeah! I don't like dying so...okay I'll shut up now...”

“Don't. I like hearing you say those things.” Mel complimented her blushing and embarrassed friend. “It's inspiring to hear you say that...like...it's important to keep going even with death always around the corner. Life still means something even if we'll all die eventually...in this place...multiple times perhaps-”

“What's that?” Roxanne pointed to the sketch of the serpent Melinda was working on, hoping to change the subject to something less morbid. “A snake?”

“Yeah...” Melinda answered. “I...I got a very close and personal encounter with it.”

“Close encounter?” Roxanne said out loud puzzled. “What kind of snake is that supposed to be? A python?”

“Much bigger.” Melinda explained and held up the nearly completed sketch. “I call it a Gigantaconda...a large 34 foot snake that's a bigger cousin to the large constrictor snakes of the Amazon.”

“You mean the anacondas? Roxanne didn't bother memorizing the types of snakes. Snakes in general crept her out, she didn't care enough to know the difference between each one.

“Yes.” Melinda replied. “They catch their prey to coil and squeeze them into submission and then the prey is swallowed whole. Normally, constrictors squeeze their prey to death through increased blood pressure, suffocation or inducing heart failure, but they are known to swallow prey alive sometimes. Some say that the name Gigantanconda is pointless...since some anacondas are reported to weigh in at 40 feet long. And that's small compared to the Titanoboa which was-”

“Hey! Hey! I don't need a lecture! I'll ask about those other snakes later!” Roxanne said waving around her hands to keep Melinda from getting carried away again. Roxanne actually thought that Melinda looked cute during her mutterstorms or when she went off tangent. But Roxanne had to keep up appearances and wanted to  know more about this giant snake that Melinda was drawing about. “What do you mean by close encounter?”

“Two actually.” Melinda clarified, her smile disappearing and her face getting contemplative. “The first time actually happened after I woke up in this place...”

Some Time ago...

Melinda woke up to the sound of rushing water, her sight spotting a river right next to her. She sat herself up and rubbed the sand out of her eyes, taking in her dense lively surroundings. The young woman slowly got to her feet, both scared and amazed by the thick jungle that surrounded her. The sun was right overhead and if Mel could recall, the sun's direction put the time at just upon noon.

“Where am I?” Mel asked as she treked through the rainforest searching for other people or food. She was naked as the day that she was born, her lovely body would be a sight of envy or desire if anyone could look at her. Yet, Melinda was not just a pretty young woman, her body was toned with muscle that belied greater strength than one would expect. 

Looking around, Melinda caught her reflection a small pond. The girl blushed and immediately covered her chest, an embarrassed blush reddening her face. “This isn't good.” After all, not only did Melinda not know where she was, she knew that walking around naked was not safe. Exposure to the elements could kill someone and leave her vulnerable to sickness or a faster possibility of dehydration. Furthermore, some pervert might be nearby who would try to attack her and do bad things to a naked pretty girl.

Melinda wasn't the most savvy of survivalists, but she managed to cobble together some clothes from large leaves, tall grass and some discarded cloth. She was able to string together a crude and loose loincloth to cover her crotch and a tube top to cover most of her breasts. Her bust still jiggled and it had noticiable cleavage, but Melinda would have to live with it for now.

“I can always get more clothes later.” Mel assured herself and continued her journey through the forest. There were no signs or markers to identify where she was, no way of using the sun's direction to have an idea. Confused and concerned, Mel tried to keep herself calm as she walked through the dense jungle. Occasionally, a small primate or bird would peer down on her from the treetops, curious about the new hairless creature walking through their home.

“Is anyone else here?” Melinda wondered, hoping to find someone else in this strange place that she had woken up in. It would appear to be a paradise untouched by the avarice of men, but something did not feel right about this place. Another problem was that even if there were other people here, Melinda did not know where to look and could not find any foot prints, leftover camp materials or anything to mark that another survivor was in her vicinity. “Even if I do find someone...how do I know that they'll be friendly?”

Hours passed and Mel's stomach started to growl. “I need something edible.” Melinda had passed several clusters of berries, but she had read too much to know that those berries were poisonous. They wouldn't have killed her, but they would have made her sick and weakened. She had yet to meet any of the truly dangerous predators of the island, but Melinda knew that she had to stay in shape and keep on her toes.

“I could eat a bunny right now...” Melinda muttered, keeping in shape would be impossible if she didn't have any food. She could feel her mind get drowsy as her hunger was opening the way to fatigue. Her body needed something to provide her nourishment or she would get weaker as the hours went by. “If I don't find anything edible, I'll settle for the berries...it shouldn't be too bad right?”

Just then, Melinda spotted something that made her jump with cheer. “Bananas!” She had managed to find a single large banana tree filled with clusters of the delicious and nutritious fruits hanging from the branches. Sure, the branches were fairly high up and Melinda would have to climb up to get them, but she was too happy to have found food to actually care.

“Maybe I can make one fall down.” Mel quickly stopped that thought with a shake of her head. “That would squash the fruit...it's better to just climb up...so get to it.” Melinda sighed and walked up to the tree trunk, testing its bark to determine its sturdiness and whether it was safe to climb. Satisfied, Melinda started to climb the tree and thankfully the bark was conveniently easy to grab and grip onto as she scaled up the tree.

However, the canopy of the tree hid another denizen who had already climbed to top and made the banana tree its home. A massive serpent at least 34 feet long was stirred from its nap by something slightly shaking the tree. The black eyed snake raised up its head and flicked out its tongue, picking up the scent of what could be live prey. Better, the prey was climbing up the tree and was a few branches down from where the snake's long dark green scaled body was looped around the upper branches.

“Almost there...” Melinda could see a cluster of bananas just a bit out of reach. She only needed to climb up a little further and she could grab a single banana. One banana for now would be enough for a  snack for her grumbling stomach. “A bit more and its supper time-”

Melinda screamed when something sharp latched onto her shoulder and she lost her grip on the tree. But instead of falling to the ground, a rapidly spinning cyclone of scaled bulky loops entangled around her. Melinda's screams quieted into pained moans, her body body now wrapped by the strong coils of a dark green snake whose inward curved teeth dug into her shoulder drawing blood.

“It's squeezing me...” Mel muttered as she felt the pressure on her body build and heighten. Everything below her chest was entombed in large scaled loops that rhythemically squeezed her with each labored breath. Her modest breast was caught between two coils, pressed between them and forced bulge from the snake's strength. 

“Oh great...” Mel felt a coil wrap around her neck as the squeezing just increased more and more. The snake released its fangs and looked right into its captured prey's eyes. The big snake did not care for Melinda's tears or the drool escaping her clenched mouth, it only cared that it had caught a delicious morsel to fill itself. It had been a long time since it had caught a worthwhile meal, this human girl would satiate the snake's hunger for weeks.

“Damn...need...to...” The snake's pressure alleviated somewhat as its body hauled her higher into the treetop. Mel had just enough enough room to breath, but still could not escape the crushing clamping tomb of coils that had caught her. It was only her first day and the young woman was already helpless and about to be a giant snake's supper.

“No...no...please...no...” Mel wished that the snake had just crushed her to death like normal snakes did to their prey. The firm strength of the snake's loops pressed and wrapped around her slender body, her heart was beating like a drum. The snake only let her breath the bare minimum to stay alive and awake, deeper breaths were impossible with her rib cage being pushed against her lungs. 

Then the snake's head aimed itself above her scalp and its jaws yawned open. “This is it...” Mel just sobbed as the snake's mouth pressed onto the top of her dark brown hair and began to slide down over her head. She barely managed one last look at the sky and trees before her vision turned dark pink as her face was ingested. Mel felt her chin get suck into the snake's expanding flexible mouth as her head and neck settled inside of the snake's throat.

Suspended in midair, the coils only gradually recided from Mel's body while the snake suppered on its catch. Mel felt the snake's jaws stretch over her shoulders and glide down to her bosom. Saliva trickled under her top to tickle over her breasts as the snake gulped down her modest bust. Her arms were stuck to the sides, the snake swallowing her toned belly and moving to her hips. The last of the snake's body released her legs, the snake's grip on the girl allowing it to hold her up by its own strength as it swallowed her.

“Is this how it ends?” Melinda asked, feeling the snake pull back its head and consume her luscious legs in big vigorous gulps. As her knees were ingested, Melinda felt the snake's insides press and rub against her body, the air inside was humid and foul while her skin was sprayed with disgusting smelling liquids. “I thought I would be more afraid...”

The snake sucked in Melinda's feet and closed its mouth, manuevering up its head and front end to help swallow the consumed girl further into its depths. The snake's body confirmed to Mel's shape as she was moved, swelling the muscular scaled bulk to the opaque shape of a human woman. The snake lifted itself up into the tree back to its nest, wanting to settle in and digest this young woman in peace.

“So hot...harder...to breath...” Within the snake's wet and damp bowels, Melinda was trapped in a tight fleshy tube. There was barely any room to even move, she could only wriggle and writhe vainly as the snake's skeleton and muscle was compacted around its insides. The air inside was getting thinner and thinner, she felt herself starting to gasp and her section of the snake's stomach was starting to flood with that disgusting liquid from before.

Even if this was the circle of life, Melinda still screamed out. “No! Not like this! Please! Please-” Her moment of panic robbed her of what little air that she had. She gasped and spat out liquids as her consciousness swiftly faded to blackness and she felt all of her pain and panic fade away into darkness too.

“Ah!” Wide eyed and breathing deeply and loudly, Melinda jolted upright to see that she was next to a rock covered in green overgrowth. Mel looked around and saw that she was back in the jungle, only it was in a different place. She looked at the sky and saw that it was in the afternoon now and looked over herself to see that she was naked again.

“Was it a dream?” The girl frantically and tearfully asked, looking down at her trembling hands. “What is happening?”

Present Day...

“That was the first time.” Melinda finished and was puzzled by Roxanne's stunned expression. “What? I told you that I'd died before.”

“Yeah! But...how can you be so...” Roxanne couldn't believe how serene, detailed and neutral Melinda had been while telling the story of her death. “How can you be so blunt about your own death?”

“Death smiles to us all. All we can do is smile back.” Mel said with a smile, quoting a phrase from an old book called “Meditations”. “Besides, what's the use of being angry or holding a grudge against an animal? It's just doing what it must to survive.”

“Sure...but...” Roxanne yelled in frustrated exasperation. “Even if you just respawn like a game, you still got strangled and eaten alive by a giant snake!”

“Yeah. Then I came back in a cloned body.” Mel said with a content smile. The two of them never did come to an agreement on if they were just respawning after their “deaths” or if they were reborn in clone bodies. “After all, we still need to eat, rest and take care of ourselves. Quite the involved mechanic if it is just a game right?”

“You might be right...but you act like you don't care about yourself.” Roxanne commented, throwing another log into the fire. “Respawning, clones or no clones, you're still a person. In fact, you're a great person...a pretty one too...”

“Oh...thank you...” Roxanne sighed in both relief and exasperation when Melinda failed to notice the last few words. For a really smart woman, Melinda could be very dense sometimes. “To be honest, I was a mental wreck after I woke up. I focused on various tasks to keep myself busy, but I did have nightmares about the snake...sketching it out and writing up a profile..giving it a name...it helped me work through my fear and...whatever else happened to me.”

“Well...I'll be here to save you if you see that snake again.” Roxanne assured as Melinda pulled her knees to her chest. “Wait...don't tell me that it ate you again?!”

“No...” Mel and Roxanne glanced at Mel's sketch once more. “The second close encounter...I watched...I watched it get someone else...”

In the Past...

“That's five!” Melinda picked up another dead hare and stuffed it into her bag with the other coneys. Two hares and three rabbits were caught by her snare traps, the best catch of the week so far. The bunnies meat would not be ideal for food due to their low fat content. But they would suffice for her situation while their fur would be very helpful once the bunnies were skinned and their hides prepared.

Melinda wasn't sure about what had drawn out so many rabbits and hares recently. Perhaps it was mating season or they were migrating to new homes. All Mel knew was that this was a great chance to set up traps to capture some of the bunnies. She had been lucky if she managed to catch one or two of the nimble creatures. Capturing five in one day was a sign of luck or that she was getting better at hunting the small creatures.

She went back to her small campsite by a stream and got to work with preparing her catches. Skinning, de-boning, cleaning and cooking the meat over a small fire with some leaves, edible berries, and bananas to supplement to her supper. Half of an hour later, Melinda was wrapping the bunny meat in tree leaves and took a bite of her coney wrap.

“So terrible...” Thirty seconds later, Melinda was spitting out bits of rabbit into the stream and coughing from the taste. Perhaps it was the lack of seasoning, one of the bunnies may have been sick or one of them had a bad liver. But Melinda would have to work on her cooking ability before incorporating meat into her survival diet. “So terrible...”

Splashing her hands in the stream, she started to wash out her mouth as she heard a scream followed by louder splashes coming from the river. “What was that?” Curious and concerned, Melinda followed the stream towards the screaming as it was abruptly hushed. She dreaded what she would see, this was not the first time that she had found another human only to see them get devoured by one of the many dangers upon this island.

If one were to look in the right place, they would see that this nameless jungle is filled with bountiful fruit and food. However, the thick foilage also hid a myriad of wild and dangerous creatures who could turn an unwary human into food themselves. In fact, even some of the plants were carnivorous as Mel had seen the stems of large flower-like plants engorged with struggling prey that they had devoured alive.

“I shouldn't be doing this.” Mel's eyes darted right and left, searching for anything that could jump out and ambush her. Mel had tried to be careful, but she still cursed her lack of a weapon. Especially once she came upon the source of the screaming.

“Another snake.” Mel froze in quiet panic, seeing the same kind of snake that had eaten her once before. The 34 foot long snake was lounging upon the shallow river bank, its body soaking in the water while its head stuck out from the surface. Mel realized that part of the snake's body was wrapped around someone who was struggling and squirming on the river bank.

“Another survivor...” The gigantaconda had caught an olive skinned girl with fearful hazelnut eyes, and black hair. Her wrapped slender body was garbed in a light gray and brown tied skirt and off-shoulder top made of fur and hide which strained to hold her huge bosom. The girl was well constricted in the relaxed snake's scaled loops, its long bulked body having her contained as it rhythmically squeezed upon the gasping girl. Everything above her hips was bundled under the snake's loops with her bulging big breasts being squeezed between two coils and another wrapped around the girl's neck.

“What is it waiting for?” Melinda could easily guess as to what had happened here. The girl was a forager trying to fish for food or collect river algae. The snake laid in wait within the water and then attacked her, coiling around her and was now keeping her secure. However, Mel was shocked to see that the girl was still breathing despite the snake's heavy pressure and strength.

“Just like with me...” Mel could not say that this was the same snake that had devoured her. This gigantaconda could be another sibling or even a rival in its own territory. But Mel was morbidly interested in why exactly some large predators like the giant snake ate their prey alive. Mel could even swear that the snake was toying with its prey, tormenting the girl and letting her squirm and scream while trapped helplessly in its hold.

“Poor girl...” Mel did not know who this victim was, but she did feel somewhat compelled to help her. However, Melinda knew that she had no weapons or any ability to free the girl from this giant snake. In  fact, trying to help this stranger would only get herself killed if the snake decided to ensnare and devour them both. While Mel knew that she would be revived in a clone body, she also wasn't going to throw her life away.

For all she knew, that clone system could shut down at any time.

“Help!” the young woman screamed out from within the snake's crushing coils. “Somebody help!” She gasped as the snake increased the pressure upon her, its coils winding upon her body, wrapping her up more tightly to make her unable to breath. The pressure loosened marginally enough to let the girl inhale and exhale, but not by much to give the snake's victim much comfort.

“How can I just watch this?” Mel asked herself, watching as a stranger was constricted by a snake more than six times her size. The slender young woman was pulled partially into the water, her face was submerged in the water making Mel wonder if the snake was trying to drown her. However, the snake's body adjusted itself to turn her around and lift up her upper body, allowing the girl to inhale and cough out water. “It is keeping her alive...”

“Just...just like...” Mel was starting to see flashes of her first demise as the snake moved its head over the girl's head. The girl was too constrained to speak, but Mel could see her muttering wordless pleas for her life as the snake's opening mouth slobbered onto her face. The girl kept struggling in vain against the vice grip upon her body, desperately trying and failing to move away from the snake's approaching open jaws.

“Do they always start from the head?” Mel asked the snake's mouth gripped over the top of the girl's head. Her eyes grew wider with wordless terror and another scream escaped her lips before the snake squeezed her again to quiet her. The girl kept trying to scream, the snake's mouth sliding over her desperate face and forcing the girl to clench her hazelnut eyes shut. The girl managed to scream out again before her lips disappeared within the snake's jaws as it soon closed its mouth around her head. “How did I look...what kind of face did I make when the snake got me?”

Melinda still heard muffled screams coming from the snake's mouth as it glided down over the girl's shoulders, the snakes coils gradually lowering off of the girl now that she was being consumed. The gigantaconda moved its jaws down towards her ample chest and slowed itself. When the coils withdrew, one of the girl's massive breasts had spilled out of her torn top, giving the snake's forked tongue an easy target to lick and taste. The girl's large soft bosom was a challenge for the snake, forcing it to inch over the huge mounds of fat and gnaw them down its throat. 

“Does she feel it like I did?” Seeing the snake rub and ingest the girl's jiggling breasts made Melinda feel the sensation of small teeth bite into her own breasts. She closed an arm over her chest, shaking as she remembered how hot and disgusted she felt when her nipples hardened from scraping over the snake's insides. The bare breast softly bounced as the snake gripped upon the girl's upper body and its nipple was indeed erect and hardened from constant rubbing. 

The snake managed to squeeze over the large DD cup breasts and stuffed them down its stretching throat. As the snake slid down over the girl's arms and torso, Mel could see the snake's throat bulge from the girl's upper body, giving an opaque mold which was gradually incorporating her slender torso and prominent hips. More and more slobber as pouring out of the snake's mouth, showing that it was enjoying its meal despite having no expressions.

“Did the snake enjoy my body?” Mel wondered as the snake lifted up its head, the girl's legs spreading as they dangled out and began to wildly kick. The snake took in the girl's legs in slow, but big long gulps, using gravity to help it finish its meal. Her thighs did not take long to be consumed by the snake's maw and then her knees, shins and calves followed shortly afterwards. She heard muffled screams and moans from within the snake's feminine shaped bulge and light movement from within the bloated snake. “She's still alive...how long was I alive...”

The snake closed its mouth over the girl's feet and swallowed, sending the girl down its winding long body towards its awaiting stomach. The girl was still crying and moving all while she was moved through the snake's form, stretching and bulging its scales. Mel swore that she could see the look of panic and despair on the girl through the snake's skin. “How long was I afraid...when did I give up and...accept it?”

“Why didn't I help her?” The girl was still moaning and crying within her new tomb as the snake slid back into the river and began to swim to its den. Melinda stood there shaking, briefly seeing herself caught in a velvety wrapping before she shook her head and hastily returned to her camp. 

“I just watched someone...” A part of her was horrified by what she saw, but another part was glad that it wasn't her being eaten this time. But it was worse to watch the gigantaconda eat someone else rather than being the one eaten. 

“You can't save her now...” Melinda admonished herself with tears glistening in her eyes. “You have to survive. You can't help anyone if you...guilt yourself into an early grave...live Mel...live...”

Present Day...

“After that, I made my first spear as soon as possible.” Mel finished, Roxanne was less shocked or surprised this time when Mel's story ended. “I haven't had any bad run-ins with the Gigantaconda since then. But I won't push my luck.”

“Maybe they found something bigger than you.” Roxanne quipped, earning a giggle from Mel. “There's always a bigger fish after all.”

“Maybe...I never did see that girl again though...” Melinda commented, looking at the fire sadly. “Maybe she revived somewhere else and we haven't seen her yet. Or maybe she was killed in another way...or she didn't come back...”

“Cheer up, you don't know that so don't overthink yourself to death.” Roxanne smacked Mel on her side. “Maybe it was her first death and she's gotten good at not getting hunted ever since! She may be almost as good of a hunter as me!”

“Speaking of first deaths...what was it like for you?” Mel suddenly asked, taking Roxanne off guard. “You said you had died before...what happened before your first respawn?”

Roxanne just sat back and proudly crossed her arms over her small chest. “I'll have you know that I didn't die easily!”

“Just tell the story.” Mel blunted, cheerfully batting down Roxanne's boastful pride. “You don't have to be ashamed of anything. It couldn't have been as bad as my first time right?”

Roxanne smiled, but Mel could see that it was not a happy reaction. “You'd be surprised...”

