The Snake Among the Flowers

 Dr. Keneth O'Shaughnessy and his four grad students Jacqueline, Blake, Denise, and Aaron, had been trudging through the thick jungles of the Amazon rain forest for nearly a week. It had not been easy, but the prize they were after would be payoff enough. More than enough as far as Dr. O'Shaughnessy was concerned. For more than twenty years, he had studied, researched, and explored in search of his prize. Not a lost city of gold, as some of his peers liked to say to poke fun at him. They thought it was a ridiculous endeavor. He might as well be looking for El Dorado as far as they were concerned. What a bunch of fools. He knew it existed. His research all but confirmed it. They would never understand until he brought the flower back. He'd had it already once before, that precious white-petaled flower. But his sample had decayed before he got back to the world. He'd been in too much of a hurry last time, hadn't taken the proper precautions. But not this time. This time he was completely prepared. That's why they were here, he and his illustrious students. He had hand-picked them himself for this incursion into the wild. Although they were young, they were nearly complete with the doctorates in their fields and were excellent students. Jacqueline was a chemistry major. Blake's degree would be in Botany. Dr. O, as they liked to call him, or 'Doc,' held a particular fondness for those two, as their degrees were the same as his. But where they had one each, he had both chemistry and botany. It is, of course, what made him superior to them he knew. Denise and Aaron both majored in Microbiology, a pivotal aspect to the Doc's work. Now they were only about a day away from what The Doc called "the Oasis." The place the flower grew. I'll have to name it, he thought to himself. After himself, of course, nothing else but complete recognition would do. After all, it would change the face of modern medicine forever. That fool Fleming hadn't even named penicillin after himself. Dr. O would not make that mistake, he wanted that recognition, and quite frankly, he thought he deserved it. Why shouldn't I name it after myself? I discovered it. 

"Hey, Doc, get a move on, or we are gonna leave you behind!" Blake yelled over his shoulder. Dr. O looked up. While he had been daydreaming, he had started to fall behind the group.

"And reach the flower without me?" laughed Dr. O. "Not on your life!" He hurried to catch up with them. "We are only about a day away, so keep on your toes." 

"Ya ya, Doc, we got our eyes peeled for the snakes, red capet and eveything ready for it when we find 'em," said Aaron in his thick Brooklyn accent. 

"It's vital that we have a few samples," said Doc. "Normally, the fer-de-lance doesn't live this far south, but they seem to be drawn to this area. I believe it is because of the presence of the flowers. My data shows that the venom should activate the flower's abilities and that there is some kind of symbiosis between the two, although I'm still not sure what the snake gets out of it."

"Well, that's what the data says," replied Jacqueline, in her 'London Tongue' as Aaron liked to put it. "But we still haven't confirmed it."

"Always the skeptic," said Denise, rolling her eyes. "You've got to have more faith in the Doc."

"I do have faith," Said Jacqueline. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be here. But I'm skeptical nonetheless of things that haven't been tested."

"Don't you worry," said Doc. "You'll see. Once we have the flowers, I'll show you just exactly what they can do." 

The party continued onward through the thick jungle. Although Doc was in the back of the little caravan, he would continue to point the group in the right direction, telling them when they strayed off course. He knew how to get to the flowers. How could he forget? What path in all of history had been more important than this one? 

"This seems like a good place to make camp, I should think," said Doc. They had reached a clearing next to a small stream. They set up camp and began eating their dinners, which were military-style rations. They'd brought enough with them to last for weeks, as they had no way of knowing how long confirming the flower's abilities would take. 

"Whaddya think ya gonna spend ya money on first?" Aaron asked Blake.

"Probably grammar lessons for you," Blake laughed. It had been a long-standing joke between the two. Aaron's Brooklyn accent was often the target of jokes from Blake. Aaron didn't mind, he liked Blake, and although he sometimes thought Blake's sense of humor was dry, Blake usually managed to wrangle a smile out of the jokester. 

"oh ho, sorry, Mr. Blake, I suppose ya gotta be born with that silva spoon in ya mouth in order to talk good," Aaron mused.

"No, not that, you just have to be born with a tongue that does not waggle about all day trying to catch every word rattling around in that empty skull of yours."

"That so? Well, explain me this smat guy. If my skull's empty, how come theirs so many words' rattling around' in ther'?." Denise burst out laughing at that one. She loved hearing those two go on. Although Blake was probably the smarter of the two of them book-wise, Arron had a quicker tongue. 

"You guys are ridiculous," sighed Jacqueline, rolling her eyes. Although she acted annoyed, the slight smile on her face told a different story. 

"Oh fo'give me ya royal highness, I did not mean to offend thyself or thy husband." For that comment, Aaron was met with a plastic plate to the face. "aw geez, I was only jokin'," he said, rubbing his nose. Although it wasn't anything too serious yet, Blake and Jacqueline had started getting closer on this journey, and Aaron would often joke about it, much to the annoyance of Jacqueline. 

"Alright, campers," said Doc. "Let's not kill Aaron before we get to the flowers. The Sun is nearly down, and we should get some good rest. I want to start early tomorrow." With that, everyone started cleaning up the camp area and getting ready for bed. They slept through the night, with the sounds of the jungle soothing them to sleep. They woke up the next day just as the Sun started to rise. Because of the thick jungle, it was still quite dim where they were. It wouldn't grow truly light for them for another 2 hours or so. In the dim light, they started to pack up camp. Had they waited a little longer, or had the jungle been less thick in the area around the clearing, and they had had more light, it's possible that Blake would have seen the snake. As the group packed their things in silence, a yell rang out through the clearing.

"SHIT!" Blake cried. "What the fuck, God damn it!" Blake fell back from his tent, clutching his hand. 

"Hey, what the hell happened?" asked Aaron, rushing to Blake's side. As he kneeled next to Blake, he caught movement a few feet away. As he looked, he saw a snake starting to slither away. "Oh shit, man, did that snake bite ya?!"

"Ya, it got me while I was rolling up my tent."

"Let me take a look," said Doc, as he and the rest of the group hurried over to Blake and Aaron.

"Professor, that's a fer-de-lance," said Denise. 

"I'll get the anti-venom," said Jacqueline, rushing over to the medical bag.

"Don't worry, Blake, you'll be fine," assured Doc, smiling down at him. "This is precisely why we brought so much anti-venom with us, just in case there was some kind of accident like this. A few hours, and you'll be right as rain."

"Here you go, Mr. O'Shaugnessy," said Jacqueline handing him a syringe of the anti-venom. He took it from her and injected it into Blake's arm.

"Aaron, would you please help Denise capture that subject while Jacqueline and I attend to Blake here?"

"Ya sure, no problem, Doc," said Aaron. Suddenly Blake started to scream.

"It feels like my arm is on fire!" he yelled. 

"That's not possible," scoffed Doc. "You should be fine. We already tested all of you to make sure none of you were allergic to the anti-venom."

"Mr. O'Shaugnessy, look at his arm!" cried Jacqueline. Doc looked down at the arm. It was turning black at the bite site. Even as he looked at it, the blackness was moving up Blake's arm in thin tendrils. 

"What? What is this?" asked Doc. "Fer-de-lance venom does not affect you like this, and certainly not so quickly. Blake should have a few hours before any severe symptoms show up. I don't understand." As Doc contemplated what was happening, Blake suddenly passed out, slumping to the ground. 

"Blake! Blake!" yelled Jacqueline. "Hey, wake up! Mr. O'Shaugnessy, he's not breathing! Please do something!" Doc started CPR While the others watched, each of them trading off once someone got tired. They did CPR for nearly 40 minutes, but Blake never woke up. They all sat back, exhausted from the CPR and in shock. 

"Doc, what happened?" asked Aaron. "I never even heard of snake venom doing nothin' like that. And definitely not so fast as what just happened. Doc, that was minutes, and he was dead. What happened?" Doc sat in silence for a moment, deep in thought.

"I... I just don't know," he finally answered. "I'm sure it has something to do with the flowers. It has to. Once we get to them, we'll be able to..."

"What do you mean? We have to take Blake to a hospital!" Cried Jacqueline. 

"What? Why?" asked Doc, looking confused. "I'm sorry about Blake, but there is nothing we can do for him now. He's gone."

"Doc, we can't just leave 'em here, though," said Aaron. 

"We have no choice, we don't have the tools to bury him, and we certainly can't carry him the rest of the way to the flowers, much less all the way back to civilization. Our only option is to keep going. Otherwise, Blake died for nothing."

"Oh, what a load of shit, Doc. You can't just throw cliches at us and expect us to go along wit' you. Our friend just died, an you just wanna leave 'em here for da buzzards? Well, that ain't gonna fly."

"What would you have me do?" yelled Doc. "If you have any other options, please, I would love to hear them!" Aaron looked around, desperate for an answer.

"I don't know," he said. 

"We must move ahead. Once we reach the flowers, it'll all have been worth it, and he'll be remembered in history for this discovery. Now come on, we are already behind schedule. Finish packing things up, and for Pete's sake, watch where you put your hands." 

After they finished packing up the camp, they began to move out.

"Wait," said Denise. She quickly gathered some large leaves from the trees around her and covered Blake's body with them. "It's not much," she explained. "But it's something at least." They marched in silence, remembering their fallen friend, still having a hard time dealing with the loss. The beautiful weather did nothing to lift their spirits. Only the hope of reaching the flowers kept them going. A few times, Jacqueline brought up the idea of turning around and coming back some other time. She thought that it was too dangerous to continue since they now knew that the anti-venom they had brought would not affect the Fer-de-lance. Doc insisted they move ahead because they now understood the danger they faced. But the jungle is an unforgiving place. No matter how prepared they thought they were, how careful they felt they could be, it didn't matter. Denise was now at the front of the caravan, which meant that she was the first one to step over a fallen log blocking their path. It's why she was the one the snake bit. It struck at her leg from underneath the log. The boots that she was wearing did nothing to stop the nearly inch-long fangs of the viper. She went down with a yell.

"Ah, Christ, no!" screamed Aaron. He moved toward the log. "Where are you, you son of a bitch? I'll kill you!" He found the snake slithering away. He caught up to it and stomped it to death. 

"Please, Doc, please, I don't want to die!" Denise was sobbing.

"You're going to be OK," assured Doc. "We've got the anti-venom, and once we give it to you, you'll be fine." But he could see the black lines already moving up Denise's leg. Denise started to gasp for air, clutching at the Doc. He met her gaze and saw the panic in her eyes as the tears began to run down her face. She died in his arms, in the middle of nowhere, with her friends watching. 

"Doc. We can't go any fa'tha," said Aaron quietly. "It's just too dangerous." Doc whirled on him, shouting.

"I'm not giving up. We will still get there. We can't fail now!"

"Look at her, Doc! That's the second person we lost today! I'm not risking my life anymore for this stupid flowa' we don't even know works!" 

"We will continue forward!" shouted Doc.

"We ain't doin' shit!" yelled back Aaron pushing the Doc. Doc pushed him back, each of them now grappling with each other. Each trying to keep their footing on the slippery jungle floor. 

"Stop it, both of you!" cried Jacqueline. She rushed over to the two men, trying to pull the Doc away from Aaron. As she did, the Doc turned quickly, hand raised and struck her across the face with the back of his hand. Jacqueline stumbled backward, losing her footing on the slippery, rock-strewn ground. Her feet slipped out from under her, and she fell backward. As she fell, her head struck a rock protruding out of the earth. A large pool of blood immediately started to form around her. Both men stood there, shocked. Jacqueline laid there. Her chest didn't move with the rise and fall of breath. Her eyes, open, stared up at nothing.

"You son of a bitch!" Aaron screamed and tackled Doc to the ground. "I'll kill ya, ya basta'd!" He began punching Doc in the face repeatedly. Doc felt around him for anything he could use to get the younger man off of him. His hand closed around a rock, and he swung it up at Aaron's head. The loud crack as the rock connected with Aaron's face could be heard for yards around if there were anyone else around to hear it. Aaron's face exploded in a bloody shower that rained over Doc, and Aaron slumped to the ground. Doc climbed on top of him, the rock still in his hand. He raised it and brought it down on Aaron again and again until there was nothing but a bloody pulp where his face used to be. He rolled off of Aaron and lay on the ground. How did it come to this? He thought to himself. Why couldn't they just be more careful? He started walking. He left behind the bodies, the gear, and the equipment. Once he reached the flowers, everything would be fine. He could still do this on his own, but now it would just take longer. He trudged through the jungle, being diligent to look at every step he took, aware of any kind of movement. And then, like the garden of Eden come to him, there it was. One of the flowers. Sitting on top of a small mound of dirt, beautiful and perfect. And behind it, more flowers. An entire field. Tears welled in his eyes. There were more than enough. The whole world couldn't go through this amount in a thousand years. It had all been worth it. He rushed forward and dropped to his knees in front of one of the flowers. Its white petals seemed to glow in the afternoon sun. The gold around the edges reflecting the light of the Sun like a small star. He'd have to go back to get the equipment. That was fine. It was only a fifteen-minute walk back to the gear. He just had to reach the flowers to see them. Now that he had, everything would be fine. He was just about to stand up when he heard something next to him. He looked over and met the gaze of yet another Fer-de-lance. He froze, not wanting to provoke a strike from the dangerous creature. He sat there for what felt like hours, but finally, the snake slithered off. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up. He turned around to go get the gear and stepped right on another snake. The bite wasn't as painful as he thought it would be. He lay on the ground, trying to catch his breath, as the pain in his leg grew worse. As he lay there, he turned and noticed a mouse chewing on one of the petals. Of course. It all made sense to him now. That's why all the snakes. They eat the mice that have been feeding on the flowers. No wonder their venom was so deadly, so fast-acting. And why the snakes were so aggressive. The flower had, in a way, been ingested by the snakes. The last thing he thought before everything went black was, Now someone else is going to get credit for finding these flowers, and I'll be forgotten.