Charlie gasped and fell backward, smacking hard against the wall. She was so afraid that she barely even felt it. They all seemed to swarm toward her. Snakes of all different sizes were spilling into the floor from the cabinet. It had been packed full. The sight was so shocking, she had lost the ability to use her voice. Her shriek came out in cracked, breathy groans.

     They slithered against each other in various directions. Charlie had perched herself atop the chair she'd been restrained in. If there was one creature in all the world she liked least, snakes were it. Their long leg-less bodies, their sharp fangs, their hostility, and most of all their dangerous venom scared her beyond measure. They all wanted to attack her, she was sure. That's what snakes do! There was no way out. She was locked in here with those things and there was nothing, nothing at all she could do...

     She didn't know how long she sat there paralyzed with fear. The voice over the speaker knocked her out of it when it shouted sharply, "Time is ticking, Charlie!"

There was a way out. All she had to do was move.

Move! she told herself.

Charlie made up her mind to move...her legs just wouldn't work. It felt as though the chair were made of quicksand and it was pulling her legs down into it. The speakers shriek in a tone that sounded like Shay's. Charlie startled. The cruel voice chuckled.

That's it! Charlie thought angrily. She looked at the icky snakes...really looked at them this time instead of being shocked stiff with fear. She studied the patterns and colors. She looked at the tails and snouts, noting if they were rounded or not. She determined that a lot of them were constrictors. Big, but non venomous. Thank goodness for Animal Planet, she thought. There were some nasty looking ones. She couldn't remember the difference between a coral snake and the non-venomous snake that looked similar. Did it go 'if yellow touches red, you're dead?'

She wasn't sure. She'd be sure to dodge it.

Just like people say there are two ways to get in a pool, there were two ways for her to do this. Tippy toe cautiously or jump in. Charlie had never been the type to dip only her toes in. She knew if she went cautiously and thought about it, she'd never dive in.

She jumped into the first clear spot she could find, then hopped to another. A skinny snake struck at her and bit her shoe as she kicked it. She swiped another away with the pole as she jumped again. Sweat made the pipe slick in her hand b she held on. Jump. Dodge. Swipe. Dodge. Jump. All the way to the cabinet. A few snakes still slithered inside the cabinet.

Don't think, don't think, she chanted. Pretend it's a game. They're all harmless.

They weren't of course. The boa wrapping itself around her ankle reminded her that even the non-venomous could cause damage. She screamed and pulled it away, flung it across the room onto a pile of others. She reach back into the cabinet and grabbed the only thing inside that wasn't moving: a small box. Rust covered the little box, but the hinges weren't so far rusted that it kept it from opening easily.

Inside were...ID cards

"Got them!" she said, holding the open box up. She assumed he was watching somehow, but she couldn't see a camera anywhere, so she spun to show the whole room.

"Look at them," the voice said.

She did. They were men with different names and different faces, from different places. Andrew Higgins. Bradley Gibbson. Ralph Colton. Black hair, blonde hair, red hair--one of them even had blue hair. They made no impression on her, but she felt like they should. There was something she was supposed to see. Snakes were sliding across her toes. The weight of them disgusted her. The stupid IDs frustrated her.

"What the hell am I supposed to be looking at?" she said.

He laughed softly. "Don't worry. That's just part one. I want to play a while. I'm not going to make it too easy for you. Just remember the clues you get. Work them out. And it wouldn't hurt you to fucking scream every now and then!" He yelled into the speaker. Charlie could hear Shay whimpering in the background.

"W-w-why are you do-oing this?" Charlie cried.

She remembered a voice from her past saying, "because it's fun."

She screamed in rage and didn't wait for an answer. "You sick fuck! I'll kill you. I'll kill you when I get out of here." Furious, she flung the box. The IDs scattered amongst the snakes and the box landed in the grimy sink.

"That's what I like to hear," the voice said. "Fight it, Charlie. Fight me. Fight evil. Fight death."

So he's calling himself death? Charlie thought. He's probably killed before. Maybe a lot. Her chest stung with panic. Would she ever get out of there?

A buzz filled the room. The door popped open and Charlie ran in the patches of floor around the multitude of serpents.