Posted by RIP on December 06, 2003 at 21:06:48:
My heart pounded as the snake coiled around my elbows. Now my arms were pinned against my torso! I began to panic, thrashing about wildly on the jungle floor. How could I have been so foolish? Trying to walk back to the village alone had been idiotic; I had compounded that stupidity by taking a short-cut through a grove of Stiblin trees. Everybody knows that the Squeezing Snakes love to hide in Stiblin groves. I shouldn't even have been surprised when the huge, green monster dropped out of the trees and landed on my shoulders. Terrified, I had fallen to the ground-- another mistake, and maybe my last. The snakes like to get their victims on the ground. I was pinned, with one coil above my breasts and another below. I rolled around like a helpless child as the snake slowly encircled my narrow waist.
I tried to scratch at the snake with my claws, but they had absolutely no effect on its thick, scaly hide. Female Katzen have only short claws; these aren't bad for defense against other mammals, but they're no good against snakes. The snake continued to circle my body, pinning my tail against my bottom, then pressing my knees together. In a matter of moments, I was wrapped up tight. And then the squeezing began.
My people have long known that the most painful death in the world is to be found within the coils of the Squeezing Snakes. This is why we avoid their homes so religiously. I come from a brave people; We do not fear death, but we are very sensitive to pain. That is why my frightened young heart now pounded within my chest. For, I knew that the snake had me. I was going to die, and not quickly. The Squeezing Snakes are not merciful. They bring death by slow, agonized strangulation. They spend hours crushing the life from their victims. No one knows why. Perhaps they feel some strange reptilian hatred for all mammals. All I knew for sure was that my pain was going to grow and grow for hours before it finally ended. I didn't see how I could bear that. Again I cursed my stupidity. How could I have blundered into the grove as I did? Surely I deserved to die for that unforgivable error. I only wished that my death didn't have to hurt so much!
I was already having trouble breathing. I had to fight for each precious lung full of air, and each breath hurt more than the last. Soon I was looking up at the trees through a thin, red haze of agony. The snake was ruthless but patient; it was taking its time with me, as these snakes always did. It drew its coils tighter with agonizing slowness. I felt its coils crushing my rib cage. I was utterly helpless, and that feeling was almost worse than the pain. We Katzen think of ourselves as a powerful race; to be reduced to complete, abject impotence in this way was too humiliating to bear. I was glad that none of my tribe was here to see my shame.
At first I fought against the snake as best I could. I rolled back and forth on the jungle floor, desperately searching for any opening in its coils. Of course, the snake gave me no such opening. I didn't really think it would; The Squeezing Snakes are efficient killers, and stories of escape from their coils are unknown among my people. But I had to try; honor demanded it. After about an hour of these futile struggles, however, I began to relax. I had made the escape attempt which honor demanded. Now I resolved to await my inevitable fate. I was, in any case, too exhausted to resist further.
I half hoped that the snake might take advantage of my stillness and hasten my demise. But the snake was far too clever for that. It continued to squeeze me at exactly the same slow pace as before. My breathing was quite shallow now; I was getting just enough air to remain conscious. And the pain was tremendous. My ribs felt like they were about to snap. My squeezed and swollen breasts nestled between the snake's coils. My nipples had an unnaturally dark purple color to them. Had they turned this color as the snake crushed my breasts, or was it the lack of air that did it? I didn't know. I only knew that I hurt tremendously, and longed for death. My face was wet with tears. I was making sounds that I had never heard myself make before: The wet, rattling sounds of a strangling Katze.
I was beginning to lose consciousness. I was suddenly filled with regret. My maidenhood would never be punctured by a loving Katze. I would never have a litter of little Katzchen. I would die here on this cold, damp jungle floor. My only solace came from the knowledge that death was near. The pain would soon end, at least.
I tried to face my death with dignity, as a Katze should. But here my body betrayed me. I felt myself convulse; my body underwent a series of desperate convulsions which could hardly be called dignified. Surely these were my death throes. As I exhaled a final, tortured breath, I realized that the snake was now so tight around me that I could not inhale again. I had breathed my last. I closed my eyes, whimpered softly, and let the darkness embrace me.