u/NuggetWarrior09

If this is TOS get rid of it, but this is a story a friend of mine put together over 25 years ago. He’s an older guy and he’s been wanting someone to start typing out and fixing up his only Manila envelope manuscripts of his twisted, crazy stories. So here is the second one, Bright Eyes

(TW:gore, animal abuse, terroristic acts, graphic violence)

His eyes open, sorta. Open eyes not much good when you can't see. Smells the sex of so many before on the mattress that he lays on. A putrid smell, to put it mildly. Feels around for his cane. It's there where he left it, leaning against the wall. That is, wherever there is? Where am I this time? Cannot stop the slow, progressive change. Must deal with it! Noticing how his fingers have been getting shorter and shorter. Toes too. Not to mention that they have come also. There is no doubt! Sleeping now, as it is daytime. But tonight they will be out again, feeding. Killing! Can't they see it like he does? What's wrong with them? Zombies? 

Night of the Living Stupid, or what?
On his feet now. Shoes on, moving around the small, grubby room that he slept in this time. Not that it really matters anymore, anyhow. A familiar smell he detects. A movement close to him. A woman is in the room, the swishing of her clothes, sound of woman's clothes.
"Hello," she says to him. "I am sorry, but it's time to check out."
"I didn't mean to disturb you. My name is 

Daphne. I am the maid here. You are way past checkout time. The boss sent me to check on you. Are you OK, mister? You don't look so good. Are you feeling OK?"
His mind goes back to??? How did it come to this???? A small boy, and him and his brother are playing in the backyard. Nice sunny day. The brightness seems to hurt his eyes. But this is always the best part of the trip. It always goes bad from here.
Sleep time is over, as it is dusk now. Time to get moving. Soon it will be dark. He knows what that means. Feels he must do what he can to stop it. That is before he, too, becomes part of the problem also. He not only feels it now, but it's becoming apparent. At this point he has begun wearing gloves and a scarf around his neck. a i a 12 around ta no 2250. to try and help hide some of the changing.

One good thing, they don't mess with him too much. Not yet, anyhow. Not anymore. So he is able to do his part in trying to stop them. Already seeing it as an almost futile effort. But it makes him feel better about himself. After all, the one person we all have to live with is ourselves.
Feels it's time to go to work, after all, it is almost dark outside. Funny how your other senses improve when you lose one of them. No longer even needs a watch. Never off on the time by more than minutes. Not sure how much longer he's got to be on their good side? So he must work fast. Standing outside of the cheap hotel where he actually had to pay by the hour to get just a little sleep.
No one really suspects that he is blind. He keeps his hat pulled down over his eyes and carries a regular cane. It's not as noticeable now since the development of his other senses. That has kicked into overdrive since the incident. He sees things better than a lot of people that have had their sight all their lives, after all! The pain and suffering in the streets. 

The unkindness of people towards one another. He hears it everywhere. Tried to shut it out at first, but after a while he learned it was no longer possible to do that anymore. The pain is coming from within, in so many cases. Why must we take it out on someone else to alleviate it?

He Steps off of the sidewalk by his room into the parking lot, to the street. The exciting part of his day! Let the party begin! Yes!! Come on out and play, boys! Pulls a ½ pint out of his pocket, takes a large swallow. This is not of his choice. A reformed alcoholic and drug addict. He was clean for years. But. He discovered alcohol messes up their vision of you. Besides, he always did like alcohol. So he drinks. A nice summer evening, he strolls down the street. Just can't let it go back to the addiction he beat. But now it's a whole new world out there for people who see it and get to fight it, if even for a short time.

An addiction beyond addiction. More like a driving force! Stop the madness!? Not! Postpone the day, inevitable maybe. Ever so slowly walking down the street of where? Never knowing a place, but only a time in space. Space taken up here or there may be reserved. May be lost.
The voices crowd his mind, no longer able to shut them out. All of the people's pain comes to him, but very little of their joy. He wonders why? Since he was bitten, it seems all he gets is the darker side of life. Dying screams, crying, tears running down faces too sad to look at. If only he could ease their pain. That's his dream, to help them. To ease the pain in the world. Somehow? Not yet sure how?
Begins to feel their presence around him now. 

That's strange because it's still early in the evening. Only dusk. Yet the scar on his neck itches where he was attacked. Seems so long ago now. Can't seem to remember when he wasn't what he is now. The longing for food is a distant memory. He is losing weight. Pounds drop off daily. He is a shell of the man he used to be. But yet nothing seems strange to him. His mind tells him everything is OK. Don't worry, it's all under control. But he knows it's not so!
He has a secret place he keeps from them. 

Something they obviously have not encountered yet! Maybe because his senses are more developed? He is able to have secrets. Able to hide things in his mind. Stuff they don't know. And that's why he is able to play their game. And able to kill them. So they aren't that smart yet. But soon! Very soon!
Continuing to stroll on down the street, it is a nice summer day. His cane taps the way before him, but he never misses a step. Perfect. People pass by him, looking. Their faces pass by him, so surreal but yet real. No happy faces. A certain kind of look. A look of bewilderment. A look of loss, a look of pain, and a horrible one of utter sorrow. He gets determined at that moment to up his amount tonight. Killing feeders. Swears he will not sleep till his amount is thirty-five tonight.
Those son of a bitches messed with the wrong man this time!!

Thinks about the plant where he used to work, what they did to him and what he has become because of it. It was a job. Not unlike any other. Some of it you... But the thought of being someone's slave stresses us all in time. A city worker! Man, if you can get on with them, you got it made. Common talk among friends. One man working, three watching. How did he luck out? A good-looking kid. Redhead. Big, bright blue eyes. Oh yes, he could see back then, before the accident they had planned.

He was a very naive young man. Trusting everyone as a friend. Foolish, for sure! He could use a time out, but there's no time. His head has been hurting again, and he's learned what that means. Seen his friend's head explode! After all. Wake-up call! Hello? The only thing they were worried about at the time was if it got into the vat and polluted the serum.
His father had worked there for years. Well, not that many, come to think of it. Anyway. His dad had gotten him the job. He was young, a teenager. What did he know? Mix this and mix that. Mix this into that. He just did his job, after all. Did what they told him to do. But now they hunt him like an extinct animal or a rare fruit. 

Trying to get back what they lost. What he has but they don't. Or at least they can't see it or haven't learned how to use it yet. Thank GOD for that! He walks on, trying to blend but seeing it all the same. How could you not? It's so obvious! It has a certain... to... the same.
The packets of fluid. It's on them. They are the ones. The ones that have the smell. Always in the purses of the women. The men carry it right in their pockets. Too big to fit in a wallet, after all. How to stop it?
Well, that was so long ago. He studied. He did his homework. You bet he did! Superfreak! Must adapt to survive! Always! Those black-eyed bastards!! It's funny, he now needs what they got to get rid of them. What did this to him to begin with? It's like a Catch-22 type of thing. They fed off of him, and now he feeds off of them. In a way.
The water filtration plant. It was his first job. Hell! His mother had to sign papers just so he could work there. They showed him how to load the sand filters. Basically, it was a lot of sand shoveling and cleaning. He did his job, and he did it well, to the best of his ability. He worked hard. Putting money down on his first car. Dreams. It was a '63 Impala SS. It was big, and it was cool!
Gus was his name. His teacher on his job. Gus was old too! Gus showed him everything, even the room they were never supposed to go in. 

Being young and curious, as Gus showed him around, he asked a lot of questions. This bothered Gus a lot! In all the years he had worked there, he did what he was told and never once questioned why. In one way he liked the kid. In another he did not. Why do all these young whippersnappers have to question why! Gus would mumble to himself. He was old school, and the kid was new era. hobi Shot as new era. Even had him some weird kind of tattoo? Gus never had a tattoo, ever. He always thought they were for sailors only.

The men in suits would come, and they would lay down different rules. Pretty much every time they came, towards the end. Gus always obeyed and did what they told him to do. Then came the day they put in new machines. They promoted Gus to tech. There were tubes of fluid Gus was supposed to add to the water now and then. They told him they were fluoride, chlorine, etc., etc. He never questioned. Hell, he got a very nice pay raise. Why make waves?
This went on for quite some time. Gus and his helper just doing their job day to day. They would put the tubes of fluid into the water (for the benefit of all). He would watch Gus so closely as to learn his job completely.

The tubes, he noticed, had different colors to them. Fluoride, pink. Chlorine, a yellow color. Purification had a white color. There got to be more colors than he knew. But he helped Gus. The machine put a drip, drip of this one and that into the water system for the whole city. It reminded him of the morphine drip he was on once in the hospital. He never mentioned this to Gus. Nope. Not even once. He worked hard, and he was happy to have a job.
Then came the day they loaded the black fluid. Black? he said to Gus? Gus just said, "Shut up, boy! The less questions you ask, the better off you'll be in the long run." So black became no big deal. Load the tubes for the water-purifying system. Their job.
It took a long time before he started noticing the change. People started acting funny. This wasn't funny. Ha! Ha! He started thinking. Came down to around the time the black tubes came. Black water? He had seen it! As the black fluid mixed with the water. Black water! Gus had told him, "Don't worry about it, kid. It will be alright."

Then one day they were loading one of the black tubes, and Gus, being in his 70s, got a little shaky and dropped the tube. It splashed all over him and went into the kid's eyes. Gus's head swelled like a balloon and popped right before his eyes! Dead in a matter of seconds. He lost his eyesight for life.
He continued to work there, never getting over what he had seen. Learned how to do his job blind. Everyone loved him very much. The reasoning they gave was it was an acid to neutralize the water. He received a very large settlement. Nothing more was said.

It's funny, almost, how he first felt the poison seeping into his blood. A soothing sensation when it all began. Right through his eyes to his brain. He was standing behind Gus. He didn't receive the direct spray. It's no wonder it killed him. But so fast? Acid? I doubt it very much.
So now he is doomed to walk around in blindness, wandering. So be it! He has come to terms with it. Accepted it his own way. How they thought he was stupid. Ha! Ha! The joke was on them! He will pay them back! Oh, you bet! But tonight he really needs to feed!
Walking down the street, he looks at the passersby. Watching for the snakes! They are out there! Snakes! Slithering down the streets. Crawling on their bellies! Evil! He needs them just like they need him! A perversity, for sure.
Poor old Gus! He never knew what hit him! After Gus, he didn't sleep much. Because he felt it coming for him. It was in him now, and he could feel it growing in intensity. Even trying to take over his soul. His will to exist! It had come into him! But he did not die so suddenly. Just a little spray into the eyes and blindness.
But none of that matters. Death is all the same after a while! Isn't it? The potion they carry brings back his eyes. Can't explain it, but it does! He can see for a while. To spot them. 
Actually, after a swallow he can see quite well. It's the dark snakes he must destroy! Kill!! So blind he was until the fluid... potion... splashed into his eyes at work.

It was then he became aware of the infestation! It was everywhere. All among them. Death in a bottle! How does he see them? Strange you should ask that. Along with his blindness they gave him his sight back! Although now it has become somewhat of a freak show. Because now his eyes actually light up! Oh yeah! Bright eyes! Like a halogen light bulb bright! The visions he gets are nothing to laugh about. Not anymore.
The children of the ones. They even have a chant about him. It goes like this:
"Bright Eyes is on the loose. Keep all your pets and children in, or he will make a meal on them! For sure!"

Yum. 

The children that were still normal saw it as a joke. But the ones that had changed over saw him as the boogeyman himself. So the legend of Bright Eyes began.
So tonight he will feed! Just a few bites off of their necks! That's the tasty part. He doesn't usually go for the women or children. Focuses on the men to at least slow down the breeding process a little. He can tell them by the way they walk. They wiggle. The ones that have almost totally gone over simply lay hiding in the grass. Usually one will lead him to a nest where there are more. Most of the time the bad-off ones go underground. Sewers and etc. But they do try to guard their nests very closely.

He tracks them for more than one reason. First he needs the potion they carry at first. He needs it to give him sight to see in the underground, to find and destroy the nests. Second, to eat! A few bites here and there. Third, to kill them! He delays the mutating with the potion. As do they.
Funny, the government created these things by putting shit in the water. And then has the antidote to slow it or even stop it? How incidental? They said they did it to kill the snakes in the Three Rivers town where he lives. Did they not think about the fact that we drink the water? Well, of course they did. Story was the filtration plant will clean it from the water. You are all safe. Wrong!
As soon as it hit the water it changed into something else entirely. Something not foreseen by them at all. They created experimental humanoids! And as of lately they have seemed to have lost control of their little science project. Maybe they thought they could 
keep control with the antidote?

How he has been able to keep his sanity through this is a wonder. His complete contact with the juice he helped put in the water has given him a much slower changing process. He is changing, all right, but at a much slower rate.
There's only been one case of total immunity so far. A small boy. His name is Tom. Found him in a nest. Rescued him from about a half a dozen of them hiding in the woods. Near one of the rivers. One of the three. He tracked one of them to a location where he heard a young child crying.
"Mommy! Daddy! Please don't hurt me no more!"
He found them!! They were biting on the baby boy, thinking it could save them. Somehow?

They are so stupid. All he has to do is walk among them till one of them senses him. Then they get scared, and they drop and slither away so fast it all happens in a flash!
Up ahead he sees a possible. The man definitely has a little something strange about his walk. So he slowly closes in on him. Hasn't quite figured out how they sense him yet. Maybe because he has their blood? Only it's different. All he has to do is get close. They get scared eventually. That's when they drop and flash crawl. He's got them every time!
Sure enough, there he goes. Flies into a storm drain along the street. This one must be pretty far along to squeeze into the storm drain. Their bones begin to turn into mush. Poor bastard is lucky he can still walk upright at times. Won't be long, and he will head to a nest. Nothing human left to him. Hope this isn't going to be a nest, as he's not prepared for that. Waits till there's no one around, pulls open a manhole close to that storm drain, and down he goes into the darkness again.

His eyes light up.

Hisssss

It's close. He hears its fear.
There it is, just up ahead, squatting in the sewer water.
Must be careful now.
He ever so slowly pulls out the machete. Slowly advances so as not to be bitten again and advance his condition. Close enough! Wait! Wait!
It struggles to become upright. Part man, part serpent. Disgusting.
It comes at him to strike.
One good swing!

Chop!

Off with your head.
Picks it up carefully and eats a few bites right behind the head. Satisfies his hunger, then finds the pouch in its pocket. Has his precious fluid. All it ever amounts to is about one drink. It does the trick. His eyes begin to glow brighter.
Finds his way back to the ladder and up to the street. Closes his eyes, crawls out, and he's just a blind man with a cane again.

Tap. Tap.

"How did my life come to this?" he mumbles. Doesn't matter. Got a job to do! Must stay focused!

He misses her. Couldn't do her, 'cause he loves her. She has probably gone over by now, but he can't stop thinking about her. Her smell, her brown eyes, her soft, soft skin, so soothing to touch. It was the look in her eyes last time he saw her. Snake eyes! Ugly! How he still misses her so very much. But he knew she had been bitten.
Tommy is the one who talked him into the walkie-talkies. He only wanted to protect the boy, but that isn't how it ended up at all. Then again, how was he to have known they had followed them when he took him home? Played that one off, they did. Waiting till the right moment.

He walks the street in search of his next victim, observing. Ten to one it's payback time! And ten more for Gus. He liked him a lot! That's the way it goes, though. You dedicate your life to some place, and then they pay you back for your hard work by killing you!
Maybe he's just a little down today? Thinking too much. Making too much out of nothing. On down the street he goes.

Tap, tap, tap!

They hear it below. Oh, you bet they do. As they crawl on their bellies through the sewer system.

They look up at the top of the tunnel.

Tap, tap, tap.

Bright Eyes!
Hssss.

They slither away fast from the area, as if being pursued. He can sometimes sense them below him. It's a disgusting feeling.
Up ahead he spots another one. This one is a female. At this point there is always a mixed emotion for him. He must study her first. So he begins to follow at a distance.
If she is still a good mother, he will spare her life.
If she's only beginning to change?
If she's already too far gone?
If she's completely gone?
If she's a disgusting snake slut!?
Hang back and watch for a while.
Watches her wiggle on and how much she is beginning to wiggle. This part really sickens him. The sickness of it all!! One part of the family gets sick, they all get sick.
To kill or not to kill her. It! Does she have any normal children at home? Safe and warm? Well fed and comfortable? Or are they cold and hungry? Because her illness is too far advanced to cure? Or to care anymore. If so, then death would be a blessing to her and to them.

He continues to follow at a distance and observe her. It's not really a wiggle, he decides as he follows her. At first it's more of a sway. Erotic, sort of sexy too!
FOCUS!!!
He yells at himself. You must stay sharp. See how she is. How sick? How helpful? Or should he extinguish her and put another black magic marker mark on his cane?
Lord knows it's almost black with them now! It's supposed to be red and white. He knows that.
He's gonna kill her! Just decided that. Way too much of something? She's trying too hard to keep control over it. It's obvious. Looks as though she is almost totally gone. So she's dead meat!
He keeps following her at a distance.

Tap, tap, tap.

Just a blind guy.
Sees her enter her place and slowly approaches. As soon as he gets close to her apartment house, he gets next to her window. Outside her window, it's now he needs to up his vision to full power. No more glimpses from behind dark sunglasses.
Pulls out the little packet recently acquired from someone passed over. Takes a drink and opens his eyes. They immediately begin to glow in the same green glow.
"Damn my eyes," he mumbles. "Oh! That's right, I already am."
Note to self: You can't damn the damned.
Slowly creeping up to the window, he peers under the curtain with its flowers. She stands in front of the refrigerator. A light comes from it. He can see past her into it. He sees the juice! A lot of it!
Mother lode!
Then he looks to the floor. Yes.
They are there.
A nest!
Makes sense somehow. Close enough to the river to drink. Plenty of fluid. They can't drink tap water. So they must go to the river to drink. Brown and polluted. Yum, yum. That's the only way they can continue to see also. Yes. He has to drink it also. Brush the condoms out of the way and have a nice big swallow. Can't help it! Whatever you must do to survive, you will end up doing.

A shiver comes over him suddenly! Turns and falls against the house. He slides down on his back till he's sitting down, eyes open. Looking across the street, all he sees is in a strobe-light effect.

He begins shaking all over.
Shakes? No! More like a seizure. Thinks to himself. I must be getting worse? A lot worse!
Not much time left anymore.
Maybe he can't kill them all. But he can sure make a dent. Avenge his loved ones! Family and all of his friends. The blindness? Strange?

Turns back to looking through the window. He sees them. Disgusting! All on the floor, completely gone over! Squirming about on the floor, human reptiles. His rage begins to build!! All of them!! Must kill them all!!! 10-1, he mumbles in his head. They must pay!!
His cane. This time it will be his cane!
They are so far gone, all she has to do is open the door. Or he will go through a window.
Whatever it takes for Gus and everyone. Stands at the door and knocks. "Who is it?" he hears. "The Fuller Brush man!" Ha! Ha! Dumb bitch opens the door. Yes! She's gone, long gone. He pulls the long, skinny sword from inside of his cane out. His green eyes brighten!
She sees his eyes and the glimmer of the sword and screams! BRIGHT EYES!! She runs towards the restroom, and as she goes, he sees it. Sees her change turning over slowly. Her legs, or what's left of them, Completely pop inside of her now elongated body as she slithers into the restroom. This makes him think even more of what he will eventually come to be. But of course, why think about that? After all, if he's caught? The spooks in their black suits will take him away just the same!
Of course they will, so why worry? Be happy!!

He opens the door and they’re slithering everywhere, Eyes glowing brightly. He stands in front of the bathroom door. He can hear her hissing on the other side.  He just starts hacking with the sword.Slice one chop one!!
Saving her for last hes got plans for her!
After killing 15 or 20 he raises his sword and yells. Next!!

"Ssss Bright sss eyes.

 I will sss screw you up! Ssss! Come on in if you dare! Ssssss."
He slowly opens the door a little. She strikes! At the door! Full body strike! But he was ready for it! The usual. He needs information. See, he has heard rumors of the Kingsnake and his harem. That's his goal. She's there crouching in the tub again. So the usual. They all love the bathtub. It's cold and wet. She springs at him! Her fangs flaring, venom drips from them. Black, sickly venom. Not green this time. This is something new, he says to himself? As she's leaping through the air, he makes out that she is smiling! Well, isn't that nice?

He sees her fangs heading for his throat with a big smile. Nice. He hates his love and what it’s become! Sorry, he mumbles as she closes in. Before she makes it, he deftly brings the sword across her neck, rending a deep cut in her neck, spurting blood! Now maybe she will talk, he thinks. She rises and faces him holding what’s left of her shirt against her neck to try to slow the bleeding. You just don’t know! She hisses at him. What will I do? Who made you my Judge, jury and executioner? She asks with a sick “Hsssssss”

Tell me he says to her again. He starts to raise the sword. Tell you what? She replies.
Tell me! He says to her again! Of the King. She says. Yes, tell me of the King. Fuck you! She says. Kill me!
No one told me to play GOD! he said to her.
I Am!! THe one to come. And there will be more after me! You can bet on that! Now! Tell me, child! He looks into her eyes, his eyes glowing. HE DOES! He does have a harum. She repeats as the sword touches her throat.
But you don't realize he has plans for the whole U.S.A. Tell me more he replies to her very calmly. No! She replies. He will kill me! 
Like the rest. So will I! He replies. The sword cuts her throat on the other side. She now bleeds profusely from both sides. She talks. He has 10 or 20 girls and he's like a man!

After he's done with them. Like me! They have like 20 babies and they begin to turn also and you no longer know what to do anymore. You go on just trying to provide. As the son hits the window she screams. Maybe it's not the sun coming up as much as it is what he pulls from his pocket. A magnifying glass! Do you remember what this is? He asks her. Yes! She replies. It burns things badly! ssssss Very bad!!
You are gonna tell me everything I want to know aren't you? sssssss Go fuck yourself she hissess. He holds the glass up to the window and catches the sunlight. Begins burning a line through the carpet towards her.
Its at this point she loses all humanity and more or less melts into the corner she hides in. 

A foggy mist rises and next he is confronted with the head of a cobra. Looking straight into his eyes equal in height. This is the biggest one yet! Not to mention the first cobra!! She must have been somebody before! Seems to be the way it works? The more of a power position in life they hold. or once held.
The stronger snake
form they take on Thinks? Better be careful here! Hissing into his face! Its real! Cant deny
it! Real!!! Hard to believe! Face to face with a cobra! He turns the beam of light on her. Aughgh!! She screams a hideous scream.

He burns a hole in her snakeflesh! Again she cowers in her corner. He doesn't want to kill her. She fascinates him in a sick way. What is he to become ? Probably nothing more than a garter snake? After all, he was a water purification helper. Whatever that is? Looking back he feels a lot of hate! Maybe he should go pay them men a visit? Just for fun? Brightly now his eyes light up over the darkness where she lies. ssssss Come here! Bitch! He says. WA1ksi right up to her .Grabs her by the back of the head. Let her strike at the wall a couple of times. sssssssss She hissess. I will never tell!! ssss He begins to carve off some meat from the side of her flaring head.
Ragghhh! ssss! It screams! Stop!
Got to get this overwith. Got to get back!

Still cutting on the side of her head! Powered Why?? It hissesss?
by the sun! Think? He yells at her! GOD hates you!!!! Because you are an abomination! To hell is the only place you're going! Then send me to hell!!ssssssss Not yet. First I need to know! sssss Ill never tellssSSSss. So he keeps
cutting. Arghargh!! She continues to scream!! Smell that smell? He says. That's the smell of you burning. Better get used to it. I'm burning! 

She screams! 
ArghArgh!! 

Tell me! He yells at her! Ok! She hisses. But stop. A big chunk of meat hangs from her, and down goes the magnifying glass one side of her head..
ssssss Let me face you! She pleads. No way baby! Tell me from there. Where is he??
Close to your Tom!! She hissesss, real close!!! Now! See the rains have come and that's how he travels. He headed for your house right now for the precious Tommy boy! That's right we know about the immune boy!After all we had him first! And he has already seated his messengers upstream and down. So it will go on! Other cities! You fool! sssssss You can't stop us being in the water! Take a drink! 
Especially at night. The black water. You can't stop us! No! Never!!! No? But I can stop you! He yells at her or it. The sword comes up ever so fast, It flashes off of the sun through the window. Just like that her head is in one place across the room. The rest of her giggles around on the floor. Heading for the door he hears her behind him still. sssIo bad about fom! sss As he leaves he throws the door wide open the morning sun does the rest. Never does he go home. He set Tom up to be self-sufficient. But now he turns to go where he never dares to go. Back to his home. Do they always return to their nests? thinking he's compelled to go also. This could be a setup where they could follow him to the vantage point.

But by then, he would no longer have the upper hand on them. But if what she said is true? Must defend the fortress. Not to mention he has only seen the river this high once before. That's how they get in. That's what she said. That's how they travel. Tommy?? Still standing on the front porch of the house nervous. Watching it for escapers watching her. Waiting for sundown to be sure. Sundown comes and he's sure they're all dead. He craves a cigarette but his hands and arms have shrunk to the point where he can no longer indulge one of his old addictions. 

Walking down the sidewalk watching the five o'clock rush hour traffic go by seems to calm him down. At least he's not in that rat race any more. Thank GOD! But that is he? Judge, jury, executioneer?? What has he become? Seems his life has become like a movie. Some kind of blind snake hunter extinguishing his future race. rime to move on one more nest taken care of. Burns the house. Finds some gasoline in the garage and spreads it around liberally. Turn on the stove. Now as he is moving down the sidewalk Kaboom!! Shakes the ground under his feet and he's two blocks away. Going home. Deep beneath the city orders are being given out by the king.

The rivers are rising, and now we are strong! Our time has come! He hisses. Our time is now, my family! We will leave our subterranean home and together we will take over this town. Make this town our home base. Today a city, next the whole country. They all bow. Some cheer! Some only hisssss. All hail the King!!! Sss. A giant black snake holds his head high from his perch in the sewer above the rest of them. "I am the King!!" He loudly proclaims. He flicks his blood-red tongue out of his mouth in dominance. Our legions are about to be sent upstream and down. The mating beds overflow! Our spawn await their travels. But first! We must kill him! We must kill Bright Eyes!! Our scouts have figured out how they have been spotting our nests. I say they because we have figured out that he has a helper. Who he protects. Tonight we go to kill his lookout! It's a boy who seems to be immune to the changing. We must make sure he dies!! An antidote could possibly be produced using him. We can't let that happen. Tonight! Ssss! You! My army and I will go to his lair. Kill his lookout and see how he likes it!!! Worrying about Tom, he sees the entrance ahead of him if he can make it. From somewhere in front of him he hears, "Ssss." They are waiting. Then they know? 

How much? He wonders? Obviously, they must have an idea of the entrance he has been using. So all along he has been watched? Well, that's obvious now. The rivers continue to rise. The King stands tall among his followers. "Here it comes, my brides!! I told you! Our time is at hand! We shall rule the world!!! One city at a time!! Feel the black water! Love the water!! Our transportation! Time to go now! Swim! Swim, my lovelies!" He leads out. The King slithering into the black water. His minions follow, at first a little afraid. But no longer. After all, they know no better. The water has risen too high to stay in the lair at this point. Flood stage. If they don't get out, they could all drown. So they swim along through the city's underground waterways. Bright Eyes has explored them all too extensively. That is how he found the secret way to come and go from his home. The entrance is a manhole in the basement storage area. He can slip in unnoticed by anyone. The exit, on the other hand, which is now his entrance, is not so easy. Although it is dark, it is right along the city bicycle path. A water overflow hatch for times such as these. So he knows there will be humans there. But the hatch will be open due to the pump hose. He will have to be very careful. First, he must pass 

under the bridge on the bike path. He has already heard the hissing. Approaching, he knows they wait under the bridge ahead of him. To possibly ambush him! But if he lets his eyes light up to see them, the humans might see. What to do? Even now he hears the pump running. And ssssssss. They are coming behind him. SSS to the side of him. This is bad. From under the bridge he can hear their hissing also. Sssss. The dark! Sssssss. The dark! Sssss. The King is coming! Tonight's the night!

sssssssss Kill brright eyess! Kill him good!! sssss.
He takes one more sip of the juice. He needs it to gey through the tunnels. Fight them blind? I must do what I must do to save Tommy. Tар. Tар. Tap. He begins to go under the brigge. hey are all around him he can sense it. He still has a couple of tricks left. Reaches into some nerebye bushes pulls out a bottle with a rag in the top.

Fluid sloshes around inside as he lights the rag on fire. Toss it up under the bridge and BOOM!!
It explodes on impact on the concrete wall support. light! He opens his eyes, pulls his sword and begins chopping off their heads. They try to swarm him. left and right. Biting at him. Hearing the men up ahead yell! What was that?? Hears them coming and there's no time to waste. Jumps behind some bushes as the men encounter the snake like creatures. Takes off running
for the hole to bellow. Screams echo from behind him. And screeching noises. Slips down threw the manhole into the maze of tunnels.
Under the river to come out in the basement storage room. He puts the oven back and heads for the stairs. Makes it to his studio door. #900&6

No, noise from within? no TV? The boy loves TV. Strange? As he turns the handle he smells a very nasty smell. Goes in and goes to the frig. needs a sip to be able to see. A rustling noise from
across the room.? The kid must be sleeping. He takes his precious potion from its hiding place and takes a big swallow. Right before he opens his eyes he hears. sssss The dark! sssss The King! sssss! The dark! Sssss Opens his eyes. Brightness lights the room. here on the floor lays Tommy long ago dead. Hundreds of baby snakes crawl around inside of his decomposing corpse. A large female lays in the blankets on his bed. ssssssss About time you came home honey! sssss It's his almost forgotten girlfriend. Time for payback! She hisses at him. I'm gonna love this! sssss… Tommy gone? all hope lost he thinks to himself.

She smacks her tail against the wall.
He looks as the wall begins to bow inward towards where she lays. WE been waiting. It is time she hisses at him.
Ihe game of life! The dance of death!
You bitch! He yells at her. Your dead meat! And your not? She asks. He tries to pull his sword and struggles to do so.
How alive are you, baby? She laughs at him. Can't you see how you are changing? Your arms and legs are nearly bone. Her tail smacks the wall again. Let me show you my new man. sssssss The wall bursts inward as they
poor into the room! There's so many of them he can't even begin to count! Hears a deep growling sound. Your eyes will do you no good now! Bright Eyes! The King sticks his head through the new entrance to the apartment next door. Large? No! One Huge coalblack snake. A black ooze drips from him. Time to play? He asks the abomination as he dives to the floor. Roll across the floor to the stove. Turns the oven on. It's already set on high. Pilot light has been out for sometime.
The king continues to slither into the room.

The whole place is full of them!
Changed.  changed, deformed. Gross looking sick thing's! Did someone say time to play? The king roars!!!
He has to crawl over the others towards bright eyes. Standing at the edge of the kitchen he smiles. Feels good! The first time he smiled since he can't remember when. Time to die!! THe king barks at him and you smile? You fool!! Like a child playing a trick on another child. He says back. You wanna see something cool??
Do ya? Do ya really want to see?? The king sees it and smells it at the same time. Oily and his tongue. Its just a bit lighter! Bright eyes laughed looking at him and her. It wont matter! Says the king! We have spread upstream and down! They travel even now!
SSSSSS
SSSSS SSSSS SSSS SSSS But! Bright eyes says you and the rest of us are history! This is for GUS!!!! Big click!!!
Booooom! 

The End?