For no reason that she could decern, the hairs on the back of her neck suddenly stood on end. A falling sensation swept through her body, causing her to stumble, bracing herself against a tree. She strained to open her eyes as her vision was obscured by what her mind registered as a swirl of pink and purple clouds.
Blinking, she clung to the tree-trunk and shook her head, reaffirming that she was awake.
“What’s happening?” She hadn’t meant to speak out loud. As the colors swirled, she found that she could look around even though her physical body didn’t seem to be present. The clouds she had seen were now below her. Lifting her gaze, she drifted into the cosmos. The stars moved, clinging like droplets of water to an invisible face in the darkness.
They slipped me something. Oh, God! She whimpered, hugging the tree a little tighter. These guys are hippies, so that means mushrooms or acid, right? I just need to stand right here and ride it out, like the time Elaina went to Costa Rica and did ayahuasca. It’s just a bad trip, and it’ll be over soon.
The cosmic face opened its eyes like two exploding stars, and the light poured into Jillian, filling up her body until she thought she might burst. Everything vanished, and she suddenly found herself staring at the screen of her tablet.
“Hey, babe.” A slightly older version of Ted sat across the kitchen table, sipping his coffee. “I’m going to be working late tonight. Don’t wait up, okay?”
“Oh… Okay.” Jillian looked down at her tablet and scrolled through her feed. Post after post, it was filled with notifications and tiny red hexagons, indicating that she was not nearly as popular as she had been last time she looked. Clicking on a post featuring a picture of her and Ted at her father’s annual charity gala, she scrolled through dozens of hate comments from environmentalist groups, internet celebrities, and random people she’d never heard of.
“Are you messing around on social media again?” Ted cleared his throat as he set down his coffee mug. “I thought we talked about that. Doctor Lim says it’s bad for your anxiety.”
“I was just checking my messages.” Her body went rigid as she backed out of the application and set down the tablet.
“You know how upssssssset it makes me when you lie.” Something about his voice made her shudder. Ted stood up to walk around the table, and Jillian swallowed hard. Ted’s legs melted into a long scaly serpentine body. “There’sssss nothing worsssssse than a liar.”
“What the…” Jillian scrambled to her feet, knocking over her chair as she backed against the kitchen island.
Ted’s face stretched outward, his skull cracking and distorting as his mouth widened, revealing two slick fangs, dripping with yellow liquid.
A loud rushing wind pummeled her senses, pulling her backward and thrusting her consciousness into her body. The vision ended, leaving her heart pounding against the inside of her ribcage. The hissing sound of the wind lingered, and her eyes drifted to something gray moving in the grass by her feet.
“Oh my God.” Her voice was barely a whisper as she watched the tan rattle emerge from the creature’s coils.
“Don’t… move…” A man appeared between two trees, a few yards from her. “It’s more afraid of you than you are of it.”
“I seriously doubt it.” She scowled at the guy, recognizing his voice as the one that wanted to drop her off at the nearest road. “Aren’t you going to shoot it or something?”
“Do I look like I carry a gun?” He held out his arms, and Jillian looked him up and down. He was about six inches taller than her with floppy, black hair, almond-shaped eyes, and sparse five o’clock shadow. His thermal undershirt was stained, and his tan cargo pants were frayed at the bottom. He wasn’t exactly what she’d pictured. She expected dreadlocks and maybe a tie-dye shirt. This guy seemed civilized enough, but he was more rugged than the men she was used to.
“I don’t know; you live in the fucking woods, and you’re chasing me, so probably!” Her eyes teared up. “Look, I’ve had a horrible night, and I just want to go home.”
“Last night will seem like a picnic if you don’t stay still.” He lifted his hand, palm facing down. “Listen to me and stop talking.”
“Forget it. I need to get out of here.” As she took a step back, the rattling intensified, and she paused. “I think if I get behind the tree, I’ll be able to back away.”
“Don’t…” The man’s eyes widened as she dashed for the safety of the tree. The snake’s body sprung forward with wide-open jaws as it clamped onto her calf.
Jillian screamed as the two syringe-like fangs sank into her flesh. Falling forward, she was barely able to keep a hold on the sheet. Lifting her head, she looked back just in time to see the snake’s tail as it slithered into the underbrush.
“Godammit.” The man rushed over, kneeling at her side. “Let me see.”
Sitting up, she flinched as he came close, but the gentleness in his tone made her relax.
“I don’t think he got me. My head hurts worse than my leg.” The dried blood crusted in the back of her hair made her want to scratch it.
The man moved the sheet aside, examining the two puncture marks before letting out a long heavy sigh. “Listen to me.” When he locked eyes with her, the worry on his face made her break into a cold sweat. “When I tell you that you need to stay calm, I’m not just saying it because panic annoys me. I mean, you need to take slow, steady breaths and keep your heart rate down. That was a Timber Rattler. Right now, it might just feel like a little bee sting, but
