Chapter Text
The constant downpour of the overhead tropical storm almost muted out the constant sputter of the protected portable generator as it powered the makeshift lights and monitoring system that Gordon had set up in his Black Mesa certified camping tent. The system consisted of a singular small wired box TV that flipped through static to four different night vision cameras that Gordon had installed in different nearby trees to observe the surroundings of the jungle at night while he was protected in this flimsy tent. Gordon sat up inside of his sleeping bag with the monitor resting on the floor of the polyester covered tent. In contrast, a tattered notebook sat in his lap, space scribble notes recording his thoughts and limited observations the man had seen all night. There was nothing to take note of, just the natural vegetation that the unofficial researcher was all too familiar with from the past three hours of viewing nonstop. Maybe a few bugs swarming in cam one, tropical birds nesting up in the lower canopy in cam two, monkeys slumbering in a tree’s canopy in cam three, and frogs croaking in the close distance from cam four, the nearest camera to the campsite. All around, just the same old boring stuff for Gordon, he could have honestly made his own wildlife documentary with all the same crowd of animals he's seen.
Gordon did not know why he even took up this job in the first place. He already had a good position in Black Mesa, being one of the head physicists in many of their projects and experiments. He was at the top of his game during those points of his career, so why did he even choose to even agree to take this job? Did they promise better pay? A promotion? Did he even have a choice? Or was Gordon secretly just so bored of his, now, the previous job that he would just take up the first interesting project that he came across? Whatever the choice could have been for the scientists, he was now immensely regretting that decision, because not only was this job boring, it was almost dangerous. Gordon had already nearly tumbled off of countless cliffs on his way to find a new campsite furring his first few days in the jungle. He had fallen out of at least two giant trees trying to set up those damn cameras. Even had some very close encounters with some of the jungle’s most vicious wildlife, and he’s only been surviving out here for almost three days now.
What did Black Mesa even want him to do? All they told him was to take notes of what he experiences in the lush forest, collect any samples from “unknown creatures,” and just try and survive. Why did they even need him in the first place?
At least tonight it as raining cats and dogs, so he finally had an excuse not to be outside in the frigid cold night, the insulated tent and overheating generator was keeping him warm enough from the rain alone. Sadly that also limited Gordon to just observing the surroundings through a crappy cube television and having to write down his personal mandatory note-taking quota for the night. Riveting.
The same green filtered images flashed in front of him as he used a small remote button to flip through the channels of the cameras. Again, nothing, just the same animals in the same places that Gordon had basically memorized by this point. He was just about to make stuff up in his notes so that he would both satisfy himself and future Black Mesa and pass out until morning, hoping tomorrow would bring something more interesting. That was his plan, reacting to switch off the monitor until a long black figure started wrapping around a tree on cam three. Was Gordon just that exhausted that he did not catch it beforehand? It did not matter now; finally, something exciting was happening.
However, something did not sit right with the physicist about that animal. Yes, it looked like one of the local pythons that lived in the jungle, but this one was much longer and thicker than normal pythons. With the addition of a long tail being covered in the noticeable pattern that said constrictors are known for, instead, it was entirely black, or at least from what Gordon could make out from with the poor camera quality. Was this just an invasive species? Or a sort of mutation? Strange. Gordon continued to watch.
The long body of the serpent continued slithering up the tree until it got to where the primates were sleeping, the camera pointed just out of reach so that Gordon could not quite catch a glimpse of the hunter’s head. It waited there for a while, the tail slowly shifting to reposition itself into a striking position, aimed right at a pile of sleeping prey. Within a flash, the camera lagged behind a bit, catching only screenshots of the attack, while the distant cries of a panicking pack of apes filled in the rest of Gordon’s imagination. The beast had landed its strike. This hunt was probably the most excitement Gordon had gotten in such a long time. Gordon likely would have laughed a bit at this predicament if it was not for what horror he saw next.
He expected just to see a snake wrapped around a poor squirming monkey as it squeezed the life out of its body. Instead, he got a full look at what could only come out of fantasy literature, or maybe horror in this case. There stood a human, a whole ass human, clutching two limp primates in both of its claws as it glanced down at the tree tangled tail that was wrapped around a third struggling primate’s neck, crushing its throat under the muscle’s grip, forcing the nimble body to grow limp slowly. Gordon could not tear his eyes away from this horror scene, but it was like watching a car crash pile up, it only got worse. He watched as the beast started shoving the bodies into its mouth, not even chewing, just straight up swallowing the corpses of those dead primates like they were cotton candy animals to it.
What the fucking hell was he witnessing? This cant be real? Can it? Was this what Black Mesa wanted him to find? A human-snake-beast-thing. Fuck Gordon didn’t even know; he was already in too deep.
His heart only sank further as the beast turned toward the camera, its eyes dull and half-lidded as it merely stared at the camera, taking a moment to tilt its head at the camera, processing what it was looking at. This gave a moment for the mortified human to gather as much information as he could about the creature before him with the poor quality of the video feed. The thing was mostly human, from the waist upwards to its head, while from the waist down consisted of that same tail that he saw before. That damn tail, he just couldn’t stop looking at it, it is so long, it seems like it just stretches into the jungle forever, it could easily crush him like a grape if it got wrapped around him. Gordon shivered at that terrible thought as he forced himself to take mental note of the rest of the body. The video quality only made it much more difficult at this point to pinpoint precisely the thing’s torso looked like. Especially when its eyes suddenly snapped open wides, causing the camera to take in the eyes as some sort of glowing duo beacons of light. It looks like the beast figured out what that it was looking right at a camera, only for it to follow the not so well hidden down to the earth floor with its head. The beast knew someone was watching, and that made Gordon’s stomach heart sink to his feet.
Fuck. Gordon should have hidden the cables better. Now that anomaly was quickly making its way down from the tree and more than likely right for Gordon. He had to think fast, and he had to think now.
Ripping the power cord of the TV out of one of the generator’s power sockets, he shoved the monitor under his right arm as he fumbled with the tent’s exit zipper, yanking it ferociously as it kept snagging on the fabric around the zipper. After a few panicked vulgarities, he managed to unzip the entrance far enough to slip out and sprint off in a random direction with the monitor, the cables connecting the cameras not far behind him. Just hurling his body through the thunderstorm as fast as he can through the dense forest so that he could throw the cables far out from his campsite so the beast could not track him back easily. Once the TV was properly thrown, Gordon hauled his ass back to camp, dodging trees and snagging branches on his way there.
Once the tent was in view, Gordon basically dove into the tent, nearly knocking it over with his now wet body, squirming a bit as he rushed to zip the tent close… Forgetting to lock the zipper down manually.
He fell back down on his sleeping bag as he switched the generator off, the putter of the motor slowing to an eerie silence. Gordon dared not speak a word as the lantern that had been powered by the generator in his tent had slowly succumbed to the darkness of the jungle. Everything was still, the air, the makeshift shelter, even Gordon laid dead as a doornail on top of the sleeping bag he was once relaxing in not too long ago. The only sound is that of the constant downpour of raindrops everywhere around the camp.
It took a good while for Gordon’s body to relax again after the sudden wave of panic. It looks like his quick distraction worked, that beast was gone, it did not track him, thank fuck. Could that monster have been a figment of Gordon’s crippling paranoia? Knowing him and his current mental state, more than likely. With an exhale from his mouth, Gordon started to shift his body to get some sleep for the night.
That was his plan, once again, until his body froze on sight at the sound of the tent zipper being slowly reopened.
The beast had found him.
He must have lead the damn thing back when it saw him running, or heard him running. Gordon internally scorned himself as the gush of cold rain air blew right into his safe space. His eyes shut tight as the breeze blew ontop of him, body shivering slightly as well. Maybe if he acts dead, then the beast will leave him alone. Yeah, just, lie still, keep his breathing low, and just act like a corpse, then the thing will leave him alone.
Or that’s what he would have hoped; instead, he felt his sleeping space slowly get more cramped as another body slid in right next to him. Next to slide in was a long, smooth, scaly muscle that rubbed against Gordon’s legs and torso, pretty sure it was starting to wrap around him by now.
Don’t panic, Gordon, don’t panic. This is fine, your safe, he doesn’t know your alive, it’s fine.
“nice place you got here bro.”
Oh, fuck, it can talk. And that monochrome voice was not helping Gordon’s fear of this thing at all. So he kept his eyes sealed shut. What you can’t see can’t hurt you, right?
An annoyed growl came from the beast in front of the human, a clawed hand reaching down to engulf the top of the human’s head, brushing any stray hairs away from his eyes, and forcing Gordon’s head up to supposedly look up at the beast.
“bro, i know your alive. stop playing dead. come on. not funny didn’t laugh.”
Whelp. His facade was broken in just a few words, or well, seconds. So the human begrudgingly opened his eyes and was met with quite a sight.
Only a few inches away from his face was a surprisingly human-looking face staring back at him. Their eyes were utterly golden yellow with slit-like pupils that stared right back into Gordon’s brown eyes. There was a shadow cast around their eyes from a dented and almost rusty helmet covering their had, making it challenging to differentiate other physical features around his eyes. However, he did notice two yellow fangs poking out of the snake’s lips, and an extra two somewhat more massive fangs poking out right behind the first two. Even a few black and deep blue scales lined his jawline, and also the bottom of the shadow.
His eyes soon fell to the torso of the creature, gazing over the soaking wet muscular body of a slim built snake. Scales scattered around his body mainly gathered around their shoulders, elbows, and hips where his human form was engulfed in a snake’s tail, changing into a rain glistening black scales. The underbelly of the beast being dark grey that continued even beyond where the black of the tail stopped—continuing to spread across the human part of the chest, only to stop right at the collar bone.
“liking what your seeing?” The snake commented, a slimy smile creeping across its face as Gordon noticed how long he was staring at the giant creature’s physical form. Shaking his head, he glared back up to the beast, about to retort something along the lines of “Wait- what?” but a long tail started to coil around Gordon’s body.
“well, if you really like Benrey boy’s body so much, why not become a part of it?”
That line brought back Gordon’s fight or flight instinct at full force. He was about to be eaten by a giant snake human monster. He couldn’t run away; the damn heavy tail was keeping him pinned down. So that only left fighting as an option, all of his survival tools were tucked away in his travel backpack on the other side of the beast. That only left his one free fist left to defend himself, and that’s what he was going to use.
Bringing his hand up quickly, balling it up into a white-knuckled fist, he connected it to the snake’s face. That caused the snake to retract in surprise, his tail unraveling from Gordon’s body as he retreated outside the dry tent and into the drenched outdoors, holding his face where Gordon had punched him.
“what the hell, man?! you punched me!”
“You were going to fucking eat me, you asshole!” Gordon shouted back, trying to catch his breath as he pushed himself to get into a position where he could glare at the snake from inside the safety of his tent. His fight or flight instinct was slowly fading away as it was now overtaken by pure annoyance and rage.
“no i wasn’t bro! i was just messing with you!”
“That’s not how you joke around with people you just meet freak!”
“oh, you’re calling me a freak now, huh fuck boy?” Benrey snarled, dagger-like teeth bared as his previously monotone expression contorting into anger as he slowly slithered back towards the tent. Was he always that big? Just towing over the tent like that?
Uh oh, Maybe Gordon used the wrong set of words there, must have hit a soft spot.
“i was trying to be nice to you, just joke around with you. but now you act like i’m a freak of nature. not cool, bro.” Benrey growled, bending down to glare at Gordon. “if you want me to be bad, i’ll be baaaad.”
Yep, Gordon has really fucked up now. Pissing off a giant snake man that could crush you just like a bug, not the best decision on Gordon’s half. So Gordon haphazardly reached for the bag, ready to pull out the hunting knife and attempt to protect himself. If he was going out like this, he might as well go out swinging.
Benrey was about to make his move on Gordon again if it wasn’t for this sudden echoing horn blast that rippled through the air, muting out the rainfall. The horn blast got Benrey to stop right in his tracks, his posture going straight and stiff as his head whipped towards the source of the sound. He stayed like that for a good few seconds before a second blast rippled through the jungle. His attention returned to Gordon, his wide eyes returning to half-lidded ones as he glanced back at Gordon like he didn’t just threaten to hurt him before slithering off into the deep jungle again.
Gordon could only sit in his open tent, brandishing a knife, and just asking himself, “What the fuck just happened?” and “What the hell was that horn?”
It took him a while, trying to break out of his stunned silence while trying to calm himself down from the adrenaline rush he had just given himself. Leaning forward to zip the tent back up before he plopped back down on top of the wet sleeping bag he now has underneath him.
It looks like his mission just got a lot more exiting now.