Prison to Pinnacle: Ex-wife's Eternal Lament

Ray was the first to blink awake, his eyes struggling to adjust to the dim light.

"Are you with us, boss?"

His gaze darted to where his employer should be.

Instinctively, as a bodyguard, his first thought was to check the safety of his boss.

A few seconds later, Nicholas groaned, stirring to his life.

"Still breathing," he rasped, gasping for air.

Ray exhaled, the tension easing from his shoulders.

"How about you guys?"

He was also eager to know whether his buddies were okay or not.

"Scratches, but we're all in one piece," Jack grunted. "What the heck is going on?"

Then, they hauled themselves out of the wreck with great difficulty, each move a battle against exhaustion and pain.

When they were all out of the battered car, what surprised them most was the sticky smelly rain was still falling.

They looked up, and their heart nearly stopped.

"Holy shit! Is that the hot chick you were talking about?"

A python the size of a house loomed over them, its eyes like twin rubies, glittering with menace.

Everyone was petrified.

Even Ray's battle-scarred feet shook violently.

Swallowing, he did his utmost to steel himself,

 "Come on, what are you waiting for? Open fire!"

Years of combat readiness meant they were never without their guns.

At Ray's order, a barrage of bullets cut through the air. And instantly, the air was filled with the acrid smell of gunpowder.

The smoke obscured the view, and the giant snake seemingly vanished.

"Got it?" Ray whispered.

Before the words left his mouth, a glob of stinking slime splattered his face.

He jerked his head up to see the python right above him, its red-forked tongue flicking.

It opened its cavernous mouth and swallowed him whole.

"Oh, my god, no!!!" Jim roared, pulling the trigger frantically, ferocious bullets spraying wildly.

"Give him back, you bastard!"

But the shots were as ineffective as a breeze against its hard scales.

The python's tail lashed out, sending Jack flying off the ground.

In a second, he hit the ground hard, his blood spilling like a flood, and his eyes rolling back.

"Run!" someone shouted.

They simply couldn't fight against this power monster.

Nicholas found his feet finally, sprinting east as quickly as possible. He felt like his heart was about to burst.

The others didn't hesitate and took off running as well.

But how could they outrun a python like that?

Its tail whipped through the air, beating down on the ground ruthlessly. In a minute, a storm of dust and dirt filled the air.

Several other bodyguards fell as they were hit. One even had his head split open on impact, a truly gruesome sight.

Nicholas panted desperately, still running for his dear life.

Suddenly, he was coiled up by the python, feeling his body being tightly constricted.

In an instant, his ribs cracked and broke.

As his breaths were getting shallower, imminent death was just around the corner.

'I sought life here, but found only death! I never expected such a tragedy,' he thought.

As he was going to pass out, suddenly a voice cut through the chaos, going into his ears clear and commanding.

"I've been hunting you for a long time, beast! I didn't expect you to be causing trouble here. Take my kick!"

A bare-chested man kicked the python square in its weak spot.

The huge snake immediately writhed. The power in the man's kick was more than it could bear.

The pain caused it to loosen its grip, and Nicholas fell like a plummet.

Seeing this, the muscular young man flew up and caught him right into his arms mid-air.

Nicholas looked into his saviour's eyes, which were sharp and commanding.

"Are you…the one I've been looking for?"

Nicholas managed to squeeze the words out feebly before he went into a coma.