I started to run, back along the passageway. Bucky weighed on me, limp
and heavy. The noise burst suddenly in a deafening hell of moans and
roars and shrieks, packed in tight by the metal walls, and above it all
I could hear Gertrude's lonely, whistling scream.
I thought, "_Somebody's down here. Somebody let 'em out. Somebody wants
to kill us!_" I tried to yell again. It strangled in my throat. I
sobbed, and the sweat was thick and cold on me.
One of Bucky's dragging, stumbling feet got between mine. We fell. I
rolled on top of him, covering his face, and buried my own face in the
hollow of his shoulder.
The first snake touched me. It was like a live wire, sliding along the
back of my neck. I screamed. It came down along my cheek, hunting my
mouth. There were more of them, burning me through my clothes.
Bucky moaned and kicked under me. I remember hanging on and thinking,
"This is it. This is it, and oh God, I'm scared!"
Then I went out.