Fallen Pt 18

Hunter woke up slowly. He was so tired that it took him a few minutes to realize what had awakened him. Someone or something was hugging him, he thought groggily. They were starting to squeeze him too! It was getting really tight! He opened his eyes and looked down at his chest only to be jolted very much awake. There was a large snake wrapped around him and it was starting to squeeze, thinking he would make a great lunch. Hunter gasped and struggled to free himself. His feet kicked and lashed out but his arms were pinned to his side. His foot accidentally knocked Farren in the head, and Hunter’s brother slid sideways off the branch only to be caught by the thick vines before he fell more than a foot. He didn’t even wake up. Hunter had an idea and rolled off the limb. Hunter and the snake fell down, bouncing off branches and snapping vines with their combined weight.
They landed in the stream with a loud plopping splash. Hunter felt his head glance off a rock. He felt the snake getting tighter. He could barely breathe. Something else fell on top of his legs and Hunter thought it felt like Farren. He rolled over trying to unravel the snake. The thing on his legs got up and then Farren yelped in surprise as he caught a glimpse of the snake and Hunter.
Hunter was starting to feel faint and thought his ribs were about to break when something hit him on the back. The snake took most of the impact. Hunter realized that Farren was hitting him with a massive branch. It was at least two inches thick. The next blow missed the snake and smacked Hunter in the head. Lights exploded in his brain and the pain was nearly unbearable. Then the branch swung again and this time connected with the snake. It released some of the pressure and Farren hit it again. With a fluid motion it unwound from hunter and slithered with amazing speed toward it’s attacker. Farren had already started to swing again but the snake startled him. He leapt as far back as he could. Hunter saw the danger his brother was in as he lay on the ground gasping for breath. He stretched out his hand and felt a large branch. He stood to his feet, swayed, wrenched the branch from the brush and swung as hard as he could at the snake. With a loud crack both branches struck the snake at the same time. Startled by this flank attack the snake slithered into the underbrush and vanished from sight. Hunter Leaned forward and retched. Farren was almost crying and Hunter was out of breath. Both were trembling with adrenaline.
“Come on,” Hunter gasped. “We need to keep going.”