The Stone Serpent by Nicholas Kaufmann

Author:Nicholas Kaufmann [Kaufmann, Nicholas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror, creatures
Publisher: Crossroad Press
Published: 2022-08-13T00:00:00+00:00

18.

* * *

Laura was bone tired. After staying awake all night, she was tempted to drive straight home to get a few hours’ rest. Instead, she drove to Sakima’s central police station. She could sleep later. There was too much work to do, and with a good chance that tonight would bring more snakes to Valley Grove, there was no time to waste. She parked in the official lot and called Booker from the car.

“Laura?” he said.

She looked at the clock in the car. It wasn’t even seven a.m. yet.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” she asked.

“No, I’m still up. Are you okay? What happened with the snakes?”

“I’m fine. I’m back in Sakima now,” she said. “Turns out the snakes were nocturnal. As soon as the sun came up, they went back across the lake. Unfortunately, more people got bitten. I don’t know how many.”

“I’m sorry,” Booker said. “I wish I could have been more helpful. I’ve been researching snakes all night. I had no idea there were so many species. More than three thousand. Only about two hundred are venomous enough to kill a human being. As far as I can tell, exactly none of them are able to petrify the tissue of their prey.”

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “I think they’re a mutation, a new breed that branched off from the common northern copperhead, probably recently. I’m at the station now. Dae-jung and I are going to perform a necropsy on one of the snakes. Hopefully, we’ll know more after that.”

“Be careful, all right? Let me know if you need anything.”

“I will,” she said. “I love you. Get some sleep.”

She ended the call and entered the police station. Making her way to the Science Wing in back, she was surprised to find Dae-jung waiting for her in the forensics lab.

“I didn’t think you’d be in this early,” she said.

“I got an urgent call from Chief Morales,” Dae-jung said. “She said she needed me to help you with something important, but she didn’t say what.”

Laura held up the plastic evidence bag with the decapitated snake inside it. “This.”

Dae-jung made a face. “Eww. Is that a snake? What happened to its head?”

“Chopped off.”

He looked impressed. “Badass.”

“I need your help analyzing its venom,” she said. “These snakes are responsible for the petrifaction you saw in Malachai Applewhite’s body, and there are hundreds of them living just outside Valley Grove.”

Dae-jung stepped closer for a better look at the contents of the evidence bag. “A snake whose venom petrifies its victims? That doesn’t make sense. Snakes use venom to kill their prey. How can they eat something that’s turned to stone?”

“It’s not stone,” she reminded him. “But that’s an excellent question. I’d like to take another look at Malachai’s body. Can you help me get him onto the autopsy table?”

“Sure thing.”

Leaving the snake’s remains in the forensics lab, they went down the hallway to the morgue. Laura unlocked the door and turned on the overhead fixtures. In the light, the stainless-steel autopsy table gleamed like an unsheathed sword.

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