Below him, the snake horde had realized their prey was escaping. They couldn't climb the smooth sides of the gorge, but they could climb each other.
A writhing pillar of scales began to rise from the mud. Snakes coiled around snakes, forming a grotesque, living ladder that stretched upward, hissing and snapping at his ankles.
A green viper launched itself from the pile, sailing through the air.
Sol didn't stop. He swung his elbow backward without looking.
THWACK.
He caught the viper mid-air, batting it away like a nuisance fly.
"No ticket!" he roared, adrenaline overriding his exhaustion, and continued forward
He reached up, grabbing a protruding rock to pull himself up.
But the rock fucking blinked.
Sol froze. His hand was wrapped around a cold, rough surface that felt like stone... but pulsated with a slow, heavy heartbeat.
A vertical slit opened in the "rock," revealing a bright yellow eye the size of a dinner plate.
The Granite-Scale Monitor.
