Olive looked the the other women with her in the storage room. There were only several 
unshielded bulbs providing light, making sharp shadows. two grimy windows set high in the walls, 
near the cieling, and a slightly ajar door leading to a room with a quietly gurgling toilet.
	"We are not going to die," said Olive firmly. "We've got the door shut. it can't get in. 
all we have to do is wait until someone realises we haven't come home. then they'll come looking 
for us."
	"Oh, right," said Susan, flicking back a lock of blonde hair. "That damn thing out there 
ate everyone else- you think it's not going to eat us too?"
	"But how much can one snake eat?" asked Lynn. "It ate six other women. It must be full. 
If it ate us too, that'd be 11 women tucked into it's belly! Snake's can't eat that much!"
	Rhoda snorted. "Don't you watch the news? last month an anaconda got loose in a Houston 
zoo. Must have swallowed upwards of 18 women before they rounded the thing up. Those giant 
anaconda's can *eat*."
	"I don't want to die!" cried Cindy, holding her fists to her eyes, long hair shaking 
around her face. "I don't want to be eaten!"
	"We're not going to be eaten!" shouted Olive, standing. "We're going to stay put until-"
	A ventilation grill slammed out of the wall and clattered to the floor. Even as that 
happened, the head and body of the giant anaconda arced through the air, mouth open and throat 
gaping. It's mouth slammed onto Cindy's screaming upper torso, swallowing her halfway down her 
upper arms. Cindy's muffled shrieks filled the storage room as the anaconda lifted it's head to 
near the cieling, Cindy's body dangling from it's mouth, her legs kicking.
	Then a gulp, and Cindy was swallowed to her waist. Another, and Cindy's legs from the 
knees only. The snake swallowed again, and only the tips of CIndy's shows poked from it's scaley 
lips. And then Cindy was gone, swallowed into the snake's stomach.
	With a soft hiss, the anaconda pulled backward into the veltilation shaft...
	As Susan let out a muffled sob, Rhoda let out a shaky breath.
	"Yeah," she said, wiping her forehead with her hand. "We're not going to die. Nothing's 
going to eat us. Oh yeah."
	"Shut up," said Olive weakly as she leaned against the wall. "There's still four of us 
left. We're going to be okay."
	"Okay?" asked Rhoda, walking to Olive. "Okay? That thing just ate Cindy! Swallowed her 
down like a piece of popcorn!"
	"It's not going to eat us all-"
	"How do you know?" shouted Rhoda, shaking her hand's in Olive's face. "You said it 
wouldn't eat any of us!"
	"Maybe we'll be okay," said Susan as she sat on a packing crate. "Maybe it'll be happy 
with Cindy. Maybe we'll-"
	There was the crash of splintering glass as one of the windows near the cieling exploded 
inward in a spray of slivers. The shadowed bulk of the giant anaconda swooped downward toward 
the stunned Susan. The jaws flew open, and the sitting Susan was instantly swallowed to her 
waist.
	The snake lifted it's head, Susan's butt and swinging legs dangling from it's jaws. It 
seemed to look at the remaining three women as it dangled, the dimly screaming Susan in it's 
mouth. Then it slowly began to swallow, Olive and Rhoda linging to each other as the snake took 
a full five minutes to swallow Susan's legs from waist to feet. Then it gently swayed from the 
window, Susan's feet in it's mouth, jaws gaping. Olive could see Susan's white ankles leading 
down into the snake's tight, wet throat. FInally the snake swallowed Susan's feet, and she too 
was gone, into the belly of the snake.
	The snake pulled back from the window, leaving the women alone again.
	Lynn was crying. "It's going to eat us all. All of us."
	"It's not going to eat all of us! Dammit, we're getting through this!" yelled Olive.
	"Jesus," said Rhoda quietly. "I almost peed my pants. I really gotta go." She broke away 
from Olive and headed for the small bathroom.
	"Rhoda-" said Olive. "We need to stay together."
	"I'm just gonna pee," said Rhoda. "Won't even be a minute." She opened the door to the 
bathroom and stepped in. Then let out a bloodcurdling scream.
	Lynn was first to the door. The giant anaconda had erupted out of the toilet bowl, and 
had already started swallowing Rhoda whole. She'd been swallowed to her knees, and in the few 
seconds left, was swallowed whole and alive. Even as Lynn and Olive watched, the snake slithered 
back down into the bowl, through the pipes and away.
	"Oh Jesus," said Lynn in a shaky voice. "That's three of us gone. Just you and me left. 
I wonder how long before we're gone too?"
	"I don't know," said Olive in a small voice. "I guess we are going to die."
	"I am freezing," said Lynn, shivering. "I need my coat."
	Olive watched as Lynn walked to the closet and opened the door, then shrieked as the 
snake's head burst through the back of the closet. Lynn could only stand and stare as the 
anaconda's head swayed before her... then the jaws gaped, the throat opened, and the maw plunged 
down. In one mighty push, the anaconda's scaled mouth came to rest on the concrete floor, Lynn 
swallowed fully in one mighty gulp. It raised it's head, only the soles of Lynn's shoes visible 
in it's mouth. With one culp, Lynn too was packed tightly in the belly of the snake.
	With a slow hiss, the snake withdrew into the darkness of the closet.
	"And that leaves me..." whispered Olive to herself. "One woman out of eleven 
unswallowed. One woman out of eleven not eaten by a snake. Just me."
	The door to the storage room slowly creaked open, and as Olive looked, the snake's head 
eased it's way around the door frame.  The snake eased it's woman-filled body into the storage 
room, fat and slow.
	"This is it, I guess," said Olive as she walked to the snake. It was swollen with the 
bodies of the swallowed women within it. "This is the part where you eat me too."
	The snake stared at her, then slowly opened it's jaws, wider and wider. Gaping and huge, 
the throat wet and slick and open within. It made no hostile gesture toward her, just lay there 
with mouth open.
	"Oh," said Olive as realization came to her. "Okay. You'll have to lift your head 
higher. I can't comfortably bend that low."
	The snake obligingly lifted it head, gaping jaws at Olive's waist.
	"Okay, I'll try to be careful." She bent at the waist and dipped her head into the 
snake's jaws. It's mouth was hot and wet, breath musky. She reached up and grabbed some body 
parts gently. Then she raised one leg and bent it, settling the knee gently in the snake's maw.
	"I'm not to heavy, I hope," said Olive as she settled her weight on her knee. Then she 
lifted her other leg and brought that knee up. Now she was in the snake's mouth, only her feet 
over the snake's lips.
	"I'm going to brace my feet on your lip and crawl up, okay?" Olive's voice was loud in 
her ears and she wasn't sure the snake could hear her. She raised her arms, and pushed her hands 
into the snake's throat. Then, slowly standing, she pushed her upper body into the snake's 
throat.
	It was kind of pleasant. Not a terribly tight fit. Warm. The snake swallowed gently 
around her, jaws closing in her feet and throat constricting gently. But she wasn't pulled up, 
and the jaws opened again.
	"You'll have to go horizontal totally," yelled Olive back toward her feet. "I can't 
climb up your throat. Too slick."
	The snake leveled out, and Olive inched her way furhter into the anaconda's throat. As 
her feet entered the snake's throat, the felt the snake's stomach sphincter with her hands. She 
curled and inched and bent until she was crouched sideways in the snake's throat.
	"I'm going to push my hands into your stomach sphincter. When I yell 'now', I'm going to 
push with my feet and I want you to swallow hard." She hoped the snake could hear her.
	She eased her hands into the sphincter and braced her feet. 
	"Now!" she screamed, and pushed as hard as she could. She could feel the snake's throat 
constricting tightly around her.
	And then she was with her friends again.