"Phil!" The high-pitched scream reached him loud and clear. He stood up in a heartbeat; his book fell to the floor but he didn't seem to care. That had been May, that was obvious, but she wasn't just calling him; he could tell by the sound of her voice she was in pain. "Phil! Help!"

Without thinking it twice Phil Coulson grabbed the gun that was on the coffee table and made his way to the front yard as fast as he could. May was sitting on the floor, holding a knife, her back against the border of the house and her right leg stretched in front of her, her ankle bended in a clearly unnatural way.

At first Coulson just looked around, confused, and couldn't understand what was going on. Hearing her terrified screams he had expected at least a small army invading the house or some kind of gigantic monster with multiple heads, but there was not a single person around.

"Kill it!" exclaimed May, pointing at the ground.

He lowered his gaze and his heart froze; in front of May there was a snake, and one of the poisonous ones they had been warned about before accepting the mission. As an agent he had gone through very scary experiences, but the thing that terrified him the most had always been snakes. He just couldn't stand their cold eyes and their wicked personality.

However, he noticed something else, something way more important. May's leg was too stiff, and the fact that she was defending herself by throwing wrongs made it clear that she wasn't able to just run away. The snake had bitten her and she needed to go to a hospital. Fast.

"Shit" he said. He unlocked the gun and approached her side. He looked at the snake, feeling his breathing getting harder. He hated snakes, and more than that he was terrified of them. Even if he was a great agent from a secret agency he had to admit that sometimes he had nightmares of big snakes attacking him or smaller ones crawling into his room at night. Now one of them was there in front of him, ready to attack. Its little and dark eyes seemed to be fixed on Coulson's, staring at his movements and challenging him to confront it.

Run, said a voice inside of his head. It's too much for you. The snake will kill you if you come any closer. Don't you believe me? Just look at it. It's dangerous, it will kill you if you give it the chance... Just get away from it as fast as you can...

"Phil..." said May, from the ground, seeing him paralized.

Her voice, scared but sweet and caring, brought him back to reality. Snakes were bad, but it would be infinitely worse to lose his best friend. He aimed to the snake one more time and shot without hesitation. He took a deep breath, then shot again several times until he was sure the evil creature was dead. The local authorities wouldn't be thrilled but he needed to bring it to the hospital so the doctors could identify it. "Okay" he murmured. "It's dead"

"Thanks" said May. She winced in pain, bending over her leg. "It bit me"

"I know" he said. "We need to get you to the hospital right away. Can you walk?"

May nodded. However when she tried to stand her ankle gave in and she would have fallen if Coulson hadn't caught her in the air.

"You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah, thanks" she said. "I… I don't think I can walk"

"It's okay, it's okay, don't worry" replied Coulson. "Put your arms around my neck, I'll take you to the car"

May did as asked and he lifted her from the ground having extra care to not move her leg too much. Coulson took her to the car, to his great relief the keys were in his pocket, and managed to accommodate her in the passenger seat.

"Look, I have to lock the house and get the snake for the doctors" he told her, helping her to put on her seat belt. "You have to take off your shoe and sock, I'll be right back"

"Sure, I'll be just fine" answered May. As always she was more calmed than he was, but in her eyes he could see she was scared too.

Coulson ran back to the house, grabbed the first bag he found - his backpack-, emptied it on the carpet and returned to the front yard after turning on the security system. He took the lifeless bloody snake by the tail and put it in the backpack, feeling sick because of its slippery and odd texture. Then he got back to the car and started it, throwing the bag to the second road.

"The nearest hospital is almost three hours away. An ambulance would take too long and we're not authorized to call helicopters" he informed May. He cursed the agency in his mind for sending them to a house in the middle of nowhere in one of the most deserted areas of Texas. He also cursed the psychopath they were trying to capture for choosing his base in that area and himself for not being there with May when it had happened. "Stay calmed, you're going to be fine"

"You shouldn't have used your backpack to carry the snake" was her simple answer.

"I'll burn it later" he said. "And the less I think about it, the less I want to throw up"

"Thanks, Phil" May offered him a warm smile. "You locked up the house, right?"

"Yeah, Fury would kill me if I hadn't. Besides we don't know if we're being observed so we have to be careful" answered Coulson. "How are you doing?"

"It hurts" she admitted. "But I'm okay for now"

"Good" Coulson turned on the GPS to find the shortest route to the hospital. "How did it even happen?"

"I was coming back from checking the perimeter when I felt something in my ankle. I guess I didn't see the damn thing because of the grass" said May. "I turned around and saw it. I panicked and fell and just started to throw rocks at it. I'm such an idiot"

"You're not" he said, rolling his eyes. "Shit happens sometimes"

"Yeah" she muttered. "I just… I don't want to die"

Coulson turned his head around to look at her. "Hey, you're not going to die, okay?" he told her. "Snake bites are not as bad as they show in television… Besides, I have a freaking snake in my favourite backpack right now because of you, so you better not die or I'll kill you"

May half-smiled. "Thanks for that"

"It's nothing" said Coulson. "Just relax, you're going to be just fine, Mel"

They spent the next forty five minutes like that, chatting about random topics such as their mission or the weather to keep themselves calmed and distracted from the terrifying possibilities.

"You okay?" asked Coulson when she stopped talking in the middle of a sentence. "You don't look good"

"I'm just dizzy" she answered.

"There is a vomit bag in the glove compartment, in case you need it" he said.

"It hurts" she gasped. "It looks really bad" she added, looking at the swollen and dark-coloured wound. "What if they have to cut it off?"

"We'll get there soon, I promise" answered Coulson. "Calm down, you're going to be okay"

"Okay" said May, nodding to herself. "I'm sorry, I'm overreacting…"

"May, you're not. You got bit by a snake, of course you're scared" he said. He reached out a tentative hand and she took it. "I'm scared too, but the best thing we can do is to stay calmed and get you to the hospital"

"Thanks, Phil" she murmured.

Coulson felt tempted to tell her to thank him once they were at the hospital, but that wouldn't be exactly helpful. "You're welcome" he said instead.

Half an hour later May started to feel worse. Her whole body trembled and the dark area of her skin was spreading up to her calf. Coulson tried to stay as calmed as he could, holding her hand and promising everything was going to be okay even if he was as scared as her, taking the car to its speed limit in order to gain a little time.

The next hour was the longest one of his life. He looked at her worriedly, feeling simply awful when silent tears ran down May's cheeks because of the pain she was in. May hated crying, and for her being in that situation was probably very hard. Things were difficult for him too. He had always taken care of her injuries during missions, patching her up and teaching her how to deal with burns and stab wounds. Now all he could do was look at her helplessly, wishing for the best and fearing the worst.

Please, please, don't die, he thought. Come on, Melinda, keep fighting.

Twenty minutes later she started to have trouble swallowing. She was dizzy and breathed heavily, but what worried him the most was that she seemed to lost consciousness from time to time, closing her eyes sometimes for two whole minutes to wake up later startled and aching.

She's dying, thought Coulson, absolutely terrified. She was dying and he wouldn't be able to help her. Phil wished he had ignored his orders and called the helicopter, but it was too late for that.

"Hang on, May, we're almost there" he said, squeezing her hand. May squeezed it back weakly. "I'm calling the hospital to make sure they're ready when we get there"

May just nodded. He took out his phone and dialled the number of the hospital.

"I need help" he said as soon as they answered.

"What's your problem, sir?" asked the lady from the other side of the line.

"My friend… A snake bit her" explained Coulson, trying to keep his voice firm and clear. "We're less than fifteen minutes away from the hospital. She's really bad"

"Okay, sir, we'll be waiting for you" she promised. "Do you know what kind of snake bit your friend?"

"I'm not sure" he admitted. "I brought it so you can identify it"

"Fine. Did she have any kind of medication?"

"No, not at all" answered Coulson. "Did I have to? I thought… I was told that was dangerous"

"And it is. Don't worry, you did the right thing" said the lady. "Keep her calm until you get here, we'll see you in a few minutes"

"Thank you so much" said Coulson before hanging up. He put the phone back in his pocket and cleaned the sweat from his face with the back of his hand. The day was extremely hot and he was extremely nervous, which caused him to feel sweaty and uncomfortable. However he wasn't as nearly as sweaty as her, but then again it was a good thing that he cared for her more than himself. "Did you hear that, Melinda?" he asked, turning around to look at her. "We're going to be there in a moment"

She nodded. "I… I can't see!" she exclaimed, scared.

"Your vision blurring is a symptom of snake bite, Mel, don't worry" said Coulson, though his heart was beating so fast he felt as if it were going to jump away from his chest. "Hang on, Melinda, we're almost there... don't you dare to die, okay?"

May didn't answer. Coulson turned to look at her again and saw with horror that she had fainted again.

"No, no, no, wake up, May" he said, moving her shoulder. She didn't react. "Come on, Melinda, come on. Wake up, dammit! Please, please, come on, Melinda…"

May opened her eyes slowly. She was fighting against the venom, that was clear, and he couldn't help but feeling proud of his partner. Two minutes later they arrived at the hospital, where a gurney was waiting for them surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses.

Coulson jumped out of the car and ran to her door. He lifted her again, this time she felt even thinner and more fragile in his arms. With the help of one of the doctors he placed her in the gurney. The group quickly circled her and took her inside the hospital with Coulson following them worriedly.

"Please, please, let me go in with her" he asked when one of the doctors stopped him.

"You said over the phone you had the snake, where is it?" replied the doctor. She was in her mid-forties and had a sweet and firm voice. It was obvious that wasn't the first time she had to deal with a situation like that one.

"It's in the car; I'll bring it right now" said Coulson. He returned to the car and took the backpack to the doctor. "Now what?"

The doctor took the backpack and sighed. He could see the pity in her big green eyes. "Now you have to wait"

I hope you liked the chapter, I'll try to update as soon as I can! My first language is not english so please excuse me for my grammar mistakes ^-^... Anyway I want to know what you think so please post some reviews! :)