Chapter 2: In The Belly of the Beast.
"Somebody help-" was all Simba could get out before the coils tightened. His throat was squeezed shut as well as his entire body, rendering himself breathless and motionless. The pressure on his windpipe was excruciating and all he could let out was some pathetic wheezes and gasps. The cub was further coiled into a thick cocoon with one around his head to. His face was all that could be seen of him with his cheeks puffed up and his tongue sticking out from the constriction.
The python watched in sadistic delight as the helpless cub writhed in agony and desperately gasped for breath, even laughing at. "There's nobody who can help you now, my cute little kitten. I'm going to see to it that your last moments alive are your worst." Much to Simba's added horror, he began to open his mouth wide in preparation for his meal.
"No," Simba strained to say as the snake's wide maw descended slowly to engulf him. "I'm not food. I'M NOT FOOD!"
A fall to the ground from his leaf hammock was enough to walk him up from his nightmare. Simba, still shaking, widened his eyes and gulped in air as much as he could. He looked around for an snakes but there was nobody around but him, Timon and Pumbaa. He had never felt more relieved in his life after such a horrible dream. Yet his fears still remained.
It had been a week and that "dream" still haunted him. Simba wasn't even sure it was a dreamed as it felt far too real yet couldn't bring himself to accept such an experience as what really happened. The thought of him, a mighty lion, being some sort of toy for some sadistic snake made him sick to his stomach from humiliation.
In any case, it was still the middle of the night and he had time to catch a few more z's. Luckily, Timon and Pumbaa were still dreaming so Simba climbed back into his leaf hammock and closed his eyes, hoping he'd have a better dream this time. But as he drifted back into dreamland, a pair of sinister yet familiar eyes watched.
Sweet dreams, my kitten. We have a big day tomorrow...
The next morning, Simba decided to go out on his own to gather his breakfast. Timon told him of some slugs near the waterfall that tasted divine. While Simba was more for fruits and -maybe- meat, he was beginning to acquire a taste for slimy insects. All seemed safe until his ears picked up a hissing that froze him in fear. He trembled as he turned around slowly to see where it came from but nothing was behind him.
"Whew," Simba said before turning around, "For a second there, I thought-"
"-it was me?" The python hissed.
Simba's eyes became as wide as dinner plates as his jaw nearly his the ground. There before him was the same big python from his dreams with a smirk on his face. Terror filled the cub's body as his mind told him to scream for help. All that Simba could muster were a few measly whimpers and heavy breathing.
"I see you remember me, my kitten," the python said, taking delight in Simba's fearful state. Flicking his tongue, he could smell the fear in the cub. The delicious, tasty fear.
"Y-y-y-y-you!" Simba began to say with a constant horrified look on his face. "Y-you're t-the snake I dreamed of last week. You're not real. You can't be real! I'm just having a dream I'm bound to awaken from!"
The python laugh maniacally. "So sorry to be the bearer of bad news, my kitten, but you're wide awake now as you were then. Remain in denial all you want but last week, we had quite the time together that really happened. It's hard to accept that a lion like you could be reduced to a mere reptile's plaything but perhaps now, you've learned some humility now."
Simba took one single step back as the python inched closer with him. "B-but why didn't you eat me then?"
"Because, my kitten, the fun would've ended too soon then," the python answered. "Watching my prey suffer before they meet a grizzly end by my stomach acids pleases me immensely. I've seen you put on airs for being a lion and a so called "king of the jungle." Seeing you squirm and gasp for breath in my coils was by all accounts priceless so I wanted your fear to last. I spared you then so I could finish what I started and once I'm satisfied, I'll put you out of your misery. Starting... now."
Before Simba could do anything, his left ankle was coiled by the python's tail and the cub was lifted up into the air to his great shock. He hung upside down as he dangled by his ankle. Simba tried to move his forepaws up to get himself free but then the python started turning him around and around as he coiled the cub up like he was a yo-yo. Soon Simba was back in a cocoon of tight coils he could not escape from. Only his head and toes were exposed as he made a strained look, struggling against the odds to futilely free himself.
"Ahhhh, how I've awaited this moment," the python said. "My heart pounds to see you in agony again. Let's not dillydally, shall we?" He begun his constriction by going full force on the spot.
Simba's eyes nearly bulged out of their eye sockets and his jaw was wide open as his neck was squeezed tightly alone with the rest of his body. He made faint wheezes for any air but he couldn't breath period. His lungs were burning up with his windpipe shut and the agony was unbelievable. Add to that, his body felt the crushing coils' immense pressure, putting him in the greatest pain he ever felt in his life. His mind was in a flurry with panic and despair.
The python laughed sadistically as he looked at Simba's face of agony. "My, my, your majesty. Are you really going to die with such a silly face? One should be more dignified when facing death." He began to loosen the coils a bit more to let the cub breath as Simba made a big gasp to take in as much as a possible. He tighten the coils but this time so Simba could still breath yet feel a strain to it. "There, there, my kitten. It'll soon be all over. My stomach can't wait any longer."
Hearing this, Simba looked up to see the python's head right above him and descending. The hopelessness of the situation sank in: he was food. He dreamed of dying in a glorious confrontation with a prey that'd pose him a true challenge. To be helplessly crushed by a reptile and eaten alive, it all seemed like one big cosmic joke. Tears streamed down the cubs face despite his efforts to hold them back.
"I'll swallow you alive so you can feel the painful process of my stomach acid," the python said, descending closer and closer. "Who knows, maybe if you scream loud enough, I'll let you out. By then, you'd be a horrific mess better of dead but still it'd be priceless." He then began widening his jaws over Simba who shut his eyes to brace himself for the end.
The snake's maw engulfed Simba's head as he started loosening his coils and gulp down the lion cub. In a matter of seconds, he went pass the cub's neck and over his torso and forearms before holding him with his mouth alone. Simba started struggling in a last fit of desperation and flailed his hind legs in the air. He cried out for help but his voice was heavily muffled from inside the snake's throat.
The python sadistically enjoyed the sight of his prey's futile attempts at escape and lifts his head up to let gravity help him swallow Simba in one big gulp. Soon the cub's hind paws sank into his gullet and the bushy tail followed down as Simba's entire body was devoured whole. The python smiles as he feels his meal still trying to move and decides to slither away to rest and digest. He couldn't wait to feel the lion's slow and agonizing death.
Simba slide further and further down the Snake's innards while trying to move only to fit that the tight squeeze was worse that the coils and the air was too thin to breath properly. This doesn't stop the lion from panting out of terror. He couldn't believe this was happening to him and was actively denying it to himself. He couldn't have been eaten just now, he couldn't be inside the body of a slimy snake. Surely it was all just one big dream that he was going to wake up from.
Except it wasn't.
The reality of the situation set in as Simba began to tear up in sadness. He was going to die helplessly and become nourishment to such a vile creature without even putting up a fight. Timon and Pumbaa would never know where he had gone, as though he never existed to begin with.
"Let me go," he whimpered feebly. "I'm not food."
The python continued to slither on as he heard his prey's cries and decided to rub salt in his wounds. "I'm afraid you are, little kitten. That's just the law of the jungle: Eat or be eaten. Not even a lion like you is an exception."
Simba soon slide into the stomach where it was only a matter of time until he was dissolved into nothing and began praying for a miracle...