Updated Script

Alexandria Murray

Viper Updated

                  One of the zoo keepers alerts Juda that the snake tank has been broken into. Juda is confused as to why someone would break into the viper enclosure. Juda quickly runs to the enclosure hoping the reptiles are okay. She steps on the broken glass and looks into the tank. Most of the vipers were gone. Juda hears laughing and before she knows it she is pushed into the tank with the remaining vipers. While she is falling she looks up and sees a tall man in a trench like coat. She is bitten by one of the vipers and collapses.   She wakes up in the middle of the night and stumbles home.

            She limps through an alleyway where she stumbles upon the first crime scene accidently. The Tailor quickly flees the crime scene laughing and Juda runs to the victim. Juda whispers “I know that laugh.” She sees the victims face and discovers that his eyes are replaced with buttons and his mouth is sewn shut. She reaches down and picks up the first clue which is a button with the letter T on it.

Judas stamina returns and she is confused on why she is not dead. She looks up from the dead body and quickly scans the area. She discovers that she can track living creatures through heat signatures. She follows the heat patterns to her next clue.

            These heat patterns lead her to a garbage can. Juda opens the garbage can to find a discarded needle and ball of thread. The thread is covered in the victim's blood. But Juda is able to pick up another person's scent on the thread. She quickly follows the scent which leads her down another alley. She finds herself standing in front of a closed suit shop.

The back door is open slightly. She hears a thud. She quickly peeks around the door and sees the same tall figure standing over another body. She stealthily slinks behind the counter and peers over it. Juda thinks to herself “how am I moving like this? I’m normally a complete klutz.” The man pulls out a gun and shoots the victim in the head with a loud bang. Juda gasps and immediately takes action. Her pupils become slits and her animal instincts kick in. She jumps out from behind the counter and tackles the man to the ground. The gun goes flying. The Tailor quickly jumps up, pulls out his knife and stabs Juda in the chest. Juda falls to the ground with a hiss. The Tailor looks at her with his head tilted. The police sirens fill the night air. The Tailor looks to Juda and says cheekily "I am afraid I will have to pencil you in for a second fitting" and takes off. Juda returns to her feet and grabs the shell and begins to make her way home.

            Juda realizes that the knife is still in her chest and she slowly pulls it out. There is no blood and barely any damage. Her scales took most of the blow. She is confused again; she had escaped death twice in one day. She opened the door to her apartment. She steps inside; she has several large tanks with exotic snakes. She opens the one tank and takes out her reticulated python and steps out onto the balcony.

            She looks at the knife and sees that her python is smelling it. She lowers her head and mimics her python. The handle of the knife did have a strange scent. It was almost over powering. The average person could not pick up a scent like that, but somehow she could. She looked in the mirror and realized she resembled a snake. She had scales and snake pupils. Even her tongue resembled that of a snake. Juda opened her mouth further and saw fangs. She has a flashback to being bitten in the zoo. Being bitten by that viper must have altered her DNA.

            She quickly changes her clothing. She looks at herself once more in the mirror and says "I am Viper." She catapults off of her balcony and scales down her building. She pulls out the shell from the bullet, the button and the knife and stares at them. She smells the knife again. It smells faintly of Red Dragon Rum. There was only one bar that served that. She sprinted to the local pub. She stealthily snuck through the back door. Everyone was very still. It was so quite. They almost looked like mannequins. She turned one guy around and realized his eyes had been replaced with buttons and his mouth had been sewn shut.  Everyone was dead. A tall figure finished his shot, laughed and threw a match to the ground. The Tailor looks to Viper and says “Your eyes, they’re as cute as buttons my dear!” The Tailor giggles and disappears in the smoke. Viper jumps out of the window and watches as the building goes up in flames.

            Viper spots the tall man and quickly chases him down an alleyway. She turns the corner and sees him standing stock still; they were at a dead end. She shouts out "OK pal there is no where left to go!" She swiftly walks up to him. She then turns him around quickly and punches him in the face. His head falls right off and Viper lets out a gasp. It was just a mannequin. Viper is in disbelief. "How did he know I would follow him here? How did he have time to set this all up? Who is this man?"

            She looks up and it begins to rain. She looks at the mannequin and notices that the button eyes have T's on them as well. She had seen this T on the shell, all of the buttons and the knife! This man was obviously very good and sewing and had a fascination with buttons. Her eyes go wide. "The button factory!"

            She sprints to the button factory. It is an abandoned building that is closed off by a tall locked gate. It is now pitch dark, there are no street lights. Viper uses her night vision and looks up at the gate to see a torn piece of jacket flapping in the wind.

            She looks at her hands these protective scales allow her to quickly climb the gate without hurting herself. She takes the piece of jacket and spots blood. She uses her night vision and her heightened sense of smell and follows the trail of blood to the back of the building. There is a window that is creaked open. There is no way a human could fit through it. Viper’s incredible flexibility and serpent like structure allows her to flatten and squeeze herself through the tight space. She falls from the window and lands right on her feet.

            She sees the tall man giggling and talking to his next victim. The woman looks terrified. Viper quickly climbs one of the factory beams. Her eyes glow in the dark and her pupils now become slits from pure concentration. She drops on top of The Tailor. He is stunned and dazed. They begin to fight. Viper uses all of her abilities but still isn't able to take The Tailor down. Viper hisses. Tailor has Viper pinned to the ground and says “oh don’t have a hissy fit!” In a last attempt to survive Viper bites him on the neck. The Tailor stumbles back and collapses to the floor. The Tailor looks up at her and giggles saying “Well, well what a fitting end to my story." Viper stands up realizing her final power and frees the victim. Police sirens once more fill the air and Viper takes off into the night.

            Viper is back at her apartment. She takes out her python once more. She looks at the python and says "You know I always knew I was one of you." Sirens fill the air again, the snake slithers off her shoulders, her face turns into a smirk, her pupils dilate to slits, she hisses and then dramatically jumps off the balcony. Screen fades to black.