(I Died and got Reincarnated) My New Life as a Saltwater Crocodile Begins

CH•20 - "Together We Stay, Together We Go"

How far did I fall down to? My whole body is aching. I tried my best to stand and when I looked up, the light coming from the opening outside was too small. It only shows how deep I fell into this hole. How am I gonna climb back up there? It's too far up. What's a deep and wide pit even doing here? Maybe those hunters prepared this trap beforehand. No. They couldn't have. Since they came from the river upstream, they wouldn't have been able to slip past a whole float of crocodiles and dig up a pitfall undetected.

I managed to get up but there wasn't enough space to move around. I could try sticking one side of my body to the walls and another side to the other, and climb my way up in that style, but.... when I tried touching the soily wall with one claw, the earth easily crumbled and fell apart, sliding down my feet. Mhm, right. This is impossible. Maybe I could try digging my way out and aim for the river. But then again, I could also get buried in the process.

Am I gonna be stuck here for the rest of my life?! And, just when I was cowering from the fear of the thought, I hear the sound of wings flapping over me. Looking up, I see the falcon hovering above my head. He must've dove down after me. And, he brought the baby snake too. Yay, I'm saved! Wait, no I'm not! Why did they have to come down here...? They're not big enough, let alone strong enough, to lift me up from this hole. Or, did they perhaps come down with a rescue plan in the ready? It'd be great if that was the case, but I get the feeling that they just followed me here without thinking.

You two should just go back up without me. There's nothing you can do to get me out of here anyway. I'll just find a way out myself. I can manage without food for several days so I should be able to think of something by then. I'll be fine. So, both of you should just go.

I tried telling them that with my mind, but they aren't moving a muscle. The falcon has perched on my head again, and the baby snake is slithering back and forth on my back. I thought they could hear my thoughts, but I guess I was wrong. Or, maybe only crocodiles can hear me.

You guys...... Seriously, just leave me be. You'll only starve here if you stay with me. I tried telling them to leave again with my mind, but to no luck. The falcon and the snake are both insistent on sticking close to me. Grrr... fine then, I'll just force you to leave.

I thrash around in the small space, slamming my tail on the walls and the ground. The falcon stays away from me but he remains hovering in the air. He's not flying back up to the surface at all. The snake, on the other hand, falls off my back and hides under me. Why aren't you both leaving? I try to make a show of force and bite the air in front of the falcon to scare him into flying away, but he only jumps in surprise and continues to hover in the air near me. As for the snake, I could easily crush him by flopping down in place, but I want to scare him, not instantly kill him.

Why are the two of you so clingy towards me...? I can understand the baby snake since I was the first thing it saw when it hatched so it may have imprinted on me, but I don't get why the falcon would bother with someone like me...... If he feels indebted to me in some way because I saved him from the eagle a while back and it wants to stay close to me until he pays me back, then he doesn't have to worry about that. I only saved him because I was biased on having a peregrine falcon as my favorite bird. If my favorite bird was an eagle, I would've rooted for the eagle instead.

Go on, already. Just save yourselves......... You two... aren't leaving anytime soon, are you? ......... (*sigh*) I give up. Stay here and starve with me if you want. I'm sure you'll just get back up to the surface once your hunger reaches its limit.

But then, when the falcon was about to perch on my head again, the ground began to shake. An earthquake? No, it must be due to all the thrashing I did that the whole area is collapsing. Dirt and hardened soil rain down on us. Grabbing hold of the wall, I stand on two legs at a reclined angle and act as an umbrella to cover the falcon and the snake from the falling rocks and dirt. At the very least, I want to protect them from the mess I made by my foolish actions if it's the last thing I do.

I look down and see the falcon covering the baby snake with his wings. I'm sorry... If only I didn't lash out on you two, this wouldn't have happened. You just wanted to stay close to me, didn't you? I shouldn't have tried to force you to leave. If we get through this somehow... I want to properly thank you for everything.

My grip slowly loosens as the wall I'm holding onto collapses and I fall down, but I make sure to lean to the side so as to not crush the two small animals under me with my weight. The light from above is disappearing. We're about to be buried under earth and darkness. Even though the falcon could've easily flown back up to safety along with the baby snake, he chose to stay here with me. The snake might've done the same and decided to stay as well.

If this is what you two really want and you're both fully resolved to go through with this, then... alright. I won't force you away anymore. Whatever happens, wherever we go, from here on out, we stay together!

Before long, all three of us have been buried alive.