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This story belongs to my new series: 1000 Words: Picture Stories. If a picture is worth a thousand words, can I paint a scene with the same limitation? The stories in this folder are self-contained, and not interrelated, other than the requirement that they contain exactly 1000 words.

Exhausted from playing, she lies in the burrow, sleeping with her two brothers and her sister. Their mother had gone with the other lionesses to hunt, stowing the young cubs in the cool den for protection. The midday sun is hot, but the dark earthen walls are comforting, like her mother's womb. Gentle light filters in through the circular entrance.

She is proud to be a lion. She has watched her mother and her aunts hunt, triumphant over their helpless prey. She will be at the apex of life, and all would fear her, save the crocodiles. Her tail twitches in anticipation. She falls asleep, dreaming of the future, hunting at her sister's side.

Waking suddenly, it is dark. Something is wrong, and she looks at the entrance to the burrow, but it is blocked by a heavy shadow. The faintest light seeps through a crack in the strange, new wall. She cries out, her roar sounding more like a bird's chirp, but surely her mother would hear. The other cubs stir.

Her eyes adjust. The wall is not a wall at all, but a python. The massive snake had slithered into the den, its bulky body blocking the small entrance. She chirps frantically for her mother, instinctively aware of the danger. Turning back, she sees her young sister blinking her eyes as she tries to see in the unnaturally dark hollow. The young cub is taken completely by surprise as the smooth motions of the snake wrap around her warm body.

She watches in horror as her sister yelps, suddenly aware of the python's presence, but it is too late. Its sinuous coils circle the cub's body, squeezing tight. She and her brothers stand back, paralyzed. She turns to the tunnel entrance and tries to scrambled through the small gap, but the snake's massive stomach is too formidable. She claws at its tough hide to no effect; she is simply too small. Her jaws are not large enough to get a solid grip on the reptile.

The four cubs are trapped and helpless, and all she can do is continue to cry for her mother as she watches the deadly python. The snake pulls itself tighter around her sister's chest, ignoring the cub's futile struggles. She gasps for breath, each exhale allowing the snake to constrict even tighter, until the cub can no longer breathe at all, her eyes staring blankly as she lies cradled by the deadly creature.

Their mother is too late to save her sister. She meets the cub's eyes and watches the life drain from them as she suffocates, held tight by its colossal coils. Fading too with the cubs dulling eyes are the remaining female's dreams. She would never hunt with her sister, scouring the savannah for anything foolish enough to tangle with lions. She would hunt alone. Unless her mother did not come soon. Then she would join her sister, no lion at all, just a python's meal.

Releasing the dead cub, the snake slithers around until it hovers over her lifeless head. Relaxing its jaw, the creature pulls its food headfirst into its maw, the limp body offering no resistance. The three remaining cubs watch, trembling as their once vibrant sister is drawn deeper into the snake's throat, bulging in its throat. Only her rump, tail, and hind legs dangle out of its mouth. The tip of her tail is the last they see of their sister, now just a bulge in the creature's stomach.

The python strikes quickly, grabbing one of her stunned brothers in its jaws before wrapping itself around the struggling cub. Like her sister before him, his life is squeezed from his body as his siblings helplessly watch. Once their brother finally dies shuddering for air, the snake doesn't hesitate to take the cub's head in its mouth, pulling him inexorably into its belly. In moments, their brother is nothing more than a second insignificant bulge; just food for a snake.

Whimpered cries still unmet, the terrified lion cubs watch the snake turn its attention back to them. She flees, trying to run anywhere in the small den. She knows that she only needs to escape longer than her brother, but she suddenly feels the snake's weight bearing down on her. Its soft jaws grip her neck, holding her helpless despite her struggles. No, not yet! Where was her mother? It can't end like this, she is supposed to hunt the wild beasts of the plains!

She tries to stand, but is wrapped up in the creature's flexible body. Its muscles press up against her, squeezing around her ribcage. She lies still and holds her breath, knowing that the snake means to suffocate her, and that her struggles would only speed that up. Her only hope lies with her one remaining sibling and his frantic calls for help. Their mother could still save them!

Eventually she must breathe, and she exhales as little as possible before inhaling. The snake's powerful muscles contract, preventing much of the air she desperately needs from entering her lungs. She sees the bulge in the snake's stomach pressed up against her, and wonders idly whether it is her sister or her brother. She tries to sneak another breath, but again, the coils tighten. Try as she might, she cannot expand her lungs against the enormous pressure squeezing around her.

Her lungs are fully deflated now, and there will be no more oxygen for her. Her mind grows hazy as the pins and needles prick every part of her body, demanding she breathe. Everything grows dim and she thinks about her cruel demise. She is a lion, meant to rule the wilds, yet she would soon join her two siblings as bulges in a python's gut, her fate to be a small portion to a larger meal. The last thing she sees before her vision fades is her brother, trembling as he waits patiently for the inevitable. Their mother isn't coming. He is next.