<em>Elijah continued on talking about natural caves and various elements.  As was often the case, this "new" train of thought completely derailed his previous thoughts and he almost forgot why he was heading towards the beach, until he caught sight of Desmond.<br/><br/>"Thank God, Desmond.  Glad to see you're alright, where's Tony?"</em><br/><br/>(http://www.afpmb.org/pubs/living_hazards/M1PSYCHE.jpg)<br/><br/>It seemed like it happened in an instant.  Before Elijah could even get the word "snake" out, it struck Desmond just above the knee.  Nearly as quickly, Charlie pushed Elijah to the side and hit it with a stick, striking it square on the head, stunning it.  Charlie reached out and calmly broke its neck while it lay there stunned.<br/><br/>"Fuck!" was Elijah's response.  Not so much at Charlie's maneuver, which was damn impressive to say the least, but at the dead snake.<br/><br/>"Poisonous?" asked Charlie.<br/><br/>"Yeah.  Well, sort of.  I've seen these before.  I wasn't aware that we had a population of them on this island, but they are nasty buggers.  Their poison is a standard paralytic neurotoxin.  The poison itself won't kill you, but if enough got into him to stop his heart and lungs from working well enough, then he'll die slowly over time.  Otherwise, we just have to keep him warm and dry and let the paralytic run its course.  He'll be comatose during the meantime.  I can feel a faint heartbeat still, so at least we know he's still with us.  Let's get him back to his hut and make him comfortable."<br/><br/>With Charlie's help, Elijah managed to heft the unconscious Desmond back to his hut.  The hut itself had sustained minor damage, but nothing that looked imminently dangerous.  Together they cleaned the wound and wrapped it with some of Elijah's poultice herbs.  Covering Desmond with the remains of a blanket and some large leaves, they exited the hut.<br/><br/>"Charlie, we're going to need a good supply of fresh water.  Could you head over to the lagoon and see what you can collect.  I'm going to head in the direction that Desmond was coming from.  Hopefully, Tony is out that way somewhere.  Hopefully, he's still in one piece."<br/>