Emily was four years old.

  And she was bored.

  Nothing is more dangerous than a bored four years-old.

  The installation hummed with the low, constant sound of machinery doing important things, and every adult she’d asked so far had said the same thing.

  Not now.

  Later.

  Go find someone else.

  She padded down the corridor in socks that didn’t quite match, dragging a stuffed animal by one ear, peering into rooms where people stared at screens or argued in quiet, serious voices.

  Then she found them.

  Three men sitting on overturned crates in a maintenance alcove, a deck of cards spread between them. They weren’t talking about anything important. They weren’t even looking busy. One of them was cheating badly and doing a terrible job of hiding it.

  Emily stopped.

  She tilted her head.

  “What are you doing?” she asked.

  All three men looked up at once, startled — and then relaxed.

  John was the first to smile.

  “Cards,” he said, like this explained everything.

  “Can I play?” Emily asked immediately.

  The men glanced at one another. Scott shrugged. James sighed in a way that suggested surrender rather than annoyance.

  John patted his knee. “C’mere.”

  She climbed up without hesitation and settled herself on his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world, kicking her feet and peering at the cards with great seriousness.

  “What are your names?” she asked, pointing at James.

  The man answered first. “James.”

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Scott,” Scott said.

  John tapped the card deck once. “John.”

  She nodded, committing this to memory. Then she frowned.

  “Why are you called the Snakes?”

  Scott leaned back. “Because we hiss at people who bother us.”

  “That’s not true,” James said.

  John thought for a moment. “Because we’re very sneaky.”

  Emily considered this gravely. “You don’t look sneaky.”

  “Well,” Scott said, “we don’t look like snakes either.”

  She accepted this logic instantly.

  “Are you poisonous?” she asked.

  James raised an eyebrow. “Sometimes.”

  Emily looked impressed.

  She shifted on John’s lap, pointing at James. “Which snake are you?”

  James smiled, “Cobra, the poisonous one.”

  She then looked at John, “and you?”

  John smiled, his hand mimicking a snake. “Viper, the quickest one.”

  She turned to Scott then.

  Scott grinned. “Python. The biggest one there is.”

  Her face fell. “Oh.”

  John felt it before he saw it.

  The disappointment, sharp and sudden.

  James cleared his throat and whispered. “I will tell you a secret - There’s a bigger one.”

  Emily looked at him, eyes wide. “There is?”

  James nodded solemnly. “In the Amazon.”

  “Yes, bigger than a house.” Scott joined in.

  Emily’s eyes widened. “Really?”

  John smiled. “Yes, a Boa.”

  She beamed.

  “That’s me!” she said at once. “When I grow up.”

  Scott laughed. “You want to be the biggest snake in the world?”

  Emily nodded fiercely. “Bigger than all of you.”

  James arched his eyebrow as he smiled. “Kid’s going places.”

  John ruffled her hair gently. “Careful. Big snakes have big responsibilities.”

  She thought about this, then nodded again. “That’s okay.”

  “Really?” John asked, smiling.

  “Really.” She huffed seriously.

  As seriously as any four years-old can muster.

  James chuckled.

  “Alright, Big Snake.” He said seriously, “why don’t you deal us in?”

  They went back to their cards.

  Emily “helped” by handing cards to the wrong people and announcing loudly when someone was winning.

  John dealt her in.

  Whoever wins, she wins.

  She screamed in delight.

  At one point she shrieked gleefully and grabbed the spare cards Scott have secreted in his pocket.

  James laughed as John roared.

  The guys truly loved having her around.

  For a little while, no one needed them.

  Eventually, a voice crackled over a comm unit, calling them back to work.

  “Uh-oh,” John said to Emily.

  James stood first. Scott gathered the cards.

  John set Emily down carefully on her feet.

  She looked up at them, serious again.

  “Don’t go,” she said.

  John turned around.

  He crouched to her level and ruffled her hair playfully. “We’ll be back.”

  “Promise?”

  He smiled, the kind of smile that didn’t make promises lightly. “Promise.”

  She nodded, satisfied, and ran off down the corridor, socks whispering against the floor.

  The three men watched her go.

  Scott exhaled. “She’s gonna be trouble.”

  James nodded. “Big trouble.”

  John said nothing.

  He just watched until she disappeared around the corner.

  “Biggest snake in the world.” Scott said.

  James looked to John solemnly.

  “She’s yours now.”

  John did not reply.

  He picked up his rifle.

  “Alright,” he said. “Let’s go.”