- Dr. Anton Rudolph: You have no idea what you're up against.
- Bart Parker: You don't know my men.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: This is not some garden snake you're going after. We are talking about a perfect killing machine. A 129-foot all-terrain vehicle capable of speeds exceeding 50 miles an hour with skin that can deflect an antitank round, enhanced night vision and a voracious appetite for human flesh. It will slaughter your men before they have a chance to blink.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Already I had fixed my gaze upon him and he rose upright with breast in countenance, as if he entertained some great scorn of hell.
- Kristin: Look, let's just wait it out. Sooner or later it's bound to get hungry.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: You must understand, it's still basically a snake. Even at its size, it can go without a month without feeding right outside that door.
- John Cooper: There's not enough food in here to wait that long. And if it did decide to leave, where do you think it would go?
- Kristin: Ruby. Oh, my God. The whole town is like an all-you-can-eat special.
- John Cooper: And I sure don't want to wait around here to see what's gonna happen. So what do you say? How about it?
- Theresa: Well, I say we kill the motherfucker.
- John Cooper: [to his brother] No time to explain, Bri. Let's just say there's this little...
- Kristin, Greg Larsen, Theresa: LITTLE?
- John Cooper: Big, big thing after us.
- Theresa's Shirt: I helped kill a giant python and all I got was this lousy t-shirt!
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: What is this place?
- Dootsen: It's an emergency water treatment facility, fully automated. The Army Corps of Engineers built it underground so it'd be secure even in the event of a nuclear war. It'll keep your snake out.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Let me see if I got this straight. You boys--what department did you say you were from again?
- Dootsen: NSA.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Okay. So you got this...
- Bart Parker: An operative.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Yeah, an operative. This real Rambo type.
- Dootsen: This guy makes Rambo look like Richard Simmons.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Uh-huh, and you've had this man locked up in a cage since 1974?
- Bart Parker: In a metal box.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: In a metal box in a military psychiatric unit. And somehow he escaped, and he's the one that done all these murders?
- Bart Parker: That's about the size of it. Any questions?
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Just one. Do you expect me to believe this load of horseshit?
- Bart Parker: Let me put it this way, Sheriff. It would be highly expedient if you would believe this horseshit.
- Bart Parker: What the hell have you gotten us into?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: This is horrible. Such a loss.
- Dootsen: You knew those men?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: No, no, no, not the men. The specimen. You can always get more men, but the specimen... the specimen is irreplaceable.
- Bart Parker: What exactly do you do, Doctor?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: I'm a herpetologist.
- Bart Parker: So you specialize in reptiles.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Mm-hmm.
- Bart Parker: Is that what Biogene was transporting?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Not in the traditional sense, no. What, um... What we had was something unique. An evolutionary chimera of immense physiological scale. Something with unparalleled abilities and characteristics. A hybrid, if you will, integrated from a variety of distinct serpentine species.
- Bart Parker: You hide behind a lot of big words, Doctor, but what you just said still doesn't tell us what we need to know. We know the flight originated in Southeast Asia. The authorization came from the State Department for the use of a transport out of Guam. But nowhere in the manifest is there so much as a mention of exactly what it was you were transporting. So I'm asking you, Doctor, in simple laymen's terms... what was it?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Well, in simple laymen's terms... a very big snake.
- Bart Parker: Why would Biogene want a giant snake?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Calling it a snake misses the point. As I said, it was unique. Just the study of how it projects it's corrosive digestive fluids could prove invaluable for military applications.
- Dootsen: This thing pukes acid?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Well, you could put it that way, yes. What it actually does is to draw up its stomach acid into sacs located here. Once there, it contracts those sacs with powerful muscles, which allow it to shoot this highly caustic acid with incredible force, much like a cobra spits its venom to subdue its prey.
- Dootsen: Look at these. The cockpit hatch was torn open wide enough to birth a whale through.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Yes, it's size and strength were impressive, but now your people have managed to kill it.
- Bart Parker: Maybe not. Looks like your pet might have some life left in him.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: What?
- Bart Parker: There were no remains found in the wreckage, human or otherwise.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: It would only have eaten those men if they were still alive.
- Dootsen: Are you saying this thing ate the crew and survived the plane crash?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Yes, it's possible. But if it's still alive, then we have a chance to capture it and perhaps...
- Bart Parker: Kill it!
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Agent Parker, this specimen is a biological gold mine. The DNA alone is worth millions.
- Bart Parker: You can scrape your DNA off whatever's left. We've already lost an entire flight crew, and by now we may even have collateral losses.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Collateral losses? That's a rather antiseptic way of describing death, don't you think?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Keep it small. I want this thing solved before anyone even knew there was a problem.
- Dootsen: I'm on it.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: You have no idea what you're up against.
- Bart Parker: You don't know my men.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: This is not some garden snake you're going after. We are talking about a perfect killing machine. A 129-foot all-terrain vehicle capable of speeds exceeding 50 miles an hour, with skin that can deflect an anti-tank round, enhanced night vision, and a voracious appetite for human flesh. It will slaughter your men before they have a chance to blink.
- Bart Parker: Here's the crash site. Our position is here. Bodies have been found here, here and here. This, we believe, is our target.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: You don't have enough men.
- Bart Parker: That's not your concern. This team will do what they were trained for. After that, I don't care if you carve up the carcass and open up a rib joint. Bottom line: this thing dies today.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: You don't seem to realize the opportunity you're wasting here. Consider the potential for weapons research. New neurotoxins. Antidotes for those created by your enemies. Intriguing, Mr. Parker?
- Bart Parker: I'm not as mercenary as you may think, Doctor. I am concerned with the loss of life. Now, I didn't know that flight crew, but once I signed on to this little scheme of yours, they became my men. No one else dies because of this thing. Do you understand that?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Oh yes, I understand. I just hope your snake here does.
- Bart Parker: The satellite passes over only once every three hours. The next pass is in 72 minutes from now. When that occurs, I want us to be in position. Once we have confirmed location of the target, we'll take it out. I want this thing nailed before dark.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Excuse me. What's this here? This red line?
- Bart Parker: Uh, Radar echo.
- Bart Parker: Local law enforcement has established roadblocks that all major access points on our perimeter. Dootsen will coordinate operations from here. I will be leading Alpha team down this approach. Bravo team, you'll flank the perimeter. Stay in contact. Once we have a lock, we'll dig in and start shelling the hell out of this thing. When we have a confirmed kill, we'll go in and mop up.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Stand by, everyone. Birds in position, downloading.
- Bart Parker: Dootsen, status.
- Sheriff Griffin Wade: Target appears stationary at the original coordinates. Same as before.
- Bart Parker: It hasn't moved in three hours. That seem right to you?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Well, it's consumed a great deal lately, far exceeding it's normal diet. It's possible that the high-caloric intake has induced a respite in its metabolic activities.
- Bart Parker: Meaning?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: It's having a little siesta.
- Soldier: Kill confirmed. Target destroyed. We blew the guts out of it, sir.
- [Parker takes the soldiers rifle and realizes that it's the snakes shedded skin]
- Bart Parker: It shed its skin. You knew this. You knew it was molting.
- [Pulls out his handgun]
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: No, no, no, I didn't. No, I didn't. I-I-I swear.
- [Parker pins him against a tree]
- Bart Parker: I should turn you into snake bait.
- Dootsen: What happened?
- Bart Parker: It was a setup. The snake shed its skin, and the doctor knew it.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: No, I didn't know. I suspected, based on the surveillance photos, but I couldn't be certain.
- Soldier: But, sir, it was here. I saw it move.
- Bart Parker: We were decoyed.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: I warned you it was intelligent. I told you, this isn't just some common snake.
- Dootsen: Well, if it was here then where is it now?
- [the snake attacks a soldier]
- Bart Parker: Fan out! Take cover! Protect yourselves!
- John Cooper: Stupid. So blind. Stupid. Wrong. Blind.
- [John and Kristin discover him in shock]
- John Cooper: Who the hell is he?
- Kristin: Hello? Sir?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Already I had fixed my gaze upon him. And he rose upright, with breast in countenance, as if he entertained some great scorn of hell. Python.
- Kristin: He's in shock.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: So blind. So wrong. Not until I stared in its eyes and saw the terror around me. Not until then did I... Did I realize what I'd done.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Maybe it evolved naturally. Maybe it's been out there all along and we just never knew it. Perhaps it's some kind of mutation. We certainly dumped enough Agent Orange on Southeast Asia during the war.
- Kristin: But if it has all these features from all these different kinds of snakes like you say it does, it couldn't have evolved naturally.
- John Cooper: Yeah, but maybe it didn't. Maybe it was created in some kind of secret government operation. What? I've seen it a hundred times in the movies. They're always doing stuff like that, right?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: Well, actually, he's correct. We considered the possibility ourselves. We just never knew. That's why we were so eager to get it back to the lab to examine it.
- [looking at an arsenal of weapons]
- John Cooper: Look at all this stuff. Are you telling me you couldn't take it out with all this?
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: They never had a chance. They emptied their entire arsenal at a shed skin.
- John Cooper: [picks up a rocket launcher] There's no way the snake could take this much heat.
- Dr. Anton Rudolph: If you could hit it.