Q: The Serpent God

***Q: The Serpent God*** is the eighth episode of the third season of the thriller horror docudrama found-footage television series Lost Tapes. It originally aired on Animal Planet on October 26, 2010 and was directed by Douglas Segal. This episode is the third and last episode in the Enigma Corporation storyarc that started off from Zombies and Strigoi Vampire.

## Plot

In Spring 2008, in response to a series of ritualistic murders in which the victims' hearts were cut out, the Mexico City police department hired the Enigma Corporation to investigate.

Agents Noel Connor and Elise Mooney were dispatched, accompanied by Dr. Nadja Santo, an expert on cult activities, and Santiago Vargas, an informant with ties to the murderers. During their briefing, Santo points out that the Aztec numeral for 52, which is significant to Aztec religion, is painted on the walls where the bodies were found. It is also clear that the victims were murdered elsewhere, as there was little blood where the bodies were found. They plan to have Vargas make contact with two of the alleged murderers, including the leader, Lucas Marzo, a local businessman who has ties to cult activity.

Connor confiscates an obsidian knife that Vargas has, which Marzo has told him to bring, and tells Vargas to tell the cult members to meet him tomorrow instead so that the Enigma Corporation can arrest them. Marzo becomes furious when Vargas tells him that he does not have the knife and tells him to meet the cult at Los Portales, an abandoned train depot, at 11 o'clock that night. Vargas tries to get out of the deal, but Connor and Mooney will not let him.

After arriving at Los Portales, Vargas tells them that it was built on top of Aztec ruins, and that anyone who comes there is putting their life in grave danger. Connor tells him there is nothing to worry about, and Santo gives him the knife with which to bribe the cult members. Suddenly, Vargas takes Santo hostage, claiming that they do not understand what they are dealing with. Connor convinces Vargas to let Santo go, which he does, and he runs off.

Mooney uses bolt cutters to open another gate into a warehouse where they believe the murderers are hiding, and need something that will stick with the local laws or else the cult will get away with its crimes and continue to kill more innocent people. Shortly before midnight, they split up and enter the warehouse. Connor and Mooney hear chanting and suspect that the ritual is already underway. Santo, meanwhile, comes upon what appears to be a nest made out of hay and finds the mutilated body of Woody Shields, a young tourist who was murdered in the beginning of the episode and whose just being found now. Then, she is suddenly attacked from behind. Connor and Mooney discover a bizarre sight: men wearing masks are patrolling around a sacrificial altar, and they see that Santo has been captured and is about to be sacrificed.

They try to save her and place the entire cult under arrest, but there is a sudden explosion and a loud, inhuman screech as the lights go out. They see that all of the cult members have inexplicably died and discover the body of Marzo, who was the one who killed and sacrificed Santo. They suddenly hear strange screeching and hissing in the darkness, and see the shadow of a huge, bat-like wing against the lights on their guns. They open fire at the creature, but do not seem to hit it and run away to find cover. As they hide, Mooney looks at the creature through a night vision camera. She sees the creature, which is still obscured by the darkness, as it flies at them. Seconds later, they see that the creature has disappeared.

They decide to try to lure the creature to the altar so that they can try to kill it. Mooney begins banging the obsidian knife that Marzo used to kill Santo against her gun to try to attract it. Suddenly, the creature emerges in full view of their cameras, looking like an enormous snake with wings and covered in feathers, and they open fire on it when Mooney stabs it with the dagger. What the creature was and what happened to it remains unknown, and the Mexican government burned Los Portales to the ground. Marzo was posthumously convicted of all the killings, including the murder of Santo, and Connor and Mooney escaped with minimal injuries.