NaNoWriMo: Day 3

Rhodes saw the thing first and let out a scream that was inaudible over the din of country music. It was the look on his face that alerted Jerry and Leland that something was amiss. When he saw that he had their attention he pointed toward the doors of the Florida Room and that was when they saw the gator, it’s mouth agape as though it were trying to cool itself.

Jerry and Leland scrambled for their shotguns which were woefully out of reach at that moment. The gator who’s senses were not dulled by fatigue and alcohol was faster than the men and scrambled to block the path between them and their firearms. It was mocking them, preventing them from their only means of dispatching it.

Rhodes could not believe what he was seeing. He wondered how the beast had made it’s way up to the house without getting caught in one of the bear traps they’d set out. It was like the thing was smarter than a normal gator. Maybe it was smarter than they were.

“What are we going to do?” he asked, he voice rising in panic.

“We gotta get to them gun.” Jerry said.

“You got any ideas how the hell we’re gonna do that?” Rhodes asked, looking at the gator.

“Somebody’s gonna have to make a break for the shotguns.” Jerry replied.

“Great. A suicide mission.” Rhodes said. “What are we gonna do? Draw straws?”

“I’ll do it.” Leland said, walking forward. “I’m the fastest.”

Jerry grabbed his arm. “Lee, you ain’t gotta do this.”

“Sure I do. We gotta get this thing outta Rhodes’ house. I owe him one.”

Jerry raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“That’s between me and Rhodes. Don’t you worry about that.”

Rhodes couldn’t believe that Leland hadn’t even told his twin brother about their secret. He was glad, but still surprised.

Leland crouched down and eyed the table where the shotguns lay. If he could sprint over to them, he could hop up onto the table and them leap back over to the relative safety of the other side of the room. The reality of the situation however was that no part of the room was really safe because the gator could choose to make a break for them at any moment.

He took a deep breath and sprinted for the guns. The gators turned his head, but didn’t seem very interested in what Leland was doing. Leland grabbed the guns and then in one deft motion jumped up on the table and lept back across the room. At the same time, the gator decided that it was bored with the room and sauntered out the door.

The men were flabbergasted.

“What the hell do you think it did that for?” Leland asked as he tried to catch his breath.

“I have no idea. You think we ought to try and go after it?” Rhodes asked.

“No.” Jerry replied. “Go lock the door. Turn on the porch light. Then I think we best go to bed and look at the video in the morning. At least then we can take that to the game warden and plead our case.”

But they wouldn’t be getting any sleep that night, for as soon as they turned on the porch light they found the gator, all twelve feet of it, lounging on the porch, as though it owned the place.

“What is it doing?”

“I don’t know.”

“Have you ever seen anything like this?”

“Never.”

It was at this moment that the gator decided that it wanted to be back inside the house really badly as it began ramming the glass doors. The men, being wise, had enough sense to exit the Florida Room and lock themselves in an upstairs bathroom. It wasn’t long before they heard glass shattering and the gator was once again in the house.

Rhodes looked at Leland.

“You don’t think it can climb the stairs, do you?”

“It might be too slick.”

Jerry looked at the other two men. “We have guns. Why are we huddled here like cowards. Why don’t we try to shoot it again?

Leland looked at Jerry. “At this point I’m a little afraid of riling it any more. We haven’t done anything to it yet and it’s already broken the door down. What’s it going to do if we start shooting at it?”

“Still, hadn’t we ought to try to kill it?”

“Alright, let’s go. But Rhodes, you stay here. Ain’t no sense in all of us getting ate by some gator. And how’d your mama take it?”

Rhodes stayed in the bedroom while Jerry and Leland went to the top of the stairs to confront the gator. He felt like a coward doing it, but he knew that Jerry and Leland were much better equipped to take on the creature than he was. He’d been hunting a few times with his daddy, but if his previous encounter with the gator had taught him anything it was that he wasn’t a particularly good shot. Of course it could have been that this gator was just particularly hard to kill.

Jerry and Leland were gone for minutes that seemed to drag on like days when Rhodes finally heard some commotion from the bottom of the stairs. There were two shotgun blasts and a scream. Before he could decide what to do, he heard Leland calling for him.

“Rhodes! Call an ambulance! The gator’s got Jerry!”

Rhodes mind began to race.

He didn’t know whether or not to run down stairs and so he grabbed the bedside phone and called 9-1-1, all the while wondering how in the hell the gator managed to get ahold of one of them.

By the time the law and the paramedics arrived at Herlin Hall, Jerry had lost a lot of blood and everyone was wondering if he was going to make it or not. He was probably going to lose his leg in any case. When he and Leland had descended the stairs the gator had been lying in wait for them just out of view and poor Jerry’s foot was the first to hit the ground. It had waited for them. Leland got off two rounds at it before it slunked out the way it came, but not before it laid waste to Jerry’s leg.

Now they were officially at war with the beast.

Two days later Buckley Wolf arrived uninvited and unannounced at the dock of Herlin Hall in an air boat. He brought with him a change of clothes, a shotgun, and various harpoons and hooks on heavy lines. He was a massive man with broad shoulders, dark skin, and waist length black hair. When he got off the boat it was easy to see that he stood at least six and a half feet tall. He wore great black work boots that laced halfway up his powerful calves, jeans, and faded blue checkered flannel shirt. His chestnut colored eyes were bright as bright as his smile. It was apparent that he was some sort of Indian.

“Seminole” he confirmed, when Rhodes questioned him about his origins. “I come from the Res down south. Heard about your gator problem and thought I could lend a hand.”

“You heard about my gator problem on the Res?”

            “Word travels fast. That and my daddy sent me. He used to do business with your daddy.” He smiled.

Rhodes ears perked up at this. “Who’s your daddy, son?”

“Hansford Wolf, sir.”

“Well, I’ll be. He was a good man.”

Leland looked him up and down. “Just how old are you son? We aren’t lookin’ for any thrill seekers. This is serious business. One man’s been killed and my brother’s on his way to dyin. What are your qualifications?”

“Well, sir, I’m 21 years old. I’m not a thrill seeker. I’ve been hunting and trapping in South Florida with my Daddy since I was about 12 years old. Just last winter I was helped bring down a gator that was causing quite a disturbance in Collier County. You can call down there and ask the Sherriff for a reference if you’d like. I’m sure he’d be more than happy to vouch for my qualifications. The Sherriff’s Offices of Hendry, Lee, and Glades Counties will vouch for me as well, if you'”

Leland sucked his teeth. “Right. But you said helped. Where’s the rest of your team?”

Buckley smiled. “I tend to work with the locals. I reckon y’all are my team if you’re who’re going after the gator.”

“Right,” said Leland. He looked at Rhodes. “Could you give me a moment to confer with Mr. Shield?”

“No problem.”

Leland led Rhodes out of Buckley’s earshot and quietly asked, “What d’ya think?”

“I don’t think we’ve got much of a choice. He seems like he’s on the level. Anyway, there ain’t nobody else offerin’ to help – that’s for damn sure. The police are too damn scared.”

Leland sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Ain’t nothing worse can happen than what’s done happened, I reckon, right? And that gator’s gotta go so’s your mama can come home. You talk to your mama?”

“Yeah, she’s fit to be tied, although I do think she’s enjoying her little vacation. And don’t even get me started on Selena. She’s fit to be tied.”

Rhodes motioned for Buckley to come over to where he and Leland were standing. “Alright son, we’re much obliged that you’re offering your services. What do we need to do?”

“Well, Mr. Shield, I’m going to need to see the house and the property and then we’re going to rest until night fall. That’s when the creature is most active isn’t it? Night?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen it during the day.”

“Good, we should have no problems then. Let’s get started shall we. I’d like to get in a good nap this afternoon. I have a feeling that we are in for a hell of a long night, gentlemen.”