The Amazing Alligator Girl by Dearborn Kristin

Author:Dearborn, Kristin [Dearborn, Kristin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloodshot Books
Published: 2022-10-13T00:00:00+00:00

Bethany

B

ethany crouched in the crotch of a cypress tree, one foot balanced against a branch of its dividing trunk. She’d been okay for a while, but now her feet were numb, and no matter how she adjusted herself, it didn’t feel right. The flare gun, tucked in the waistband of her shorts, dug into her skin. Mosquitoes whined in her ears. She resisted the urge to swat at them, aware it was a losing battle.

She was sure she’d heard a boat. She closed her eyes so they’d adjust faster to the darkness after the flare went off. Cap’s flashlight and the Beaudreau house seemed a million miles away. She’d seen what waited down below. When she’d swum for it from the boat there hadn’t been any gators around. That was no longer the case, and the animals circled, hungry or maybe just angry. After an alligator feeds, usually it will slink back to a warm riverbank, or someplace safe to digest its food. The cold-blooded creatures would expend a lot of energy hunting, and they tended to not have a whole lot of gas in their tanks. Bethany’s encyclopedic knowledge about alligators wasn’t much use to her out here, not tonight, anyway.

The sound of an outboard motor made her almost cry out with joy. She wished she had some kind of light to shine out into the dark, some way to signal to the boat. It didn’t sound like an airboat, so the motor wouldn’t completely drown out her cries. “Hey! Hey over here!”

It didn’t take long for her to realize why they suggested taking a whistle into the wilderness. Blowing into one would be a lot kinder on her vocal cords.

Handheld spotlights swept the tall grasses as the boat drew nearer, finally lingering at the base of her tree before sweeping up to light her face. She held one hand to block the light.

“You all right?” A male voice.

“Yeah, I need to get down. My friends are in the Beaudreau house over there.”

Friends was probably a generous way of putting it, but she didn’t really feel like explaining the dynamics to strangers.

“Someone took our boat.” Might as well lay it all out there.

“We’ll give you a ride over there.”

“Thank you.”

She started to climb down the tree, very aware of what the idling outboard motor might be drawing. Each hand and foot placement was meticulous, and she tested her weight each time she placed it. A strong arm helped steady her, get her on the boat. She noticed a bold black double S, stylized like a lightning bolt.

Could the night get worse? Yes it could, because here were Nazis, alive and well in America in 2019. But they had a boat, and she needed a boat. More than that, she needed a radio. The thought struck her as she saw the CB resting in the boat’s dash.

“Something ain’t right out here tonight,” said the younger man, the one who’d helped her. Now that their light wasn’t shining in her face, she saw stars and bars proudly emblazoned on their t-shirts.

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