Gator Boy Page 8

  It all happened so quickly there was nothing anyone could do. The bus was parked at an angle and by the time Nonette thought to grab Ford’s gun she couldn’t get a clean shot. Finally, as the monster’s head came around the front of the bus, Nonette fired. It was a near miss but the sound of the shot and the spray as it was peppered with gravel and dirt from impact of the huge bullet frightened the beast back into the water. Just before it submerged the monster got a good look at the people on that boat.

  “Let’s go, Jed. Get dis ting over dare fast.”

  Jed had Gator Boy started up and over to the other bank in less than a minute. Nonette jumped to the bank still holding the gun ready to shoot.

  “Jed, see if dat bus has a radio in it an get somebody here now,” said Nonette.

  Jed forced the door open with his shoulder. He looked at the kids and said, “We’re friends. It’ll be OK now. We’re here to help.” Reaching down, he grabbed the mike and said, “Help! Can anybody hear me, over?”

  “Yes, this is the dispatcher. Over.”

  “Get the police and all the help you can out to the Au-Dessous De Le Arbre Park on Bayou Teche. The bus driver has been killed by an alligator attack. Do you read me? We need help wit dese kids now. How soon can you get here?”

  “We’ll have help there within fifteen or twenty minutes. Are any of the children hurt?”

  “No. The driver died trying to save um but she couldn’t get the bus started. I can smell gas, too.”

  The dispatcher angrily looked over at the mechanic who was sheepishly slinking in his chair.

  “The police and an ambulance will be dispatched immediately. Please stay by the radio for further communication,” said the dispatcher as she turned to the mechanic.

  “You get your sorry ass outa here, Brent. You’re fired!”

  “You can’t fire me, you ignorant bitch,” he replied.

  Just then the sheriff stuck his head in the door. “You better watch yo mouth, boy,” said the Sheriff. Then, looking over at the dispatcher he asked,

  “Jessy, I just got the call, what happened?” he asked.

  “The bus is stranded at the day camp. The driver was killed in a gator attack in fronta all dose kids. Get um out dare quick, Leroy. Dis sorry drunk didn’t fix dat fuel pump like dis completed work order said he did, an’ the driver couldn’t get the bus started. Now Trish is dead because a him.”

  “Let me use yo radio. Attention all units. Dis is Sheriff Leroy Odum. Get out to the day camp on Bayou Teche on the double. Trish was killed in a gator attack.” Looking over at Brent, the mechanic, Leroy said, “You coming wit me, buddy. Dis sounds like criminal neglect to me, an’ maybe even involuntary homicide, too.” As he slapped the cuffs on him, he got a whiff of his breath he said, “You stinking drunk. Nine o’clock in the morning an’ you smell like a brewery. Let’s go. You have the right to remain silent…”

  After reading him the riot act, and his rights, the sheriff threw Brent in the back seat of the car, jumped in and screeched off toward the lake. Things were already buzzing by the time he got there. There were paramedics from the fire department, an ambulance, and all three sheriff units.

  “Hey, Sheriff. This here’s Jed Gadon. He’s the one who called it in,” said one of the deputies, briefing the sheriff as he handed him a cup of coffee.

  “Mr. Gadon, Sheriff Leroy Odum. How ya doing?” asked the sheriff, shaking Jed’s hand.

  “Sheriff,” replied Jed.

  “How was it that you happened to be here to witness all a dis? My God!” said the sheriff as he looked at the bus. There were dents and gashes all over the top and sides of the bus and the mess on the hood was pretty sickening where the driver had been killed.

  “You say dis was a gator done dis?”

  “Yes, sir, Sheriff. But it ain’t no regula gator. Dis sucka is a twenty-five, maybe thirty footer. And he don’t even look like a regula gator. He’s a lot slimier and more like a…” Jed hesitated.

  “Yeah, like a what?” asked the sheriff.

  “Well, y’all not seeing it an’ all, dis may be hard to believe. But dat sucka looks like, like a damn dragon.”

  “A what?”

  “You know. A dragon. I mean, he don’t fly, or breathe fire, but he sho’ looks like a dragon.”

  “Boy, you been drinkin’? I got me one damn drunk in the car an’ I’ll make it two if you shittin’ me.”

  “No sir, I swear. You just ax some a dose kids to describe dat gator to ya an’ see what you come up wit.”

  Turning to the deputy the sheriff said under his breath, “We got us a live one here. Watch him like a hawk. Keep his ass right here till I get to the bottom a dis.”

  Looking over at Nonette, she made a gesture to Jed as if to ask what’s going on. Jed shrugged his shoulders. As he started to turn the deputy said, “Hey, Mr. Gadon, the sheriff said fo’ you to wait right here. He ain’t through wit the questioning.” So Jed stayed put.

  After asking some questions, the sheriff came over about fifteen minutes later.

  “Well, I’m sorry I doubted ya, Mr. Gadon. All a dose kids said the same ting you did. It wasn’t no regula gator but a monster. Where’d the damn ting come from?”

  “We don’t know dat either, sheriff. But me an’ my friends here been on his trail trying to kill it. He’s been killing folks all up and down dis bayou clean up ta Lafayette.”

  “Yeah. I heard about dat boy in Henderson. But you know how dat stuff gets all blowed out a proportion.”

  “Yeah, well dis time it’s the truth. Me an’ my friends had stopped here fo’ the night, an dat sucks showed up dis morning.”

  Just about that time Melissa Ford screamed, pointing down at something in Jed’s boat. They ran over to see what had happened.

  “What’s a matta?” Jed asked frantically.

  “Look,” she said, pointing down to the bench David had been sitting on.

  There was a puddle of dried blood on the cushion.

  “That thing got David, too. Dear God,” she said, falling to her knees head in hand.

  After being questioned, the group was released and free to go. By that time the whole bayou was buzzing with boats. Everybody was looking for that gator. Nonette climbed on the boat and told Melissa, “Look, Sheri, ain’t nobody gonna have a bad word to say about ya if you just wanna go back. I asked dat sheriff an’ he said dat he’d see ya got back home. Maybe unda the circumstances dat might be fo’ the bess.”

  As she was speaking Melissa got up, walked over and picked up David’s gun and said, “Nonette, I ain’t got nothing left. Everybody that meant anything to me are all dead. I’m going with you. You yourself said that I was meant to be here. And damn it, I’m going with you.”

  Nonette, shaking her head, in agreement said, “Dat’s right, Sheri. Dat’s what I hoped you’d say. Dis is all part of the vision. I just had ta give you dat option dough. So don’t you worry none. You goin’ wit us.”

  Walking over to Jed, she said, “Wit all a dese fools stirrin’ up dis bayou dat sucka’s probably all da way to the Mississippi by now. Les go get him.”

  Nonette was partly right. The gator wasn’t there anymore. He was long gone already, heading further down bayou.

  CHAPTER 9

  Now these bayous that wind and intertwine their way through South Louisiana all eventually end up at the Mississippi River. There are small lakes all through the Basin where some bayous end and others begin, continuing on their journey to the sea. At that very moment the gator was entering one such junction called Lake Fausse Pointe. Also at that very moment, a group of teenagers from Jeanerette were just backing their boat into the clear water of the same Lake Fausse Pointe. They had plans for a day of enjoying the latest craze, wake boarding, which is being pulled behind a boat on a mini surfboard at a high rate of speed.

  The beast, on the other hand, was only trying to escape his pursuers. But he was always interested in his next meal.

  “Hey, Coon Ass, hurry up wit da
t rope. We’ll never get out dare,” hollered one of the boys as he polished his wake board.

  “Hold your horses, podna. Dis ting’s all tangled up.”

  The group of small town teens joked and played around just like any other group of kids from anywhere, USA. Three boyfriend/girlfriend couples, not unlike the kids next door. They had played in this very lake many times before. But today was not like any of those other times before.

  “Got it!” hollered out Danny, the boy whose father owned the boat.

  “Man, dat rope was so tangled up I was ready to throw it away.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s about time, boy. I’m tired a polishing dis board. Les do it! You just make sure you got dat rope secure dis time. I don’t wanna end up on my butt like last time when it came loose.”

  “Look here, Coon Ass, dis sucka ain’t coming off dis time. I reinforced everyting. You just betta hold on to yo’ ass when I open dis bad boy up.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  “OK, wise guy. You just holler when you ready.”

  So readying the wake board and taking the rope in hand, the impatient friend gave the signal. The boy driving the boat gave it full throttle and they were off. The friend on the board, who everybody called JJ, was the best of the bunch on the wake board. He was hot-dogging all over that lake. Swerving left then right, he jumped the waves in the wake made by the speeding boat every time he cut back across. His friends on the boat cheered him on each time he showed off.

  Below the surface a pair of unwanted eyes were watching as well. All the activity on the surface was just like ringing the dinner bell to the monster lurking under the water. To the beast, the boy on the board looked like a great big fishing lure. The creature began following the board at high speed, checking it out, waiting for the chance to strike. It surfaced right behind JJ as he cut and jammed across the water. JJ’s girlfriend, Debra, who was sitting at the rear of the boat cheering him on, saw the wake made by the gator in hot pursuit.

  “Danny, go faster. There’s an alligator after JJ out there!” she screamed.

  With those words everybody on the boat started screaming for JJ to look back and swerve away from the gator on his heals. JJ thought that they were telling him to do more tricks. So the more they screamed the faster and harder he would swerve back and forth. This worked out to his advantage for a while, but then the monster figured it out. As JJ swerved right, the monster then went left. As JJ went left the monster went right. It seemed that they were playing figure eights at first as they zigzagged back and forth. But JJ, who had still not seen the creature, was just being sized up for the kill. Waiting for just the right moment, the creature jumped out of the water like a killer whale, blindsiding the boy on the board. Opening his huge jaws he caught JJ across the midsection, catching the rope in his mouth as well and disappearing under the water. The people on the boat watched in shock, not believing what they had seen.

  Still full throttle the boat began bogging down. What was happening was that the gator had taken JJ down for a roll around under water. Every time he rolled, the rope wrapped tighter and tighter around, pulling the boat to a jerking stop and finally pulling it backwards. Debra, still on the back of the boat, fell in just above the out board engine and was chopped up from head to toe as she fell into the prop.

  The monster, realizing that he was tied up, became angered, rolling all the harder. The boy driving the boat killed the engine when Debra fell in, but all too late. She lay floating face down, as the circle of blood around her grew larger.

  But the people on the boat had their own set of problems. As the monster tried to go deeper he began pulling the whole boat under. Just before the boat disappeared it was sticking straight up out of the water. Danny was right. That rope was not coming loose. Everyone on the boat jumped in and started swimming frantically for the shore as the boat began to disappear out from underneath them, all but one. Just as the boat tilted upward, one of the full gas tanks slid aft, pinning one of the boy’s feet between the edge of the boat and the tank. As the boat went down the boy could not get free. While the boat sank deeper and deeper he tried frantically to free himself but to no avail, until the last bits of oxygen in his lungs were used up. As the boat hit bottom the boy stood there buoyant in the water with his arms extended upward waving back and forth like a piece of seaweed in the current.

  Using the razor sharp fin on his back, the monster quickly freed itself from the rope. Enraged, and smelling fresh blood, the beast started out after the kids thrashing around on the surface. One by one they began to disappear under the water as the gator bit them in half, moving on to kill the next. One of the girls made it to shore just in time to turn around and see her boyfriend still about twenty yards out.

  “Swim, Dale. Don’t look back, just swim.”

  With those words Dale momentarily went under but then came back up swimming hard. From the surface he seemed to be making headway. But beneath the surface his lower half was sinking to the bottom still kicking. He had been bitten off at the waist. His brain could not accept it as a reality as his upper half was still frantically swimming on the surface. The girl screamed as Dale dragged his upper torso onto the shore. Just before he fell into deep spasmodic shock he muttered in a grunting voice, “My legs, I can’t feel my legs.”

  Further up on shore, still believing that she was out of danger, the girl just fell to her knees crying hysterically, reacting to what she had just seen. But as she looked up she saw the creature coming up to claim the other half of her boyfriend. As the creature looked up seeing fresh meat, it pushed Dale’s carcass aside and ran straight for her. Jumping up she ran as fast as she could. Climbing a tree, she once again thought she was safe.

  When the gator saw this he stood up on his back legs, snapping at her as she climbed just out of his reach.

  This infuriated the beast even further. With his huge arms he shook the tree. The girl almost fell once but then wedged herself in a fork and held on for dear life as the monster scratched and roared, looking up at her.

  Finally giving up, the creature turned and went to claim the other kills he had just made. In less then five minutes five more killings were added to the beast’s credit, now totaling more than a dozen.

  The group on Gator Boy, now just the three, had reached the bayou’s end and were just entering the lake.

  “Well, you tink he came dis way, Miss Nonette?”

  “Oh yeah, Sher, he had to. He’s in dis lake, I can feel it.”

  As Jed made his way out into the lake they began seeing debris floating on the water from the other boat.

  “Look at dis,” pointed out Nonette.

  Just at that moment she caught sight of the girl, Debbie, floating face down in the water. “Dear Jesus. We too late again. Dat bastard’s done made another kill.”

  Jed pulled Gator Boy alongside of the body and killed the engine. As they reached down to pull her on board, the blood froze in their veins as just below her in the clear water they saw the huge head of the beast looking up at them, watching their every move as they hung over the edge of the boat. For a moment there was a kind of face off between the two hunters and the beast. As they shared looks back and forth, somehow the beast knew that these people were to be reckoned with. Even his blood ran colder as he turned and darted out of their sight, hoping to put distance between himself and what he surely felt could mean his own doom. As Jed and Nonette looked at each other, Nonette said, “He knows what we here to do. He’s leaving dis lake right now as fast as he can go. The best way out is over dare. Dat channel leads to Bayou Lafourche. Dat’s where he’s headed. Let’s go.”

  Jed, without question, started the engine and headed for the channel. He felt an urgency, an animal desire, to do this killer in. More determined now then ever, he wondered when and where the battle would begin, and how it would end. Jed also thought about Lena and Momma and wondered if he would see them again.

  Troubled, Mrs. Ford asked, “What about that poor girl ba
ck there? Are we just going to leave her floating there?”

  “Dare ain’t nothin’ we can do fo’ dat po’ soul now. She’s gone. It ain’t gonna make no difference to her now. We can’t tie ourselves up wit a bunch a cops an’ all dat again. We on dat sucka’s ass an’ we gotta get him. Dat’s the best we can do fo’ dat gal an’ all the others, too. We gotta keep goin’.”

  “Nonette’s right, Mrs. Ford. Hell, we owe dat much to yo’ husband.”

  “You’re right. You’re both right. Let’s get that son of a bitch before he kills again,” replied Mrs. Ford as she wrapped her hands tightly around her husband’s gun.

  Back at the Gadon house, Momma and Lena were dressing to go to Louis’s funeral ceremony. Their preparations were interrupted by the sound of a boat approaching the house. Walking out to the porch they saw that it was Judy. One of the boys had seen her at the boat ramp by what used to be the gas pier and picked her up. Momma had told her about Louis being killed and the disaster at the gas pier just after it happened and Judy was coming home to attend the funerals and visit Ronny in the hospital. The reunion was bittersweet. When the three saw each other they all began to cry as they hugged and greeted one another.