Lance's efforts were futile.
The sharkgator was too quick for him. It pulled Anna into the water before he could catch up to it.
"Anna!" He shouted, putting his hands on his head. He stood there watching the water for a few seconds until the sharkgator resurfaced from the water. Surprised at its sudden appearance, Lance backed up too fast and fell on his back. Without any moments hesitation, the sharkgator grabbed Lance and pulled him into the water too. Everything happened so fast that I could hardly believe it.
We all stood where we were, watching the spot where Lance and Anna once stood, before we remember the helicopter that was coming. The helicopter was now overhead and was getting ready to land. We watched as the pilot found a good spot and maneuvered the helicopter down. We all covered our faces as the whirling propeller picked up dirt causing it to fly everywhere. As soon as the plane was on land and the propeller came to a stop, the person who was flying the plane opened the door and stepped out.
"That's the man who rented me the cabins; Mr. Grant." Mr. Ragland said. "Took him long enough." He whispered under his breath as he stepped forward. The man jogged quickly over to us and stood on the porch.
Before the man could say anything, Mr. Ragland closed the distance between him and the man. "You bastard!" He said and without a moments hesitation, punched him in the face. The man staggered back, but didn't fall. He turned back around facing Mr. Ragland. He held his nose which was bleeding profusely. Mr. Ragland wasted no time in going at him again and grabbed him by his shirt collar. "Why did you rented us the cabins if you knew what was lurking in the forest and waters!"
"Chill man! Let me go!" Mr. Grant shouted, struggling to fight off Mr. Ragland's tight grip. We all stood back, watching Mr. Ragland confront the man.
"You knew didn't you?" Mr. Ragland continued, ignoring his comment. "You knew! You must have known considering all the evidence we found in your cabin!" He pointed towards the cabin. "Do you know eight people died because of your stupid stunt? And maybe more that we don't know of. What were you thinking?"
Mr. Grant looked at him and remained silent. His facial expression was taken over by a guilty look. There was nothing he could say, because he knew he was caught.
"You're not even denying it." Mr. Ragland continued, shaking his head slowly and getting angry again. "What is it? Huh? Do you get your kicks out of putting other peoples lives in danger?" The man still remained quiet. Mr. Ragland began to shake him. "Answer me! You sick, pathetic--!" He cut his own words short as he sent another punch at the man. This time he was sent flying to the ground.
Mr. Ragland was about to go after the man again, but Brian stopped him by putting his hands on his shoulder. "Let him be. He's not worth it and you can't do anything about it now." He said calmly.
Mr. Ragland back up from advancing on Mr. Grant and looked at the him, still sitting on the ground. "Get up and get us the hell out of here."
The man scrambled to his feet and wiped at his bottom lip that was now cut. "That's what I came to do until you attacked me." He gave Mr. Ragland an accusing look.
"If I were you, I wouldn't open my mouth right now." Warned Mr. Ragland.
Mr. Grant fixed his shirt and gave Mr. Ragland one last glare before turning around. "Come on. Let's go."
"Wait!" Brian said suddenly. "We can't just go like that. We don't know where the sharkgator is."
"Brian's right." Tamika said, nodding her head in agreement.
"It wouldn't be here right now. This time of day, it would be in the forest hunting. Leaving now is our best bet." Mr. Grant said, descended the steps.
"And how do you know this?" Mr. Ragland asked.
Mr. Grant stopped walking and turned to face us. "Because they are predators. They have to hunt to survive and this is the time that they normally do so." He explained.
"But it was here a few minutes ago." I said.
"Yeah, but it's gone now. It won't be back until late evening." Mr. Grant explained slowly, like he was talking to a toddler.
"I'm still not chancing it. We have to be cautious here." Kate said.
"I agree." I said.
"Me too." Patrice added. "We can't just walk out there and we don't know where the sharkgator is."
Mr. Grant ran his hands over his face and sighed heavily. "What is wrong with you people?" He asked finally. "You guys asked me to come for you and now I'm here and you're wasting my time. You know what? If you want to stay back and hide; fine, but I'm leaving!"
He turned back around and walked away. We all stood back, watching him and wondering if we should go or not. However, what happened next took all of us by surprise. It happened so quick and sudden that at first I thought I had imagined it.
The sharkgator appeared out of nowhere and knocked Mr. Grant off his feet. Before any of us had time to conceptualize what was happening, the sharkgator advanced on him and snatched off one of his feet. Mr. Grant cried out in pain. He took up a stick that was beside him with his right hand and he used it to hit the reptile. It retaliated by biting the stick in his hands, biting off his hands in the process. Mr. Grant cried out once again. The sharkgator did not waste any time as he bit off his other foot, which produced another gut wrenching scream.
I couldn't watch any more, so I turned my head away and closed my eyes. I've never seen something so gruesome and vicious in my entire life.
"He's going away." I heard Tamika said. "Why is he leaving him like that?"
At what Tamika said, I turned around to see the sharkgator walking away. I looked at Mr. Grant and what was left of his body. His two feet were missing and one of his hands. He was lying flat on his back and blood was spilling from the corners of his mouth.
"I don't know." Brian answered quietly.
Mr. Grant coughed and tried to move his hand, while still lying on the ground. He was not dead yet, but he must be in a lot of pain. He was better off dead. We all stood there watching the body as if paralyzed.
"Aren't we going to do something?" Kate asked.
"There is nothing that we can do."Â Brian said.
"Besides," I added. "I think that is what the sharkgator wants us to do. I think he is using him as bait."
Brian laughed humorlessly, "What a smart creature. Too smart for his own good." He shook his head.
"Let's go back in before he comes back. There's no telling what it plans on doing." Mr. Ragland suggested.
We all went back inside and sat down, feeling defeated. Our one chance of leaving this place was down the drain. The one person who could have flown us away from this place was dead. None of us here knew how to fly an helicopter.
Tamika who was sitting beside me spoke up. "I can't believe Lance and Anna are really gone."
"I can't believe Lance went after her." Kate said on my other side.
"Yeah, about that, it seems like there was something going on considering how he ran after her like that." I asked quizzically, looking at both of them alternatively.
"Wait. You didn't know that they were dating?" Kate asked shocked.
"What? No. Since when?" I asked.
"They started going out a month ago. Right after the charity ball." Tamika supplied.
"Wow. How did I miss that?" I asked.
"Well, you were always too busy with your work." Kate supplied, with a smile. I nodded in agreement. We were silent for a while, until Kate said. "Did anyone else picked up on the fact that Mr. Grant said 'they' and not 'it'?"
"Yes, but I thought he was talking about it in general." Tamika said.
I nodded. "Yeah, me too."
"Maybe," Kate said. "But I have a bad feeling about it."
Our conversation was brought to an end when Brian walked over to us. "The transceiver can help us." He said.
"What?" I asked, confused by what he just said.
"The helicopter. It must have a transceiver. If we could get to it, we can call for help." He explained further. He looked at us before he continued. By his look, I knew what was coming next. "I need to go out to that helicopter."
"No, Brian, you can't. You know it's not safe." I said, wondering if he's really serious.
"I know, but I have to try. We have to do something." He answered.
I looked at him and I knew he was right. I still couldn't help being worried for him. I looked at Kate and Tamika and they didn't have anything to say either. I looked back to Brian and nodded my head. He turned away to share his plans with everyone else.
Everyone agreed to this plan and soon Brian was ready. He walked over to the door and pulled it. I got up and followed him to the door. He stood inside of the doorway and I put my hands on his shoulder. He turned around and faced me.
"Please be careful." I said.
He nodded his head. "I will."
And without thinking, I leaned towards him and kissed him. The kiss lasted for a few seconds before I pulled away. I looked at him and I saw that he was surprised by my actions. I didn't wrong him for being surprised, I even surprised myself. I don't know what has gotten into me, but one thing I know is that it felt right. I gave him a smile and he returned it with a warm one of his own that melted my heart. After that he was out the door.
I walked over to the window to watch him. He took slow and cautious steps, looking around him every second, until he was half way to the helicopter. With only a few distance remaining, he took off running until finally he reached the helicopter and went inside. I released the breath that I didn't know I was holding. He made it!
I continued to watch for a few more seconds, when I saw the sharkgator crawling from the water. It then turned and headed in the direction of the helicopter which was near the water's edge.
"Oh God, it's going for the helicopter." Patrice said beside me. I barely heard her because my heart was beating too loud in my ears.
I watched helplessly as the sharkgator reached the aircraft and began to hit the metal exterior with its body. The helicopter rocked from side to side causing Brian to hang on to remain upright. Getting tired of hitting the helicopter with its body, the sharkgator grabbed the tail of the helicopter and with all its energy began to pull it into the water.
I watched in horror as the helicopter entered the water and began to sink.
"Brian....no..." I whispered as my heart fell.
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Author's note: I hope you like it :)
Please vote and comment if you do XD â¤
Stay sweet!
Alecia