Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
King
We stand on an observation catwalk above the alligator enclosure. Each section is secured to the next, and long steel cables provide extra support. Jim assured me we spared no expense on the interior, but that doesn’t set my mind at ease when I glance down.
At least Josie finally calmed down once she saw what was being strapped into a set of feeding harnesses—two nude pedophiles and nothing cute and fuzzy in sight. Unless you count their tiny penises.
They’re dazed after a blow to the head. It’s not safe to pump anesthesia into them before feeding them to the animals.
Besides, we want them to feel it.
Their limbs have been left free so that they might suffer more. We also want the alligators to get a good fight. They need to know that their prey won’t just lie down and die. Until the staff see the beasts are willing to work for their dinner, they aren’t ready to go back to the wild.
Josie sucks in a breath and blows it out. “I don’t want to keep finding things to bitch about, but are you sure this won’t cause these gators to see humans as food? I don’t want them to get shot because you taught them that we taste just like chicken too.”
“No, that’s a valid concern,” the worker says. “These alligators are slated for release to a section of the reserve Mister Madigan has walled off from any possibility of human interaction. This ensures what we’re doing here won’t cause harm to innocents or the gators down the line.”
Another worker appears as the whine of a motor rings through the rafters. The two Cattle begin to rise, and the alligators move toward the shallow pool.
That sound is their dinner bell. They know what to do.
The worker comes closer and offers a set of controls each to Rose and Josie. The ladies take them with excited smiles. They continue smiling as the worker explains how to move the meat puppets around the water’s edge to entice the animals to hunt.
Grim pouts, likely perturbed he wasn’t also given a toy to play with. I’m fine with being left out. It gives me a moment to consider how things are going.
As the staff member drones on about what to do and what not to do, I let my mind wander to how I plan to win that bet.
I had hoped bringing up the rules once more would encourage her to mention the kissing issue, and I was correct. I didn’t anticipate she’d shut down just as easily, however. The topic was a nonstarter, and I couldn’t press her. She’s flighty, that one.
Then I thought I’d take a more direct approach.
Perhaps the rule merely stood for some imagined barrier.
Those are broken easily enough, so I plowed ahead and pressed her against that glass wall.
I held my lips closer to hers than ever before, and I’ll be damned if I didn’t see a crack form in her flawless finish—small, but there.
The girl was fighting demons, all of them telling her to kiss me.
So why didn’t she?
At least I can be certain this challenge is the only reason she intrigues me so. The sex, also. She’s beautiful. Can’t forget the way she cooks pancakes after sex . . .
What the hell am I saying?
I drag my hand down my face. Maybe I should have requested one of those controllers for all of us after all. Thinking isn’t going so well for me at the moment.
Josie’s laughter drags my attention back to the activity. Her Cattle has woken up, and he’s currently power shitting all over the water.
“Not to worry!” the worker shouts at Josie. “They’ve been fed a special diet to prepare them for this. Everything in their body is totally safe for the fish and the gators.”
Josie looks back at me. “They really do think of everything here.”
I nod at her. This bodes well for Jim’s sloth obsession.
Rose’s Cattle comes to with a shout, and the worker tells the girls they can get started. We all inch a little closer to the catwalk’s edge so that we can get a better view.
The ladies begin lowering their figures, and the shouting intensifies when the two men realize what’s happening.
Rose puts her controller between her knees and motions for Grim. He holds out his hand, and she speaks into it. Grim looks at the Cattle and yells, “Now you will have no control the way you took control from those children. Enjoy your death!”
Beaming with pride and adoration, Rose smiles up at Grim.
I place my hands around Josie and grip the railing on either side of her. Her ass presses against me, and I don’t even attempt to keep myself soft. Let her feel what she does to me.
She and Rose lower their meat puppets until their feet touch the water.
Both men snatch their legs higher, turning them into dancing froglets.
The ladies bounce them up and down, giggling the entire time, and I can’t help but smile.
Even Grim looks less perturbed than normal.
When an alligator leaps up and grips a foot that dangled a little too low, I damn near see a hint of excitement from the old chap.
The beast twists its body until the limb snaps off. The Cattle yowls, and blood jets from his knee stump. Rose presses a button and releases the harness, dropping the one-legged man into the shallow pool. He collides with a splash, and the movement draws more scaled creatures from the water.
“Holy shit,” Josie says. “How many are in there?”
“Seven,” the worker says. “The other four are smaller, so they tend to show up for the scraps. All the movement must have drawn them out.”
Josie lowers her Cattle, and one of the smaller animals grips a foot and tries to twist it off.
Something definitely snaps internally, but the foot remains attached.
She drags him over the deeper water and dunks him in.
When she brings him up again, a small gator grips his penis.
It pops right off when the creature twists.
Back in the shallow end, Rose’s Cattle has been snatched in half. Jaws open and close on the spilled innards as one of the beasties drags its prize to the murkier end of the pond. Blood discolors the water.
I turn as I hear the sound of Josie’s Cattle being cut loose, but that’s when the catwalk tips beneath my feet. She didn’t cut him loose. The catwalk has come loose.
The platform the four of us stand on cants at an impossible angle for several seconds, pointing us right at the water.
Grim and I manage to hold on, but both Rose and Josie flip over the railing.
Thankfully, both women also manage to keep at least one arm wrapped around it, preventing them from falling into the death pit below.
I slam my hands over each of theirs, then look at Grim. The platform continues to wobble, and until it stops, it’s safest if I just keep both women still. Then I can help them both back onto the platform. Simple.
“Come hold Rose,” I say to Grim.
Grim shakes his head and keeps his grip on the railing. “What you ask cannot be done.”
“Right,” I say. “I forgot. You are absolute dog shite in an emergency.”
It’s not a problem, however. I can easily get both women back onto—
“Save her!” Josie screams. “I might be able to make it if I swim!”
I snap my head around and look at her. “You can’t bloody swim!”
The platform’s wobbling aftershocks have nearly ceased, and there’s no need to make a choice at all. I can haul them both up. If Josie could possibly stop with the histrionics, that would be helpful. I tighten my grip on her wrist.
“I don’t have to pick which one of you to—”
Rose wriggles out of my hold and lets go of the railing. Josie screams as we watch her drop into the water below us. A few breathless seconds later, she emerges and starts to swim for the bushes near the shallow end.
“She didn’t have to bloody jump!” I bellow. “I could have held you both like this for ages, but it only needed to be long enough for the fucking thing to stop being so wibbly-wobbly! Why does no one listen when I speak?”
“I cannot save her, but I may follow where she goes,” Grim says behind us. “Even to meet Death.”
I have no time to stop him from dropping over the railing. A second splash breaks the water, and the platform starts to wobble again, thanks to Grim’s acrobatic swan dive. Now I’ll have to wait even longer before pulling her to safety.
Josie and I see Grim swimming beside Rose. They’re heading toward the shallow section, but those alligators are still there. They’re occupied with what remains of that first dropped Cattle, but the movement from Grim and Rose will surely draw their attention.
I close my eyes. I suck in a steeling breath.
“How long can you hold on to that railing, my beauty?”
Her fingers tense under my arm. “As long as I need to, Captain Cocksure.”
I smile to myself and nod. “Right, then. I’m going to let go. Your controller is wedged under my shoe, and I think you know what I need to do.”
“Do it,” she says. “And if you save them and me, I’ll give you the best blow job you’ve ever had.”
“Can’t fuck it up now, can I?”
I release her hand and brace against the railing as I bend to grab the controller. The platform wobbles a little less now; the high-flying rodeo from hell is almost over.
Widening my stance for better balance, I peer over Josie and spot Grim and Rose. They’re halfway across the pond now, and unfortunately, they’ve been spotted by one of the larger animals.
Before the great beast can slink into the water, I drag Josie’s weinerless meat puppet into his line of sight. He adjusts course and lunges at the Cattle instead, snagging the man’s ankle and pulling off his foot.
While that one is busy knocking back his appetizer, I pull the rig toward two smaller threats. They’re big enough to hurt my friends, however, and I can’t have that. The bleeding stump and thrashing arms are enough to tempt them away, clearing a path for Grim and Rose.
“Oh, shit! Hurry!” Josie screams, and I toss down the controller, certain she’s about to fall, but then I look down.
A large shadow drifts through the water, and it’s heading right for them.
I reach for the controller before it skitters off the ledge, and I manage to grab it, but it’s no use. The pulley system is too slow, and I’ll never line this up in time. In a desperate attempt, I get the Cattle over deep water and release the harness.
My attention shifts to Josie. Her fingers are slipping, and the platform is now still enough that we won’t put added strain on what’s left holding us upright as I help her back to safer ground.
I reach for her dangling arm, and she takes my hand.
After I secure my grip around her other wrist, I support her as she swings her lower half until her feet scrabble onto the platform.
We aren’t out of the woods yet, though. She still has to get over this railing without falling.
I glance down and spy the dark shadow cutting right, making its way toward easier prey—that drowning Cattle. Rose and Grim trudge out of the water and race for the staff exit, but there’s no time for us to breathe a sigh of relief. The attached section of catwalk lets out a groan.
“Be quick but gentle,” I say.
She smirks. “Where have I heard you say that before?”
“Now is not the time.”
“Oh, I know!” She eases her leg over the top railing. “New York, our third date. You had friction burns on your dick from our mutual masturbation contest on our second date. You told me to be gentle but—”
The platform practically shouts at us as she gets her other leg on my side of the railing.
“We can go down memory lane another time. Right now, I’d very much like to get on solid ground.”
She shuts her mouth and turns around. We’re slanted at an odd angle, but we inch forward until we both stand on a platform that isn’t hanging on by a thread. More workers stand at the far end, motioning us toward them.
“Yes, like we need the encouragement,” I mutter.
We hurry off the catwalk and down to the ground floor. I’ve never been so glad to stand on something immovable.
Grim and Rose appear moments later, both of them rubbing a towel through their hair. They’re all smiles and joviality as they stand in the nude.
“For the record, we didn’t ask them to strip,” a worker says.
“I’m well aware,” I say.
Another worker appears with two I Survived Alligator Avenue t-shirts. She hands them to Grim and Rose, who begrudgingly put them on, followed by a pair of cotton shorts with white alligator teeth printed on the rump.
Grim looks positively adorable, sans the bit of bulging nutsack poking to either side of the tiny inseam.
“I think we deserve a t-shirt too,” Josie says. “We survived.”
I can already see where this is headed. “I’ll wear the shirt, but if you think I’m putting my ass in those shorts, you’re a damn fool.”
“Then call me a damn fool, because that’s exactly what I want to see.” She bats her eyelashes at me, but I won’t be swayed. I still have my dignity, after all.
I snatch up the shirt, swap it with my very nice polo, then head for the limo. Stress relief and maximum release can’t come soon enough.