Shivers: A Ghastly Shade of Green

Chapter 18

I shouted so loudly that my throat got sore.

No one came to our rescue.

We were alone – and surrounded by death.

Timmy was confused now. He started to cry. I wanted to cry, too.

I knew there was no time for panic, though. I had to come up with some way to get us out of there before the plant killers advanced all the way to the swamp.

I remembered what Mom had said about alligators. They were dangerous, yes. But they usually didn't eat people.

Then I remembered that they sometimes snack on children – especially smaller ones like my brother.

Still, what choice did we have? Our only hope to get away was through the swamp.

I put Timmy on my back, piggy-back style. I grabbed a short thick that floated by, handed it to him, and told him to hang on to it.

Slowly and fearfully, I waded into the enormous swamp.

The narrow, menacing eyes of the two gators watched as we began to swim.

And we swam for our lives. I was barely able to keep us boat afloat.

"Kick, Timmy!" I yelled. "Kick with your feet, like Mom showed you! And hold on to that stick!"

I sputtered and spit as I struggled to swim through the black water with Timmy on my back. We were only about a hundred yards from a spot on the shore where there were no jungle plants – at least not yet.

If I could just get us there, we could climb out and run for it.

But the gators weren't through with us yet.

Like huge snakes in the grass, they slithered through the reeds toward us, one behind the other.

They came slowly at first, then faster and faster and faster.

Their beady eyes protruded only slightly above the water, keeping their prey in sight as they prepared to attack.

But we weren't as defenseless as we seemed.

"Timmy, give me the stick," I hollered, taking it from his hand. "Now swim, Timmy! Swim as fast as you can!"

I gave my kid brother a hard push through the water, sending him forward with a splash. Then I turned to face my enemies, treading water with one hand, ready to battle them with the other.

One alligator veered off toward Timmy.

I reached out and bashed him on the snout with the stick and the gator turned sharply – toward me.

He lunged through the water, his mouth open. I smashed him hard on the snout again, then poked him right in the eye.

The gator reeled in pain, and then swam away through the swamp.

The other alligator was closing in on me now.

Moving swiftly, his powerful tail splashing behind him, the gator charged me.

I waited and waited and waited as the gator eyes grew larger and larger.

When the alligator dove under the water and opened his mouth to bite me, I rammed the whole stick down his throat. It stuck there, hanging out over his sharp, vicious teeth.

The gator howled, thrashing and spinning, full of the sound and the fury of an angry beast. Finally, his jaws clamped down hard, biting the stick in half.

I turned and swam toward the shore as fast as I could. I saw Timmy still paddling through the reeds.

"Swim, Timmy! Swim faster!" I bellowed. "Climb up out of the water! Hurry! Hurry!"

I twisted my head and saw that the second alligator had disappeared with the first. Timmy was on shore now, and I wasn't far behind him.

We had made it!

We stretched out on the muddy bank to rest, dripping and coughing.

"Good boy, Timmy! You did great!" I told him. "You're being such a brave boy! I'm so proud of you!"

"I want Mommy," he complained.

I couldn't blame him. I wanted Mom, too!

I noticed the buzzards circling over our heads again, still looking for dinner. The sun was falling lower in the sky now, round and golden and blistering hot. At least I felt cooler after our gator-infested swim.

"Mommy will be home soon," I said. "Come on, Timmy. Maybe she'll be back by now."

I prayed that I might be right.

I'd never felt so tired in my life. Timmy was totally worn out.

But I forced us to run back to the cabin. The trees and shrubs along the bank snapped and grasped at us all the way.

By now, there was very little room to run between the jungle and the Everglades. The plants on our path also had begun to move, crowding the water line.

We had to stay close to the swamp, sometimes splashing along the edge just to keep away from the reaching plants.

I saw our cabin in the distance, and sighed with relief. After fighting off the alligators, I felt confident that I could keep a single palm tree from dragging us into the tropical forest.

And Mom should be back soon anyway, I thought. We'll all jump in the car and leave this awful, dangerous place.

Then I realized something about our cabin looked different.

Very different! Horribly different!

The driveway was gone, for one thing, overgrown with the trees and the bushes and the vines! There was no way for Mom to bring the station wagon back and take us away now.

And the cabin's shiny tin roof was completely green, covered in plants!

The jungle was closing in on the cabin, inch by inch, slowly swallowing our vacation home.

I knew that soon the killer jungle would swallow us, too!