The Crater

They all just sat there looking at each other while they rested before Don broke the trance and got up.  Then Kevin and Don called it a day and went home, leaving the security officer sitting there on the other side of the fence.  Since then, Kevin has learned to be invisible, not to put himself in any situation like that again, he trained himself to be the best in the business, and he was.

Kevin heard a noise, the sound of snapping twigs. He silently and slowly swung his rifle over to that direction.  Looking through the night vision, he could see that it was only a possum.  He glanced down at his wife, and admired her.  Suddenly he felt guilty for the way he treated her at times, she was the center of his life, and he decided he needed to change his attitude toward her.

There was a rustling in the leaves off to his right, swinging the rifle in that direction only to find the sound developed due to a breeze that was picking up. Kevin swung the rifle over to the bait, looking through the scope he observed a buck approaching out of the south.

The creature had made its way very quietly, sensing that there was food up ahead, the smell of water was overwhelming, as was the food.

Kevin began to hold his breath as he saw through the night

vision the buck approaching the bait.  He was waiting for the right

moment to shoot.  He could fire only once without disclosing his position to any law officer that might be about.  His finger on the trigger, he began to pull slightly, and then suddenly the front of the boat was lifted out of the water causing him to fire his weapon. Before he could grasp what was going on, he was in the water.  Kevin began screaming frantically for Tammy, not being able to see in this pitch black water, his heart rate began to sky rocket.

Tammy was aware that she was in the water, but she lost

her sense of direction. She knew she would have to calm herself

and think.  Scuba classes taught her to stop swimming and panicking and she would float up. She did just that, and she broke the surface gasping for air just as the boat came crashing down a few feet from her. 

"Kevin!" she screamed.

"I''m over here Tammy, wait, I have a flashlight in my

pocket."

"What the hell happened, did something hit us?"

"I think it was a Manatee," clicking on his flashlight, he

could see Tammy about twenty yards from him and the boat between them.

Suddenly, he heard Tammy scream, a type of scream he had never heard her do before. He swung the flashlight back to her direction only to see something dark and very large.  Fear gripped him now, he yelled for Tammy but there was no answer, he began to swim toward the bank.  A bone chilling fear entered Kevin''s body now.  He swung himself up onto the bank, he figured that it must of been a gator.  He never heard of a Manatee attacking a human before.  He heard movement in the water, shining his flashlight he saw the boat dissappear below the water and a trail of bubbles coming in his direction.  Once again, fear took hold of his mind; he began to climb the nearest tree.   He was only half way up, when the tree start