Free Swamp Monster Massacre by Hunter Shea

heavy thumped so hard into the ground near them that it shook like a tiny earthquake. The growls grew louder and more objects crashed through the darkness.  
    It was during one of the sparks of lightning when Rooster saw what was piling up around them in an angry, thrashing mosh pit.  
    The fucking Bigfoots were throwing alligators at them!  

Chapter Fifteen
    “What the hell? Aaahhhhhh!”
    Rooster could hear Jack screaming but he couldn’t see a damn thing. He put his arm over Maddie’s chest to hold her back.  
    He felt the ground shake again, and another angry roar echoed in the darkness.  
    The entire forest had erupted in gator growls, Bigfoot howls, human screams and mad scrambling. When the next flash of lightning came, it was all Rooster could do to keep from running.  
    Four alligators faced everyone by the collapsed tree with open jaws. A heavy, ominous rumble purred from their throats. Liz, Jack, Mick and Dominic huddled together, scrambling for their guns.  
    Now normally gators were pretty timid, doing what they could to avoid interaction with humans, but it appeared they took great exception to being thrown about in the dead of night.  
    “Don’t move!” Rooster shouted. “And most of all, do not jump over to the other side of that tree. They’re trying to flush us out!”
    Maddie gripped his arm so hard he was sure she was drawing blood. “What’s happening?”
    “Those fucking apes just tossed four very angry gators at us.”
    If possible, her grip tightened. “Oh, my God, what do we do?”
    “I’m thinking!”  
    His head was pounding, whether from fatigue, thirst, fear, uncertainty or all four was too hard to tell. All of the gators came from the rear side of the downed tree. The Bigfoots either wanted them to run right into their waiting arms so they could break them down like cheap Legos, or they were happy to let the gators do their dirty work. He could hear the Bigfoots howling and shuffling around. It almost sounded like they were cheering the gators on.  
    That was mistake number one.  
    Now he knew exactly where the hairy assholes were, which left them an escape route.  
    “Okay, we’re going to have to get everyone over to us,” he said, wiping the sweat from his gun hand.  
    “How can we do that?”
    “Just sit tight and don’t pull that trigger unless you know what you’re shooting at. I’ll be right back.”
    It could be suicide, but he figured the only way to get everyone free was to distract the gators so they could slip around them and away from the smelly fucks-in-waiting. It sounded like a goddamn zoo at feeding time. Fucking Cheech .  
    “Heyah!” he bellowed. The sound of his voice stopped Jack’s screaming. “Now you all gotta pay attention. I’m going to get the gators to turn to me. Wait for the lightning. When you see them pointed away from you, run like hell behind me. Maddie’s waiting. Run faster than you ever have in your life, ’cause these gators can sprint like a bottle rocket when they’re riled up. You hear me?”
    “We got you!” Liz shouted back, her voice tinged with uncertainty.  
    Lightning came, but all but one of the gators were still eyeing them like choice beef in a butcher shop window. And then there was John. There he sat, legs pulled up to his chest, eyeing the ground like hell hadn’t broken out around him. That was going to be a problem.  
    He could hear the Bigfoots whooping it up and was tempted to take a wild shot in the dark and hope it hit something near and dear to them, but he had to hold his impulse in check. It was better to wait anyway. If he was lucky, he’d get a nice, clear shot during the day, when he could bury a bullet right between their red eyes.  
    Red eyes! That was it! During the day, it almost looked like their eyes glowed, as if there was a raging fire behind them. Could Rooster be so lucky that their eyes would give them away in the dark?  
    “Oh shit!”
    Dominic’s shout, followed by a