Evershades

If you enjoyed the first sneak peak, here is another look inside the pages of ‘Evershades’:

   “Oh wow,” said Bret as Mike brought the truck to a halt a couple of hundred metres away from a large lake that had a small island in the middle of it. The island seemed to be completely covered with huge alligators. However it was hard to tell as they were quite a distance away.
   “Is it OK to get out?” asked Tom.
   “Yeah, as long as you stay away from the bank you will be fine,” replied Marvin.
   “Come on then,” said Tom as he more or less pushed Bret out of the cabin.
   Mike got out of the truck with his gun. “Come on Marvin, let’s go and make sure everything has gone to plan.”
   “Remember guys, stay away from the edge of the water,” said Marvin as he walked off.
   Bret looked at Tom. “I wonder what they mean by that.”
   “Stay away from the water’s edge or you will get eaten by an alligator.”
   Bret shook his head as he grabbed his video camera from his bag. “Not that, the bit about making sure everything is going to plan.”
   Tom frowned. “Stop being so bloody paranoid, will you? Just look around, how cool is this? I mean, tourists get excited about visiting the Everglades and seeing one or two alligators if they are lucky…”
   “This is a farm,” interrupted Bret. “Of course we are going to see a lot of alligators.”
   “Shut up and do some video.”

   Bret stood filming the lake from what he and Tom thought was a safe distance away. “Look at the size of the bastards.”
   “Hey Bret, don’t swear on the video – I will be showing that to my mum at some point.”
   Bret ignored Tom’s comment. After all, it was his camera. “I cannot believe the size of them. They really are massive.”
   “I know,” replied Tom. “Fuck coming face to face with one of those.”
   Bret pointed the camera at Tom. “I think you need to apologise for your bad language.”
   Tom looked at the camera and went to say something but a sound from the water stopped him. “Did you hear that?”
   Bret nodded as he stood frozen to the spot.
   “Keep the camera rolling and follow me,” whispered Tom.
   Bret did not follow.
   Tom turned around and beckoned Bret with his hand.
   Bret shook his head. He really did not want to go anywhere near the edge of the lake.
   Tom waved again.
   “Just come back here,” whispered Bret as he looked around for Mike and Marvin. They were nowhere to be seen.
   “No, I want to see what it is.”
   “Probably a fucking great big alligator, hence why I am staying here. I would like to keep all of my limbs.”
   “Whatever, I know that there is not an alligator quick enough to catch me. You can stay there and be a girl but I am going for a look.”
   ‘Bloody hell,’ thought Bret. He knew there was no way that he would let Tom go on his own so, despite thinking that it was extremely unwise to even think about going near the water, he followed. “Wait for me, you idiot.”
   “Be quiet and keep the camera rolling.”
   Suddenly there was the sound of more water splashing.
   Tom and Bret looked at each other and slowly crept up to the heavily grassed bank of the lake. Both of them poked their heads over to look at what was causing the commotion. But even before they could focus their eyes, a giant alligator leapt out of the water.
   ‘Fuck,’ thought Bret as they fell backwards. Fortunately the alligator had missed its target, though not by much as Bret got to smell its breath as it snapped at him.
   The alligator fell back into the water but immediately tried to scramble up the bank. Clearly it was not done with trying to get a piece of either of them.
   They quickly got up off the ground.
   Bret grabbed the camera. “What do we do now?”
   “Bloody run!” shouted Tom.

The above extract is copyright © Dale Spiller 2013.

Click here to buy your copy of ‘Evershades’.