A Swell Plan

A Swell Plan
Junior looked at his bare legs and feet as the boat sank deeper into the water while the hungry gators drew closer. “Not what I expected when we came over here.”
Cutter sat by Junior’s legs as he tried to keep his bloody leg from insects. “You and me both,”
The moon was high as the duo floated down the river. Cutter watched two large gators trail behind the boat. Their long tails lazily drifted back and forth in the dark water.
“Them two got designs on eatin’ us,” he said.
Junior swallowed hard. “Man, I gotta go use it.”
“Well, as you relieve yo’ self, aim for them gators. That way, they may get to full off eatin’ on yo’ big ass and I can run free,” Cutter tried to find a laugh.
The boat drifted into a series of thick roots and lurched to a sudden stop beneath a low lying tree. Both men fell backward onto the console.
“Give me something,” Cutter scrambled closer to the wheel as the gators drew closer. He did his best to keep his legs away from the water him as Junior handed him a paddle, before he too found a place to perch on the console.
Silence fell all around them as the gators disappeared beneath the water. Collectively the men held their breaths as the water slowly covered the back end of the boat.
“Where did they go?” Junior spanned his eyes across the shallows surrounding them.
Cutter shrugged. “Like I know what a gator think.”
“They assholes...you an asshole so I figured yaw would have somethin’ in common.”
Cutter turned his way. “Fuck you,” he snapped as a gator walked onto the boat. His snout was wide and open, and with a yelp, he swung the paddle at the creature. The gator snarled a response and tried to tear the board from the Cutter’s hands. The second gator crept out of the water, and Junior aimed an orange flare gun at it.
“Cutter, if I don’t make it,” Junior began. “I give you permission to… to…”
“Man you can’t even say it,” Cutter spat.
“No I can’t say it.”
“Yes you can. Say, Cutter, look out for my momma and fuck her right when I’m gone. That all you gots to say.”
Junior pulled the trigger on the flare gun, only to see the flare spittle out and fizzle under the water.
“Damn, I always thought we would go down in a hail of bullets in Bolivia,” Junior said dejectedly.
“Fool that was the end of a damn movie,” Cutter snapped.
The sound of a boat could be heard from all directions. The gators snarled and Junior reloaded the gun and quickly fired a flare. It struck one beast in the eye, and it tumbled into the water. Its partner chased after it.
“Get up here man,” Junior sounded and hoisted Cutter up. They scrambled out of the windows and climbed on the roof of the boat’s cabin. Three boats aimed bright beams of light at the sinking vessel.
“Friend or foe?” Junior looked at Cutter.
“As long as they takin’ us away from them gators, they alright with me.
The trio slowed down and a laugh could be heard alongside the sound of guns being cocked.
“Well, well, well.” Belair Gastineau replied. “Look what the gators dragged in.”
“You our savior?”
“Not quite Junior. We here to collect you. Turns out yo’ mamma done sold yaw out to save her own neck.”
“Fuck you,” Junior said.
“Fuck you, Junior, and...what the hell happened to your pants?”

Willow squinted as the truck barreled down the road. In the distance she could faintly see headlights travelling along the highway. She wiped her brow and relaxed, confident she was safe. Though, with her experience in Arcadia she knew danger was always lurking nearby.
Her plan was simple. Get help from police outside of Arcadia. Her editor knew some state troopers and told her the location of the station before she left on her assignment. She came to get the story, and ended up having the adventure of a lifetime.
She blinked as tension filled her mind. Something told her to slow down, and she let her foot off the gas. Her mind drifted to the wild dream she’d had. She still felt the unfulfilled lust poking at her from somewhere deep within. And she vowed to scratch that itch the first moment she could.
“What the?” she shouted as she spied a person standing in the road. She twisted the wheel and the pickup bounced off the main road. A tree rushed her way and she wrenched the wheel to the left. Her head slammed into the steering wheel as the truck plowed into a thick pool of mud.
Stars and tears filled her eyes as the driver’s door was snatched open and she felt something cold and metallic jam against her skull.
“Who the fuck are you and where the fuck are my boys?” A female voice spat.
Willow turned her head and saw the reflection of a striking woman clad in jeans and a tight black t-shirt in the side view mirror. “I.. I.. I’m W.. W.. Willow L.. L.. Lane.”
“Stutter much Willow? Where the fuck is Jackson and where the fuck are my boys?”
“I.. I.. don’t know.”
The woman gave a long and heavy sigh. “Willow I’m gonna need you to take a deep breath and stop all that stutterin’ ‘fore I bust a cap in your ass.”
Willow gave a nervous laugh.
“I’m gonna take the gun away from your skull, but if you move too sudden or make me nervous, I will beat you to death with it. We got a deal?”
Willow nodded and watched the gun pull away as the woman spoke again. “Now hop on out of the truck nice and slow. And do mind the mud.”
Willow carefully stepped on the dirt and leaned against the truck. “I’m a little dizzy.”
“Not something I give a damn about. Now where are my boys?”
“I don’t know,” Willow said. She bent over and vomited. The woman not so patiently waited for her to finish.
“What do you know?”
Willow coughed. “I know those two sisters have a couple locked up somewhere. I know they have a cell in the basement, and I locked Lenora up in it.”
“Well girl you just earned yourself a few more moments to breathe on this earth. Now take me to the bitch.”

Jackson slipped on a pair of black leather gloves and a teal surgical mask before he went to work on Bridgette’s body.
He had her tied to a twin mattress with her hands and feet bound together inside of a white cargo van parked in the driveway. Two of Gastineau’s men stood outside allowing him time to be alone with the woman.
She still wore her customary cut off jean shorts and black tank top. He was sure not to breathe in her scent or allow his skin to touch hers as he carefully slipped a large burlap sack over her enticing frame. She was still alive and still very dangerous.
Especially now after he betrayed her. His “sister.”
Only her head and shoulders were visible once he had her in the sack. He tied the bag off at her shoulders, before he wrapped a black silk scarf over her mouth and another over her eyes. He allowed her head to loll back onto the mattress as he stepped back to admire his work.
“I know you gonna be mad at me when you wake. Just know I like you and your sister...I just love money more. Besides, I’m getting tired of all this rebooting. Maybe this time I’ll just do it on my own. I mean we been together a long time, girl. A bit too long.”
He backed out of the van and closed the back doors. He looked at the men. “One of you can go ahead and haul her in. the other come on with me to get the other one.” He handed over the keys and then walked toward the house with a black sap in his hand.

Mosquitos buzzed all around as Willow followed the woman deeper into the swamp. “Where are we?”
“Shh,” the woman snapped as she stopped.
Willow was about to protest when she heard voices and saw beams of light flashing in the trees ahead. She was about to speak when the woman turned around and now stood inches from Willow’s face.
“I need you to listen, and listen good.” Swell removed her gun holster. “Take these keys and my guns and find Cutter Jones.”
“Who’s Cutter?”
“Bald guy who talks loads of shit.” She said wrapping her Kevlar vest over Willow’s leaner shoulders. “Tell him the Gastineau’s got me and my boys and to pick us all up in my truck.” She turned away, and then snapped her head back, slapping Willow in the face with her ponytail. “Now if you got designs on runnin’ off, instead of helping me Willow I will find you, and when I do, I will cut you so deep your great grandchildren will have scars. You hear me?”
“Yes ma’am but who are you?”
“Swell Gattis. Now give me yer’ hand.” Willow complied and Swell sat the keys into her outstretched palm. “Now stay low.”
Willow nodded and got low on her haunches in the dirt. Swell headed toward the beams of light with her arms high in the air. She gave a sharp whistle, and Willow saw the beams converge on the woman.
“You got me assholes,” Swell shouted.
“You alone?” someone yelled.
“You see anybody else assholes? Besides, you have my boys. Who else would I be with?”
Willow heard a pause which seemed to last eons as something long and smooth slipped silently over her legs. She covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
“Yeah,” a man said finally. “That’s right. The days of the Gattis Clan running things in Arcadia are over. The Gastineau’s are the new chief’s in town. Now tie her up and take her on back to Bellafont.”
Willow began to move as she heard Swell shout. “And be gentle too motherfucker, or when this is all through I’ll stick my foot in your ass sideways.”
Willow heard the group rumble out of the brush. She snapped to her feet and scrambled off in search of a road and Cutter Jones.