MARLBORO NIGHTS [JJ MAYBANK]

little baby gator bite

SARAH SAW HIM GO UNDER TOO. They both jolted upright, and Karolina's lips fell open in a gasp. 

"John B?" Sarah called, watching the water where John B disappeared splash violently. 

A moment later, he broke the surface— and so did his scream. 

"Help!"

"Holy shit!" Karolina cursed, leaping off the top of the van and into the water immediately, Sarah doing the same. "Pope!" 

"Pope, we need help!" Sarah cried, hurriedly trying to open the doors of the Twinkie to find something to beat the alligator John B was currently wrestling with. 

Karolina wasted no time, running as fast as she could through the thick swamp water to get to her best friend. She struggled moving through the mud and the water, her sneakers getting stuck and the heavy denim of her jeans dragging her down. 

John B's screams died in a flurry of bubbles as he was dragged under again. Pope looked over, concerned. "What's going on?" 

"A fucking gator's trying to eat John B!" Karolina hollered, grabbing the biggest stick she could find as she approached where he was under the water. 

"Pope!" Sarah cried, as she started racing over too, one of JJ's hunting knives in hand. 

Karolina gritted her teeth, jabbing blindly into the water with the stick , trying to hit the gator but not hit John B too badly. But it was just a mess of swirling water and splashes and murky bubbles. 

"Sarah!" Karolina yelled, when her stick was doing no good to save their friend as he quite literally wrestled with the alligator. "Sarah, hurry!" 

John B and the gator broke the surface again, the animal growling and snarling and snapping at at his face— but John B managed to keep it at bay enough to not lose a limb. 

When Sarah reached them, she yelled and stabbed with the knife, slicing into someone's skin— whether it was the gator or John B's,  they weren't sure— but she continued to stab, until John B slipped away and the gator growled, before swimming in the other direction, leaving behind a trail of blood. 

"Holy shit— fuck, JB!" Karolina yelled, grabbing him by his shoulder and hauling him to his feet. "Are you okay?" 

John B panted, trying to catch his breath, when Pope finally got to them, and they yanked John B towards the van. "Get to the Twinkie, now!" Sarah hollered, wielding her knife in case the gator tried to come back for them. 

Karolina and Pope helped John B on top of the Twinkie, before they all climbed up there alongside him, not too eager to run into a gator again. 

"Oh, shit, JB," Karolina cursed, when she kneeled on top of the Twinkie and pulled John B's leg into her lap to assess the damage. She saw the shredded leg of his jeans and the juge gash in his calf. She looked up at him, eyes wide. "I can't believe JJ was right. You got your calf chewed off by a gator, bro—" 

"Oh, God, just shut up," John B groaned, throwing his head back dramatically. "You and JJ are literally the same person now, it's disgusting." 

Karolina rolled her eyes, glancing at Sarah over her shoulder as he replied, "Well, you're lucky. It didn't cut into the muscle too much." 

John B gritted his teeth. "Yeah," he grimaced, sarcastic. "Lucky I got bit by an alligator and my car is underwater."

She patted his other leg. "Just a little baby gator bite; you'll be fine," she said, giving him a sarcastic smile. "You have anything to wrap it with?" 

John B nodded and pulled his ratty blue bandana from his pocket, his gaze sliding to Sarah for a moment. Karolina glanced at Sarah, too, then to Pope, feeling awkward in the midst of the intimate eye contact. But she took the bandana John B offered and started to wrap up his gator bite— meanwhile, a truck pulled up.