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He wasn’t looking at me, but towards my right.
Had he just ripped Harrison off me?
“Help!” I scrambled to my knees and away from Harrison. He was a few feet from me, his face buried in the muck.
Callie jerked out of Blake’s’ hold and grabbed my arm. She pulled me upward. “Let’s go!”
"Wait, we can't just leave him.”
Blake and Harrison were now fighting the man, rolling around in the swamp. The man was strong but Harrison was an angry ball of fury. Plus, Blake was kicking his side.
“He’s an adult, he can handle himself.” Callie tried to pull me towards the house, “Besides, we can go get help."
"But," I held my ground, unsure what to do, "he saved me."
Blake sat on the man’s legs, while Harrison straddled his chest. Harrison was smashing his fist into his face.
Even though the man was still fighting them, it was a lot—with two on one.
I couldn't run off like this. I had to do something, even if it put me in danger.
Pulling the last thing my mom ever gave me from my pocket, I crinkled the bag, making sure it was loud. Then I began to yell, "Jibber babber, Jibber babber!”
If Ollie was here somewhere, he'd come with the noise.
“Summer! No!”
"Hush, Callie," I wrapped an arm around her, trying to calm her crying. "It'll be okay."
“Ollie's going to eat us,” she sobbed.
"He won't." I tried to soothe her. "He likes me. And he likes you, too. Don't think I didn't see you giving him apples the other day."
She gulped down her sobs, trying to hold still, but she was still shaking in my arm. I held my breath as I waited, crinkling the bag again and again. Then I saw a sudden flash of white in the darkness. "Look!" I pointed towards it, "he's coming."
Sure enough, I could see Ollie's eyes blinking in the darkness, his white body swimming towards us.
“Hey!” I screamed, terrified Ollie would hurt the man who’d come to save us. "Get out of the way." He was on top now, trying to keep Harrison and Blake down. “It's a gator!"
That got his attention. He stopped, his hand midair as his gaze searched the swamp.
It didn't take him long to see the creature swimming quickly towards us. He jumped up and off Harrison and Blake.
"You coward!" Callie screamed as Harrison ran past us, with Blake on his heels.
"At least I didn't kill my mom!" Harrison shot back. It made the ache in my chest blast back through me in full force.
God, I missed mom so much.
I didn't hold back the tears now, letting them drip down my cheeks as I broke open the bag, shaking out the contents.
“Get back to the house,” the man demanded. When we didn’t budge, he stood between us and Ollie, pushing us back and out of the way. We watched Ollie crawl closer, headed for where I’d emptied the bag of Bugles.
We all stared in awe as Ollie gobbled them up.
I noticed that the man’s eye was already starting to go black and blue, his expensive clothes torn, wet, and muddy.
He’d saved me, taking a beating in the process. Then stood between us and an alligator, who could easily chomp off his feet.
