Angry Alligators

(When we last left Fred, he had been given an ultimatum by his captors to either spy on Jonathan for them, or die)

   “I’ll never comply with the demands of terrorists!” Fred shouted.
   The black bag was put over his head and the rough hands grabbed him.
   “The alligators will be well fed tonight, then,” the voice said.
   “Wait!  No!  You can’t feed me to alligators, can you?”
   “We’re terrorists, remember?  We’ll do as we please.  Take him away.”
   Fred struggled as he was dragged away, but it was no use.  The owners of the hands were just too strong. 
   “Guys, please,” he pleaded. “How can you throw a poor guy like me to the alligators?  What did I ever do to you?”
   There was no answer. 
   They stopped, the bag was whipped off his head, and he was tossed into a vat of water.  All was still for a moment.  Fred blinked, his eyes adjusting.  Then the water began to churn.  He screamed.  There, skimming across the water, was an alligator coming straight for him.  Fred began to flail blindly.
   “I don’t wanna die!”  he yelled. “I’m too young to die!”
   His fist connected with something hard and scaly, then another hard and scaly something, then something that was softer and squishier.  Whatever it was gave a yelp and began to thrash around, creating an even bigger ruckus than Fred was.  Somehow, in all the confusion, Fred managed to notice that there was nothing keeping him in the water, so he quickly grabbed the side of the tank and pulled himself out.  He lay on the ground, gasping for a second, then got up and took a look around.  He was in a dark cavern, empty except for the alligator tank, with only one exit.  Fred was about to head out it when a growl caused him to look back.  An alligator was at the edge of the tank, glaring at him.  One of its eyes was swollen shut. 
   Fred grinned nervously. “Sorry ‘bout that, big fella.”
   The alligator growled again, and, in a feat of agility incredible for an alligator, leaped over the side of the tank, toward Fred.  Fred gave a yelp and shot out the exit, the growls behind him urging him to greater speeds.  Unfortunately for him, they also made him forget to look where he was going.  He slammed straight into the back of a big man, causing him to stumble forward.  But it didn’t stop there.  The big man bumped into the man in front of him, causing him to stumble into the man in front of him, causing him to stumble into the man in front of him, and so on and so forth until they reached the man at the front of the line.  He stumbled forward and fell on top of a very little man who had been facing the line of men. 
   “Get off me!” the little man yelled.
   Fred recognized the voice.  It was the voice that had interrogated him.  At that moment, the little man looked up and saw Fred.
   “What’s he doing alive?” he asked nobody in particular. “Get him!”
   The fallen men jumped to their feet and charged Fred, who did the only thing he could.  He turned tail and ran.  But when he took a turn around a corner he came face to face with the alligator.  He doubled back frantically, but the men were still coming from that direction.  Angry men coming from one way, angry alligator from the other.  Fred was trapped.  And to make it worse, the alligator jumped on him when his back was turned.  He hit the ground with a thud, driving the breath out of him, the alligator sitting on his back.  The men were coming closer, but Fred had pretty much forgotten them.  That happens when an alligator sits on you.  And this alligator gave no inclination that he was going to move any time soon. 
   “Get off me you stupid bugger!” Fred yelled at it.
   To his surprise, it rolled off him.  He got to his knees cautiously, watching the green creature.  Then it jumped on him again and…began to lick his face.

   To be continued…