Oh gods… Charlie… don’t move… don’t fucking move. The crocodile slowly walked along the floor next to Charlie. I could hear a horrid scraping sound as it dragged its massive body along the ground. That thing must be incredibly heavy. Fuck, I’m almost having a panic attack over here… Charlie must be absolutely terrified.

  It's sniffing him… shit… its sniffing him… fuck… it if decides to take a bite then that’s it… shit… I need to do something… what the fuck can I do? I’m so fucking useless. I’m literally going to sit here and watch that thing eat a child and I can’t do a thing about it. Stop fucking panicking and think!

  If I can get the short sword out… maybe I can use the magic from that… fuck… I can’t move my arm enough to get it off my back… shit. I haven’t felt any magic from the thing since the incubus anyway… fuck… why am I so useless?

  Oh, thank fuck… it turned away from him. Its sniffing Mr. Thistlewood’s corpse now. The crocodile started to chew on his arm. Hang on… Charlie doesn’t look okay… why does he look so… oh shit… it sat on his leg. Charlie’s face contorted into a horrifying grimace as he tried to stifle his screams. Oh gods… don’t make a sound… don’t make a sound… please Charlie… don’t scream.

  Shit… Tadwick’s moving… whatever you are thinking of doing, Tadwick… don’t. Gods… he’s picked up a rock… do not throw it at the crocodile… please… if you piss that thing off then you’re dead… don’t do it… please… please… please.

  Tadwick lifted his arm to throw the rock… I caught his eye and shook my head at him. He nodded his head at me with a determined look on his face. He threw the rock. It flew through the air… right past the crocodile and into the water. As soon as the splash echoed out through the cave, the crocodile’s head spun and it dived into the water… taking Mr. Thistlewood’s arm with it.

  Charlie sighed with relief. Thank fuck for that… I feel like an idiot for assuming that Tadwick was trying to start a fight with the thing. All that time around Nomius has clearly done him good.

  Tadwick: “You okay?”

  Charlie stood himself up and started to hobble towards what remains of Mr. Thistlewood.

  Charlie: “Oh, I’m just peachy.”

  Tadwick: “And you think you can kill that thing in your state, with nothing but my dad’s dagger?”

  I have to admit… I definitely share Tadwick’s scepticism there. Charlie is right that we need to try something… but the chances of success aren’t exactly high.

  Charlie: “I do. With a plan.”

  Charlie placed the dagger sideways in his mouth and bit down before grabbing what remained of Mr. Thistlewood with his hand and dragging the remains towards a little lip in the stone behind him.

  Dwynfel: “What exactly is this plan?”

  Charlie was struggling to lift the corpse onto the raised bit of rock. The body may be missing a head and an arm… but it is still the body of a grown man. I’d struggle to move the thing on a good day… and that poor kid only has one arm. Charlie gave me a rather confident look. I’m pretty sure he was trying to smirk at me… which is hard to do with a knife in your mouth.

  He succeeded in lifting the corpse on top of the rock and snatched the blade from his mouth.

  Charlie: “Simple… I hide under the lip of this rock. When it crawls over to have another bite of Mr. Thistlewood, I slice its stomach open. Crocodiles have weak undersides.”

  Tadwick: “That thing’s huge. A few stabs from you in’t gonna kill it.”

  Charlie: “Not instantly… but if I can rupture its intestines or damage a major organ then it will be a waiting game.”

  Dwynfel: “I admire your courage, Charlie… I really do. But… what exactly do you plan to do while you wait for it to die?”

  Charlie: “With any luck it won’t realise where I am and think it has cut itself on a rock or something.”

  Dwynfel: “Do you think that’s likely?”

  Charlie dangled Mr. Thistlewood’s arm over the edge of the overhanging bit of stone. He then hopped down and began to shuffle himself inside the small crevasse underneath.

  Charlie: “Animals are dumb. It’ll probably think it was Mr. Thistlewood and bite down on him harder.”

  Dwynfel: “This plan is rather reliant on chance.”

  Charlie: “Most plans rely on chance. Worst case scenario, I die… but at least I do some damage first.”

  Tadwick: “No. Worst case scenario is that it sees you and eats you as soon as it comes out of the water.”

  Charlie: “It’s not going to do that, is it? Because it is going to be distracted by the wiggling arm of a corpse!”

  Charlie started lightly batting the hanging arm, creating the illusion that the body was still alive.

  Tadwick: “That’s dumb, you’re gonna end up dead.”

  Charlie: “Shut up, it’ll be fine.”

  Tadwick: “You could barely lift that body… you aren’t strong enough to tear open a crocodile.”

  Charlie: “Oh, and I suppose you could do better?”

  Tadwick: “I could… but I’m not the one who got the healing, am I?

  Charlie: “Because I had an arterial bleed. Half my arm was ripped off. I was dying!”

  Tadwick: “Pfft… it’s only a third of your arm… and what does arterial mean?”

  At least Charlie seems to have anatomical knowledge. He may actually know where to stab to get the best results.

  Charlie: “I have neither the time, nor the crayons to explain that to you. And even if you had been healed, I’m stronger than you are!”

  Tadwick: “Nuh uh!”

  Charlie: “Uh huh! I’m bigger and I’m four years older than you!”

  Tadwick: “You’re three years 2 months older than me. You only turned twelve last week. And you’re only just taller than me. I’m bigger in other ways!”

  Charlie: “That isn’t useful in a fight!”

  Tadwick: “I’m talkin’ ‘bout my muscles, you dick!”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  Charlie: “Oh… just… shut up!”

  Fucking hell… even in a life-or-death situation these two just have to argue and compete about everything.

  Tadwick: “Why are you being a dick? I’m just trying to stop you getting yourself killed!”

  Charlie: “I’m not being a dick! You are!”

  Tadwick: “Is this about Lydia again?”

  Now they’ve lost me… who in the world is Lydia? But that seems to have pissed Charlie off… his face is angry and his voice is starting to crack.

  Charlie: “This isn’t about Lydia!”

  Tadwick: “Oh, it so is. For the last damn time… I am not trying to steal your girlfriend!”

  Charlie: “She is not my girlfriend! And she probably never will be after what you did!”

  Tadwick: “Oh shut up… it was an accident!”

  Oh shit… bubbles… bubbles… bubbles.

  Dwynfel: “Boys! Bubbles!”

  Both boys went completely silent. Tadwick froze in place and Charlie resumed tapping Mr. Thistlewood’s arm. It felt like eons before the crocodile eventually emerged… in reality it was probably minutes… maybe even seconds… my concept of time is not the best at the moment… the blood loss and panic are not helping my brain function… even trying to engage those two in conversation was difficult for me.

  The crocodile emerged from the water at a glacial pace. Keeping an eye on the moving arm as it slunk across the floor towards Charlie. Just keep going… just keep going… a bit further… just keep… shit… shit… it’s going round the side… it isn’t going over the lip… shit, shit, shit.

  The crocodile moved around the side and lumbered up to the left of where Charlie was hiding… providing him no opportunity to get his knife in. It continued to slowly approach the corpse until it was directly above Charlie. It suddenly snapped, bit down on the body, and writhed it around. The body split in two… the torso fell down in front of Charlie, making him jump. The crocodile stayed above… chewing on the legs.

  Charlie very slowly pushed the torso to one side so that he could see me. Hang on… is he trying to sign at me? Oh fuck… yeah… he’s been doing this survival shit with Nomius… he’s bound to have picked up a few signs. Oh Nomius… I fucking love you right now… I am so fucking glad you taught it to everyone.

  Charlie: [Signing] “What…”

  What? What? Shit… he’s missing a hand… he can’t do the second sign properly… lucky that ‘what’ only requires one hand. Shit… okay… second sign… he’s banging his fist off his stump… umm… what sign could that be? More? No… his hand isn’t flat…. Umm… doing… he’s asking me what it’s doing.

  Dwynfel: [Signing] “Eating.”

  Charlie: [Signing] “It… look… you.”

  He wants me to get its attention… right… umm… okay. How the fuck do I do that? If I shout, it will just bound over and eat me. Then return for them. Shit… think.

  I grabbed a rock the ground beside me and threw it hard against the wall to my right. It turned to look at me, so I played dead.

  Shit, shit, shit… it’s coming down the same way that it came… fuck, that didn’t work… shit… Charlie isn’t going to get a chance again… shit, shit, shit. It’s swimming across the water now… shit, shit, shit… it’ll be here any second. What the fuck is Charlie doing now?

  Once the crocodile was in the water Charlie quickly hobbled across to Tadwick and started dragging him across the floor and stuffing him in the crevasse that he was in previously.

  Shit… it’s coming out of the water… its walking towards me… it’s getting closer… oh gods… I can smell its breath. It still has chunks of Mr. Thistlewood in its mouth… fuck… don’t move… I mustn’t fucking move… if I move… I’m dead.

  Charlie: “Over here you scaley prick!”

  Charlie threw a rock off the back of its head. It hissed and turned to face him. Fuck, Charlie… you shouldn’t have done that… that was a terrible idea. The crocodile darted back into the water and was back on the other side in a matter of seconds.

  Charlie was stood on the lip of stone that he had placed the corpse on earlier. He bent down to pick the knife off the ground and started waving it, threateningly at the crocodile. The crocodile slowed right down. It is clearly suspicious of the situation. It started moving towards Charlie… very, very slowly. As it approached the lip, Charlie started stepping back at roughly the same speed in order to maintain distance.

  This time the crocodile didn’t move round the side… it simply approached him, head on. Its front legs climbed up the lip as it continued to slowly advance… once it was halfway up, Charlie shouted to Tadwick.

  Charlie: “Now!”

  I couldn’t see what Tadwick was doing… because he was underneath the crocodile… but the beast let out a guttural screech and instantly backed down off the lip. Please… please tell me he did enough damage to it… please… oh shit… oh please… no.

  The crocodile started biting at the lip of stone… trying to open the rock face up. Shit… it knows Tadwick is in there. I grabbed another rock and threw it off the crocodile… it didn’t react to me at all.

  Charlie: “Oh, bloody buggery bollocks!”

  Dwynfel: “Leave him alone! Eat me! Come get me!”

  I threw every rock that was near me… it didn’t react at all… it is thoroughly pissed at Tadwick. I can’t draw its attention. Oh gods… I hope that rock holds… if the rock collapses, then Tadwick won’t survive.

  Hang on… Charlie has noticed something… what the fuck is he doing? Charlie walked round the side of the crocodile and started to advance on it from the side.

  Dwynfel: “Charlie be careful!”

  Charlie didn’t respond… he reached forward and grabbed something off the ground. Fucking hell… that’s an intestine… the crocodile’s intestine. Charlie started to pull on it slowly. The crocodile was in such a rage that it didn’t even react… it continued its assault on Tadwick.

  Charlie started wrapping the intestine around a nearby stalagmite. He tied it in a knot so that it wouldn't come undone. Which is an impressive thing to do with only one hand, not to mention how slippery blood covered intestines are. Then he rushed over and planted my dagger in the crocodile’s neck, before legging it back to the water and diving in.

  The crocodile spun round with an angry screech and chased after him. Charlie managed to climb out of the water on my side of the cave and continued to run towards me… well… limp with haste. The crocodile burst from the water and chased after him. Charlie turned to check how close it was and it swiped his legs out from under him with its tail.

  It continued to advance on him… but it was slowing down. Its insides had been pulled out as it had pursued Charlie across the room. The water in the centre of the cave was no longer blue… it was a murky brownish red… the floor between the water and the crocodile was covered in stringy insides and blood.

  The crocodile went to bite Charlie’s face… but it was slow… so much slower than before. Charlie saw a chance… he grabbed the knife that was still sticking out of the crocodile’s neck and pulled it across to the other side… as the knife glided across, what little blood the creature had left spilled out all over Charlie and the creature collapsed.

  Charlie lay there… breathing heavily… the terror left his eyes and a sense of accomplishment filled his face.

  Charlie: “Bloody hell. Can’t believe that actually worked.”

  Not strictly speaking from this chapter. But due to Charlie's state of undress, I am unable to generate an image of him fighting the crocodile... so here is Dietrich doing it.