Crocodile Pond Massacre by Special Forces Lady

After giving up our VIP booth for the World Cup final to an elderly man, my husbands close friend Sienna had to stand for the rest of the match.

The next morning, Garrett confronted me with bloodshot eyes. Do you know Sienna stood for two straight hours? Her knees are so swollen she had to be hospitalized.

I almost laughed. The bar was full of stools. If her legs hurt, why didnt she take one?

Out of arguments, Garrett switched to talking about our anniversary trip. Once we were on the road, I realized we werent going to the scenic place we had planned. We were heading deep into the Everglades wetlands.

The SUV roared forward, kicking up dust. From a hovering drone, Garretts cold voice rang out. Vivienne, you said anyone could sit anywhere. Why dont you try sitting in the swamp?

A chill ran through me. I reached for my satellite phone, only to find the back cover and battery missing.

Dont bother calling for help, Garrett said. Today you will learn some humility.

In my despair, glowing text flashed across my vision like a livestream chat.

[Is this really the female lead? The billionaire heiress who hid her wealth for five years to play housewife and repay a debt?]

[Why is she just standing there? Doesnt she realize shes right above a sinkhole?]

Garrett's irritated voice blared from the drone again.

"Vivienne, stop playing dead! Is it really that hard to apologize to Sienna? Just admit you shouldn't have stolen her seat, and we'll come back for you."

From behind him, Siennas sweet, artificial voice piped up.

"Garrett, don't be too harsh. Vivienne must be terrified. How about this? If she just bows and apologizes to me, we can go back and pick her up."

Garrett put her on speaker.

"Did you hear that, Vivienne? Apologize to Sienna, and I'll pull you out."

I did not have time to process Sienna's pathetic power play. My instinct told me to trust the floating text, and I quickly took a step to the side.

My sudden movement only seemed to infuriate Garrett further.

"Vivienne! Are you deaf? How dare you ignore me! Do you think this is a game? This is an uncharted wilderness. Do you actually want to die out here?"

A bitter laugh bubbled up in my throat. I opened my mouth to shoot back, but the ground beneath me suddenly gave way. I plunged downward as the earth turned to liquid mud. Sinking sand.

The thick, brown sludge swallowed my knees instantly, dragging me down with a terrifying, heavy suction.

The floating chat erupted.

[He really picked the worst spot. Sinking sand everywhere!]

[Sinking sand is a death sentence. She needs to swallow her pride and beg for help right now!]

My heart sank. Through the humid air, Garretts panicked voice drifted from where the SUV had stopped.

"Vivienne! Someone help! Vivienne fell into the quicksand!"

I looked up, catching the genuine terror in his eyes. For a split second, my heart softened, thinking he still cared. But before he could take a step, Sienna grabbed his arm.

"Garrett, don't panic!"

She pulled him back into the vehicle, comforting him with a voice dripping with fake concern. "It's just quicksand. I've seen this on TV. The more she struggles, the faster she'll sink. As long as she stays perfectly still, she'll be fine."

She spoke with such calm, pseudo-scientific authority that Garrett clung to her words like a lifeline. He steadied his breathing and grabbed the radio.

"Vivienne! Do you hear me? Don't move! Whatever you do, don't move!"

A dry laugh escaped my lips. The floating chat was in an absolute frenzy.

[Don't move? She wants her to die! That venomous snake is doing this on purpose!]

[I've watched documentaries on these wetlands. God knows what kind of predators are lurking beneath that mud!]

A violent shudder ran down my spine. It was not because of the text, but because something slimy and heavy had just brushed against my submerged calf.

"Garrett!" I screamed, my voice cracking under the raw terror. "Help me! There's something in here with me!"

Right on cue, Sienna clutched her chest, gasping for air. "Garrett, my heart. It hurts. I can't look at this, it is too much."

She collapsed into his arms, weak and pathetic. Garrett immediately panicked, all his attention shifting entirely to her.

"Sienna! Talk to me! Don't scare me like this! Where is her medication? Get the pills, now!"

The SUV became a scene of frantic chaos, while my heart turned into a block of ice.

Five years ago, as the sole heiress to the ultra-wealthy Ainsworth empire, I was forced onto the streets by a vicious family coup. Garrett had been the one to take me in. We had shared a cramped, damp studio apartment in the city for six months. During our darkest days, we lived on nothing but cheap instant noodles and stale bread.

Yet, he had never complained. He used to hold me close and say, "We are a team, Vivienne. We look out for each other."

I honestly believed that was what pure, unadulterated love looked like. But prosperity, it seemed, was a curse our bond could not survive.

The heavy pull of the mud was trying to drag me into the abyss. Inhaling sharply, I stopped shouting. I slipped my right hand behind my back, reaching for the custom tactical knife concealed beneath my waistband. If you want something done right, do it yourself.

The moment my fingers gripped the hilt, a pair of murky, reptilian eyes surfaced silently from the black water. Then another pair, and another. Alligators.

Massive, dark shapes glided through the sludge, slowly closing in on me. I gripped the hilt so hard my knuckles turned white.

[Holy crap! An entire pack of gators! She is dead meat!]

[She has a knife, she just needs to hold them off until Garrett steps in. He can't be that heartless, right?]

[Exactly! Remember when he stood up to those street thugs for her? They used to be so sweet together!]

Up in the armored SUV, Garrett seemed to sense the shift in the air. He turned his head and looked in my direction. His eyes widened in sheer disbelief, and his voice went up an octave.

"Alligators! Why the hell are there gators here?!"

Panic took over. He screamed at the local guide, his voice cracking. "Get down there! Save her! Where is the rifle? Where is the rope? Throw her the rope!"

The guide scrambled to grab the emergency gear. But before he could open the door, Sienna, whose chest pain had miraculously vanished, lunged forward and snatched the radio from Garrett's hand.

"Don't go out there!" she shrieked at the guide. "If those beasts smell blood and attack the truck, we are all going to die with her!"

She shivered, playing the part of a terrified victim perfectly. But the chat saw right through her act.

[They have an armored truck and a gun. They could easily drive off the gators!]

[Look at her playing the saint. I bet she is throwing a party in her head right now.]

Yet, her frantic warnings worked. The guide hesitated, pulling his hand back from the door. "She is right. Those things are killers. If she hadn't wandered off, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Garrett's resolve crumbled. Sienna wrapped her arms around him, her eyes pooling with tears.

"Garrett, look at me! I don't want anything bad to happen to Vivienne either, but we can't save her by throwing our own lives away! She loves you, Garrett. She wouldn't want you to die for her!"

Her words were a masterpiece of manipulation, sweet as honey and sharp as a blade. They snuffed out the last ember of decency in Garrett's chest. He turned his eyes away from me, tears streaming down his face.

"Vivienne, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

I stared at him, my soul turning to ash. This was the man who had sworn to love me in sickness and in health, the man who promised we would face the world together. All it took was a few whispers from another woman for him to throw my life away.

The mud was up to my chest now. The water around me began to churn as the dominant male alligator lost its patience. It lunged forward, jaws snapping shut.

Razor-sharp teeth grazed my calf, sending a jolt of agony through my body. As blood billowed into the dark water, my reflexes took over. I arched my back at an impossible angle, driving my blade upward with terrifying speed. The steel buried itself deep into the soft flesh beneath the beast's jaw.

The alligator thrashed in agony, whipping the swamp into a frenzy of red mud and foam. The scent of fresh blood sent the other predators into a feeding madness.

Pure survival instinct lent me strength I did not know I possessed. Using the thrashing beast as a stepping stone, I yanked myself free from the deadly suction of the quicksand. Before the other gators could close the gap, I scrambled up the trunk of a dead, withered cypress tree.

Jaws snapped empty air inches beneath my boots, the stench of swamp rot and blood brushing against my ankles. I climbed higher, gasping for breath as I clung to the branch.

[Incredible! That was straight out of an action movie!]

[I knew the Ainsworth heiress wouldn't go down easy. Those survival training camps her family paid for actually paid off!]

[But that tree trunk is way too thin. It's not going to hold if those things keep ramming it!]

I peered down to see a dozen pairs of cold, yellow eyes locked onto me, waiting for me to lose my grip. My throat tightened. Before I could plan my next move, Garrett's voice shattered the silence.

"Vivienne! You were playing games with me this entire time!"

"See, Garrett? I told you she'd be fine," Sienna chimed in, her voice dripping with venom as she glared at me. "She probably jumped into the mud on purpose just to scare us and make you feel guilty."

I looked over. The fear in Garrett's eyes had vanished, replaced by an ugly, self-righteous rage.

"Vivienne, you actually staged this entire performance just to make me feel bad? You are a sick, manipulative woman. You disgust me."

The chat was moving at lightning speed.

[This girl is a master manipulator. A few sentences and Vivienne is the villain again!]

[This is infuriating! Doesn't she remember that destroying the satellite phone's transmitter chip sends an automatic emergency beacon to her family? Call the cavalry and feed these two to the gators!]

A jolt went through my chest. I stared at the useless satellite phone in my hand. I had lived as a commoner for so long that I had forgotten the emergency features my father had built into all my devices. Without a second thought, I hurled the phone straight into the water below. A massive alligator snapped its jaws shut, crushing the device to pieces.

[Yes! The emergency beacon has been activated!]

[Just ten more minutes, Vivienne! Hold on and show them who they messed with!]

Before I could even draw a breath, a massive bull alligator slammed its heavy body against the decaying trunk. The bark splintered, and the wood groaned. I clung to the branch, my fingernails digging into the rough bark. The tree was dead and brittle; it would not survive another impact.

"Garrett!" I screamed, the pain in my leg flaring up again. "I'm bleeding! Do you honestly think I would risk my life for some pathetic game?"

Garrett froze. His gaze flicked down to my leg, where blood was soaking through my torn pants. The deep, jagged tear from the alligator's tooth was gruesome. For a second, hesitation flickered in his eyes.

But Sienna beat him to it, bursting into dramatic tears. "Vivienne, please stop! Fine, you win! If you just come down and go home with Garrett, I'll step aside. I'll leave both of your lives forever!"

Garrett grabbed her hand. "What are you talking about?"

Sienna shook her head, tears streaming down her pale cheeks. "I was foolish to think I could ever be a part of your life, Garrett. I shouldn't have gotten between you two. I'll sacrifice myself if it means she can come back safely."

She made a show of breaking free from his grip, pretending to climb out of the truck.

Garrett panicked, wrapping his arms around her to hold her back. When he looked back at me, his brief sympathy had vanished.

"Vivienne, Sienna is willing to sacrifice everything, and you are still throwing a tantrum? I'm counting to three. You get down here and apologize right now! One!"

Below, the predators seemed to sense the countdown. Another beast rammed the base of the cypress. A loud crack echoed through the swamp.

"Garrett!" I gritted my teeth against the searing pain in my leg. "The tree is snapping! Drive the truck over here and throw me a line!"

"Two!" Garrett called out, completely ignoring my plea.

The trunk tilted precariously. If he did not move now, I would fall straight into their waiting jaws.

"Garrett! If anything happens to me today, my family will destroy you..."

"Garrett, she is so terrified she is starting to lose her mind," Sienna murmured, her eyes wide with false sympathy. "Maybe we should..."

"Quiet, Sienna," Garrett snapped, his jaw set. "She is still trying to bluff her way out of this. If I don't teach her a lesson today, she'll never stop treating you like dirt. Three!"

The final count hung in the air just as the dry wood gave out with a deafening crack. The trunk snapped completely in half. Gravity took hold, and I began to fall toward the swarm of waiting predators below.