Crocodile Rescue!

by Melissa Cristina Márquez

  My hands were shaking, and the thick gloves I had on were making it hard to grab the straps to loosen the mask. I thought I heard a dog barking. Duke? That wasn’t possible. I must be starting to hallucinate.

  “Mark! Get over there!” That was my mom’s voice.

  “You’ve got her?!” My dad.

  I was suddenly surrounded by the crew members. Mark swam behind me to shield me with his giant, heavy camera. Another diver grabbed the back of my tank and started pulling me closer to the boat.

  Everything began to get hazy. I looked up at the stars—I had no idea how long I was staring up at them until I saw the crew’s medic, Miguel, and his azul eyes looking down at me. He said something, but I couldn’t make out what it was as my eyelids began to droop. Miguel shook me by the shoulders and that seemed to do the trick.

  Finally, I could make out what he was saying. “You’re going to be okay.”

  I could tell he was scared. I was, too.

  Without warning, I was lifted out of the water. I could hear Miguel asking for his medic bag over more barking. That was definitely Duke!

  But before I could ask about him, someone piled towels on me. My mom knelt down next to me.

  “Mi nena! Is she okay?!” my mom asked, wrapping me in a careful hug after people took off my scuba vest and tank. Miguel responded only by cutting into my dive suit and ripping the fabric open.

  There, on my left leg, was the perfect imprint of the crocodile’s jaw. Where each tooth had gripped me were angry, gaping wounds that now oozed bright red blood against my paling skin. I couldn’t take my eyes off the marks. Was that really my leg?

  Miguel blocked my view of my leg and began to ask me questions. I was about to answer when I heard someone say, “It’s at the surface! The crocodile is at the surface and looking at Adrianna!”

  A spotlight was pointed somewhere close in the water. Looking around Miguel, I could see the large crocodile staring me down, as if it was trying to say something to me.

  “Mr. Savage, no!” I heard my brother yell.

  Then a sudden loud BANG! noise startled everyone into silence. I turned my head to see Mr. Savage holding a hunting shotgun in his hand. Feye stood nearby, horrified.

  I looked back to find the crocodile, only to see a bright red spot on its head. Its eyes were now empty of any message. I felt like screaming and tried to get up, but crew members around me made sure I didn’t move.

  “She’s going into shock!” a voice called.

  I closed my eyes, and the darkness took over.

  My eyelids felt like boulders. I could hear people furiously whispering near me.

  First, I recognized Mr. Savage’s voice. “I did what I had to do to protect your kid. You saw how it was coming back around! It could have killed her—or another crew member.”

  Next, I heard my mother, her voice terse and low. “We do not shoot animals for behaving the way they naturally do. You and I both know that if the crocodile had wanted to kill Adrianna it very easily could have.”

  “So, you’re really trying to tell me it didn’t want to kill her?”

  “Crocodiles have the most powerful jaws of any animal, Rick,” my dad answered. “You saw her leg. Puncture wounds and bruises—but she still has a leg. Thank god. As terrifying as this was for us, the crocodile was just doing what crocodiles do. This was an exploratory bite—it was trying to figure out what she was.”

  “What I want to know is what happened with her microphone and why her safety diver didn’t stay with her,” I heard mom say.

  “Miguel and I have been questioning the safety diver. I believe Connor is looking into the mask and what could have happened—a wire may have come loose,” Mr. Savage responded.

  “I think the croc probably got twisted around with all of our bright lights,” Feye interjected. “It bumped into Adrianna’s leg and took a nibble to see if she was food. Clearly she tastes bad.”

  “Feye, basta. Your sister is injured. This isn’t time to make jokes,” Mom said.

  I had had enough. I finally managed to wrench open my eyes—it took so much effort! I was in my bed in the boat hotel. My throat felt dry, but I needed to speak. “I do taste bad,” I managed to croak out. The four people in the room turned to look at me, and they all smiled. And there was Duke! He sat near the foot of my bed, tongue wagging.

  “Good to see you awake, kiddo. I’ll ask Miguel to come take a look at that leg of yours.” Mr. Savage winked and left my room, closing the door behind him.

  “Mija, how do you feel?” Dad asked.

  “Sore,” I managed. “And I’m angry with Mr. Savage. He shouldn’t have shot the crocodile!” My hands bunched into fists under the blankets. I wanted to ask about what they had done with the crocodile, if it had really died. I made a motion to get out of bed, but my dad gave me his famous “Do not try me right now, Adrianna Villalobos” face. I stayed put, frowning. Walking might not be in the cards just yet.

  “I’m okay, Dad. Really. My leg doesn’t even hurt that much,” I said, trying to convince myself and him. I lifted the blanket to look at my leg for the first time. Under my knee was a kaleidoscope of bruise colors—black, blue, green, yellow—and a set of round puncture wounds in the shape of an arc. This was where the teeth of the crocodile had gone right through the wet suit and into my leg. I shuddered. It felt like a bad dream, but seeing it there meant it had all been real. I ran my hand lightly over the bites and flinched at the touch.

  “I wouldn’t touch that just yet if I were you, Adrianna,” Miguel said as he entered the room and saw my hand near the bruises. “It’s a nasty bite, but thankfully we have everything we need to take care of you right here on the boat hotel. That’s why you aren’t in a hospital.”

  “Can I try walking?” I asked. I was never one for sitting still, and I had no idea how long I had been sleeping. Just a night? A few days?

  “Let’s start by just standing up, little warrior,” Miguel joked. “But first, I need to clean everything out again.” He leaned over my leg and began to pour some kind of liquid over it. “This is going to sting a little bit,” he said.

  A little bit! This was more painful than actually getting bitten!

  “Do you remember us washing the bite when it first happened?” Miguel asked.

  Suddenly, my mind flashed back to a lot of bright lights—and a lot of pain.

  Miguel had used a bleach-and-water mixture called Dakin’s solution in my bite wound. I remembered now that it had felt like my leg was on fire.

  I nodded at Miguel. “I remember bits and pieces of the night the crocodile bit me. I remember it hurt a lot when you cleaned it. How long have I been out?”

  “Just two days,” Miguel said while he was busy looking at my leg. “Well, it seems the Dakin’s solution worked, even though it hurt, because I’m happy to say you don’t have any signs of infection!”

  “Can she try standing now?” Feye asked Miguel.

  “Are you in pain?” Miguel asked.

  I touched my bare leg and winced.

  “It hurts when I touch it. But it doesn’t feel super bad if nothing is rubbing up against it,” I replied.

  “Well, let’s see you give it a try, then.” Miguel motioned for me to try to stand. I took the hand he offered and put my right foot down on the cool tile floor. I slowly moved my left leg off the bed and lowered it down to meet my right leg. I took a deep breath.

  “Is it always going to be this painful, Miguel?” I looked up at him, nervous.

  “It’s perfectly normal if it hurts for now. We’re going to keep taking care of it, and you’re going to feel a little bit better every day.”

  I nodded and then stood up. The leg felt sore, like I had been kicked hard, but I didn’t cry out in pain.

  “Hey! You’re standing!” Feye clapped. Everyone else clapped, too, big smiles on their faces.

  I took a few steps, walking slowly toward the door and my family.

  Miguel laughed. “Whoa there! You can’t g
o off running a half marathon!”

  I looked back and grinned at him.

  “I don’t want you doing too much work just yet. So, you’re to take it easy for a few more days, okay?” he said.

  “Look, I’m fine!” I insisted. I took a few more steps toward the door. But suddenly, I felt flushed and light-headed. Unsteadily, I turned back around. Miguel and my dad each took one of my elbows and guided me back into bed. My stomach flip-flopped as Miguel began to rebandage my leg.

  “That was a good start, Adrianna,” my mom whispered, smoothing the hair out of my eyes. “For now, you just need to get some rest.” I looked over at my dad and Feye, who were now at the foot of my bed near Duke, who let out a little bark.

  I looked at my parents and gave them a cheesy grin. “Surprise, I got us a pet!”

  “Oh, Connor told us,” Dad said. He sat on my bed and looked at Duke. “The dog hasn’t left your side this entire time while you’ve been sleeping.”

  I smiled at Duke. “Good boy.”

  I turned back to my family. “Did he get on one of the boats? I heard him barking, after I got bit.”

  Feye shook his head. “No, Adrianna. He was here the whole time.”

  Huh … so I had been hallucinating.

  “Can we keep him?” I asked my mom.

  “We can’t keep him, Adrianna. We travel too much for work to keep a dog,” Mom explained.

  I sighed.

  Mom saw my face and came to kiss my forehead. “We can discuss it more later. Duke can stay, for now. You’ll need him to entertain you during these next few days of recovery.”

  “I can stay with you tonight, A, if you want. So you aren’t too bored,” Feye offered, and I nodded. “Although I can’t imagine you being bored with this stowaway dog.”

  “What about the injured croc? Don’t we need to get it back to the zoo?” I asked, suddenly worried. I didn’t want my injury to make the croc’s situation worse!

  “She’s doing great. We were able to stabilize her with our equipment here. We may have one of us head back with her and the other stay here until you’re healed enough to travel. But don’t worry about that for now,” my mom said.

  “And the show? Is it going to be okay?”

  “That’s to be determined,” my dad said. “We don’t know if the network wants to air a young girl getting bitten by a croc, or the aftermath of Mr. Savage’s choices. But all that matters right now is your health.” He tried to sound calm and reassuring, but I could tell he was worried.

  Duke then snuggled up against my good side, and it took so much effort to put my hand up to pet him. Through heavy-lidded eyes, I watched Miguel hook me up to an IV.

  I crumpled up a piece of paper and aimed it at my brother’s unsuspecting head, which was directly across from my bed. Feye had his headphones on blasting loud music and let out a yelp when the paper ball hit the side of his head. I laughed and made the motion for him to take a headphone off.

  “Yes, Adrianna?” he asked, unamused.

  “I want to go see the rescued crocodile.” I was so tired of being in bed all the time. “It’s our last full day here, and I don’t want to be stuck in here all day!”

  “Nope, I’m on strict orders to make sure you stay put and don’t throw up again.”

  “First of all, I didn’t throw up. I almost did. There’s a difference. Second, you don’t have to be with me—you could be out with Mom or Dad.”

  “Yeah … but then what kind of brother would I be?”

  I smiled. My brother, loyal to the end. “Come on, just help me get out of bed.” He rolled his eyes but came over and offered his hand.

  I pushed myself back on my butt with my arms and grabbed ahold of his hand.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Feye asked, looking at me with worry.

  I nodded, took a deep breath, and pulled myself up.

  “Adrianna what are you doing out of bed?” Miguel asked, somehow immediately appearing in the doorway. He must have had a psychic sense I was getting antsy. He came in and held a hand to my forehead to feel if I had a fever.

  I shook my head. “I’m fine! I know I haven’t gone down the stairs yet, but I want to try.”

  Miguel smirked. “You’re a firecracker, kiddo. Does it hurt to walk?”

  Feye let me go and I proudly showed Miguel how I was walking with only a little limp.

  He clapped. “Well, if it doesn’t hurt I don’t see why you can’t go walking around up and down the place. Just no running, please. And let me change that bandage soon!” Miguel laughed, ruffled my hair, and headed back into the hall.

  Freedom! Feye and I walked toward the stairs. He went first, taking two steps down and then turning around to look at me. “I’ve got you,” he said. “Just take this slow.”

  It seemed like it took forever, but finally we made it down the stairs and outside. Carefully, we made our way over to the back docking section of the hotel where the crocodile was in a large, padded container. It was a contraption of tough metal and mesh woven together so that if the crocodile woke up, she wouldn’t be able to break out.

  Feye filled me in on her status as Mom and Dad came by to check on her. It turned out she was in okay shape, despite her injury. That made two of us!

  Once I found a safe place to sit, I watched Mom and Dad take measurements and blood samples and run a few other tests. Feye stayed close by, pacing back and forth. He looked concerned.

  Once our parents were done, they closed the top part of the container with multiple latches and buttons to make sure she stayed safely inside.

  “Something’s not adding up,” Feye said.

  “Why do you say that?” I asked.

  “Why would she have been just hanging out in that mud hole? That would make her an easy target for anything to eat her,” he mumbled.

  “Maybe she was there for another good reason,” I said, eyes now down on my bitten leg, which was outstretched over the stair railing.

  “I just don’t buy it,” said Feye. He continued to pace, mumbling to himself so I couldn’t really understand what he was saying. I decided to ignore him unless he was actually going to tell me what was on his mind.

  I focused instead on the film crew sitting at a nearby table, reviewing their video backups. I liked seeing the raw footage and watching the juicy bits of the day.

  “Look at that, Feye. Pretty cool that Mom and Dad found nesting crocodiles this morning, right?” I asked. Feye nodded. “I can’t believe I missed out on that because of my leg.”

  Feye and I watched the computer screens from nearby as the crew rewound through footage from earlier in the day. Feye and I stayed quiet as we heard the crew make jokes or write down notes about certain time stamps, and it wasn’t until what felt like the fiftieth scene of nesting female crocodiles that I spotted a pattern.

  “Feye,” I said, grabbing my brother’s leg.

  “Are you okay? Do you want to go back upstairs and lie down?” he asked.

  I shook my head. “No, no, I’m fine. Listen. The crocodile was in that muddy hole for a good reason. Why would a crocodile put her life in danger?”

  Feye looked puzzled. “I don’t know.”

  “She’s a mom, Feye! That’s why she was in the hole! Remember how it was at the base of a tree with a lot of leaves over a sort-of lumped-up part? Those must have been—”

  “Her eggs!” we finished together.

  “We’ve gotta tell Mom and Dad. They’ll want to go back,” Feye said, about to turn away when I grabbed his hand and pulled him in front of me.

  “They’re busy! We can totally do this on our own—it’ll be a ‘Feye and Adrianna mission’ just like when we were kids—” I started, but Feye put a hand up to stop me.

  “You’re still a kid. I’m a teen now,” Feye said, puffing out his chest and winking at me. I slapped his arm.

  “Listen to me, Mr. Teen! You know how to drive the boat, right?” I asked.

  “Um, the dinghy, yeah. I mean I don’t have my
license yet, but yeah, I know how to drive the little dinghy by myself,” Feye said.

  “Then you can drive us there! I know where the eggs are, so if we leave now, we can get back before they’re done filming for the day,” I replied. “The hidden channel isn’t even that far away. And I have the map right here!” I patted my vest pocket.

  “Why not just wait until Mom, Dad, and the crew can join us?” Feye asked, pointing at our parents. One of the cameras was on a tripod, recording their conversation.

  “We can do this by ourselves. I want them to see that I’m an important member of the team, and not just an injury machine.” I gestured at my leg.

  Feye still didn’t look convinced.

  “Every day those eggs are out in the wild, something could happen to them. They’re in danger … Every egg counts and helps their population numbers,” I explained, hoping that would persuade my brother to see how urgent it was to get these eggs as soon as possible. “Mom and Dad’s wildlife collection permit allows them to safely transport eggs, too.”

  That seemed to do the trick. Feye sighed and slowly nodded his head.

  With his hand in mine, we made our way down the stairs around to the other side of the floating hotel to where the boats were. The dinghy was at the very end and easy for us to grab and head out on.

  Bark, bark! Uh-oh, it seemed Duke wanted to come along, too. “Shhh, Duke! Be quiet!” I whispered. Duke continued to bark loudly.

  Feye picked him up. “Guess he’s coming with us.”

  The boat crew was busy running around making dinner for our last night here. No one seemed to have noticed Duke’s barking, or be paying any attention to us.

  Feye looked back at me and nodded to the boat. “Fifteen minutes. That’s all we have. Vamonos.”

  He helped me get into the dinghy, threw a nearby cooler for the eggs into the front of the boat, and sat himself down close to the engine. Duke settled himself next to me at the front of the boat.

  Feye revved the engine enough to bring it to life but not be too loud. I untied us from the dock, and soon we were quickly but quietly making our way to the hidden mangrove channel. Once we were out of sight of the boat hotel, Feye made the engine roar for real. We whooped and hollered as we went on our first “Feye and Adrianna mission” in a long time.