Billy: A Tale Of Unrelenting Terror Read Free Page B

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    Shunned by his father and siblings, Billy was often forced to fend for himself. When he was six years old, T-Roy pushed him head-first into the murky water of the bayou in an attempt to drown him. Billy quickly learned how to swim. When he was eight years old, his father and two brothers left him behind on a small patch of ground just before sunset. The water rose around him and Billy taught himself how to use his claw-like hands and feet to scramble up into the trees.
    He found that his beady red eyes that gave him so much trouble seeing through the blinding glare of the sunlight endowed him with superior vision in the dark. By sunrise, he was sitting on the front porch of the family home, much to the dismay of Poppie and the boys.
    When Billy reached the age of twelve, his family began to grow frightened of him. His awkward movements developed into a cat-like agility that enabled him to move silently with a speed that even the hardiest of swamp predators would envy. Eventually, even Dorcelia relented to her husband’s wishes and looked the other way once again as Poppie sought to inflict unspeakable evil upon his own blood.
    "T-Roy, Justin, y’all come on now. We got gator huntin’ to do," Poppie shouted to his two boys as he loaded up the airboat for the upcoming trip. "Billy, you wanna come wit us? Might learn a t’ing or two ‘bout catchin’ a real monster."
    Poppie laughed at his own cleverness, while the two boys grinned. Billy peered at the three indecisively for a few moments, sensing another round of abuse that was sure to come his way.
    "Come on now; no trick dis time. We goin’ down da bayou after Caimon Grand Papere ."
    The legendary Caimon Grand Papere was the biggest, baddest alligator anyone had ever seen. He lived in a notoriously dangerous patch of marshland amongst a sizable congregation of gators that anyone without a death wish avoided at all costs.
    The very mention of their destination almost made Billy’s brothers abandon the venture, but they were as afraid of their malevolent father as they were of the beast they were going to hunt.
    Billy sensed his brothers’ fear and relished it. Fear was a sensation he had long since abandoned, and he forgot what it felt like to be scared. He did, however, learn to smell fear on his prey, usually right before the kill. The enjoyment of filling his empty belly followed when he was victorious in the hunt, and he unconscientiously trained himself to associate the terror of his quarry at the prospect of its imminent death with the enjoyment of extending his own life. Billy scampered over toward the three and climbed silently into the boat.
    He watched with curiosity as the others gathered the materials necessary for the expedition. He recognized his father’s shotgun and T-Roy’s handgun, though these instruments held little interest for him. Billy preferred to hunt his prey up close. The giant metal hook fascinated him. It was fastened to steel cable that was coiled up on the deck. He surmised that some bait would be attached to the line to lure the gators up close, then the guns utilized for the kill. Alligator skin was notoriously thick, and a beast the size of old Caimon Grand Papere would not go down easily.
    Even at Billy’s young age, he had become a master of the hunt. His inability to feel fear, coupled with a lack of nutrition, motivated him to great lengths in search of food. He watched the creatures around him and learned their secrets. Billy’s hands were big and strong for his size; the extra fingers and sharp claw-like nails allowed him to seize prey and exert his will upon it. Every kind of animal became his quarry – fish, turtles, snakes, birds, rabbits, nutria, and the like – met their fate as Billy’s meals. It was only the alligator and the bear that he had avoided. He longed to conquer the challenge that these ferocious predators presented. Then, there would be only one remaining foe left for him to