Hunted: A Monty and Y/N Fanfiction

Rogue

A wave of water crashed against the boat.

"GET THAT THINGS HEAD UP, BARNEY!" "I'M TRYIN' TO, NEIL!"

Barney pulled the straining line, a rough grunt leaving his mouth as the reptile on the other end whipped its tail against the boat. The gun in Neils hands slung from one side to the other, trying to get a good opportunity to shoot. Seeing the two guys struggle, Troy had pulled the loaded firearm from the mans grasp. "Why do I have to do everything myself? Pull that line up, both of y'all!" He lowered the gun. Barney and Neil had both hauled the line backwards. The reptiles head had surfaced, and Troy took the shot.

'POW!'

Splinters of bone flew into the air as the bullet was registered to its target. The water had finally went still.

"Man... She was fightin' wasn't she?" Barney grabbed the now lifeless reptile by it's front leg and pulled. Troy and Neil assisted with pulling the scaled animal into the boat. Neil took a moment to tape its mouth shut while Troy grabbed his measuring tape. But he already knew he'd be disappointed.

"Eight and a half feet." The measuring tool was tossed aside. "That ain't what I'm looking for."

Neil gave an exhausted exclaim after tagging the thing. "Stop your honkin', will ya? That there's a decent sized gator, Troy! We already got two this morning!" Barney took a chug from his water bottle. "Yeah! Jus' seems like these things ain't growing over ten feet no more." The man wiped the sweat that had beaded across his brow. Neil took a seat on the ice chest before noticing Troys angered facial expression. The alligators they had weren't satisfying him. Neil threw his head back and groaned. "Oh, don't get your boot laces in a knot, Troy. That lil' storm from last night's probably got all them biggins hidin' out is all." Barney gave a nod of agreement. Troy had growled angrily. He threw his hand down to grab the tail of the alligator they'd just tagged. He shook it. "This gator ain't gonna win no contest!" The tail was thrown down as he pointed to the two other alligators. "Those gators ain't gonna win no contest! Every trapper on the river will have gators these sizes piled up in their boats! That eight-footer is the biggest one we've tagged so far!" Troy angrily kicked the pile of lifeless reptiles and then turned to motor the boat forward.

Another line was underwater up ahead, and Troy didn't even pay it any mind. He pulled the boat up beside it and test tugged the piece of tight rope. It wasn't very big. Troy took his knife and sliced the rope, causing Neil and Barney to exclaim after seeing the alligator swim off. They turned to Troy. "WHAT IN TARNATION ARE YOU DOIN', TROY- THAT WAS OUR LAST LINE!" Came Neils angry yell. He had to yank Barney back after the man tried jumping in to grab the line before it had disappeared. Troy sat back down in the steering seat and tapped his chin. Thinking. The knife was placed back into its holder. He gave a sigh and then steered the boat back towards where they'd docked.

—-

The black truck pulled into a dirt parking lot, driving a short ways before finally resting under a shed. Troy stepped out of the truck to meet another guy. He shook his hand. "Howdy, Randy." The man, Randy, gave a smile as he was greeted. "Howdy, Troy. Folks been taggin' an' baggin' em this past week. Whatcha got for me this morning?" Troy gave a hard sigh before pulling a tarp from the boat. Randy put on a big smile at the pile of alligators that laid across the boats bottom. "My, those are some fine gators y'all snagged! Them hides ought to fetch y'all a nice penny." Barney and Neil had stepped out to help unload the mess. Troy gave a bland 'Thanks' after Randy had handed him a check.

Another truck had abruptly rolled up to park beside Troys, causing the group to look. Two men had jumped from the cab, both of them shouting and chanting with excitement. "Randy, ya need to come an' take a gander at what we caught this morning!" Troy had peered to glance over into their boat. His lips tucked. A large, grey tail hung over its edge and Troy only knew it wasn't going to be any good on his part. He'd walked over to the two and watched as one of the guys struggled to lift the head of a large alligator that laid in their boat. The guy howled with excitement. "Look how big this cruiser is!" Randy gave a surprised laugh as he studied the alligator. "My, what a gator! You boys measured him yet?" The guy released the alligators head, causing it to slam back down onto the boat lifelessly. He threw up all of his fingers. "Ten an' a half feet!" The other guy clapped what appeared to be his brother across the shoulders after he had hopped down from the boat. "That ol' swamp gator fought like a monster!" He laughed. All the excitement ran right over Troys head as he studied the large reptile. Scars laced it's body. The marks looked somewhat fresh, giving proof that the alligator had been in some kind of brawl a few days prior. The hide of the animal wouldn't fetch a big check, but he knew the two guys were going to enter the alligator into the contest... The bloody hole atop its head was clearly evident, but the mans eyes had lowered to notice another bullet wound.

"You shot him in the shoulder?"

Troys gruff tone made the excited brothers pause. One of them stuttered. "...No...? No, that wasn' us. That hole was already there." "Somebody done shot that gator 'fore we shot it." Came their faultless reply. Troy looked to stare at the alligator once again before turning back to head to his truck, leaving Randy to see to the two guys and their brute of an alligator.

---

Barney munched on a ham sandwich as he laid himself across a couch. Neil sat at a table, twirling a spoon in his hand. The slender guy sighed after noticing Troys downed attitude. "Ya know, Troy, that Randy said them were good gators. We should've baited more lines." Troy closed the fridge after fixing him a drink. He sat down at the table, facing Neil. "Not good enough. Nothing like them boys had. Every trapper in the county probably brought in gators the size of ours- And if that's all we're gonna get on those hooks, then I ain't wasting time and money putting out anymore bait on them. This cabin was already expensive enough as it is." Neil laid the spoon down. "Then what else are we gonna do? Ain't gonna snag no big gator unless them lines are set." Came his retort. Troy took a sip of his tea. He was suddenly calm, relaxed, and Neil was uneased about it. He lowered his voice.

"What on earth is runnin' through that head of yours, Troy Wilson?"

The question was asked with a scowl and Troy had laughed quietly at it. The man reached into his pocket to pull something out of it, then threw the leather item down onto the tables top. It was a wallet. And Neil knew it didn't belong to Troy. Neil frowned at the item and then peered at him. "Where'd you get that?" Troy leaned back into his seat. "A lil' date the other night." Troy opened the wallet to show Neil a drivers license photo. He instantly recognized it. "'Y/N L/N'... Wait a minute, ain't that the girl with that big ol' bull gator we been a'seein' around town?" Troy folded the wallet back up. "Sure is. She left her wallet at the restaurant last night. Don't live far either. Turns out she owns a good bit of land that runs into the Cypress River."

"So, what?" Neil asked. Troy took another sip from his glass. "I've been... thinking... The whole week we've been out here, we ain't had no luck at tagging anything good- Not anything like that gator she has..." He began. Neil crossed his arms. "Well, the lady done said she ain' sellin' him." Troy shot him a glare. "I ain't talking about buying him. Not anymore. The point is, ain't no one even caught a gator that big yet... And I doubt anyone will..." Neil stopped him. "What exactly are you sayin', Troy?"

"I'm saying we're gonna take him."

Neil almost reeled. Barney had tripped over to the table after eavesdropping in on the conversation. "We're gonna what now?!" Neil shoved the guy off of him. Troy stood from his seat to look out the kitchen window. His eyes landed on the empty boat parked behind his truck. "I said we're gonna take that alligator. I can bet my boat that their ain't another one that'll even come close to that bulls size." The man spoke. Barney scratched his head. "And how we supposed to do that? That darn gator's thirteen feet long!" Troy walked back over to the table. A wide grin grew on his face at the mention of how big the reptile was. "Exactly... There's a swamp behind Y/Ns property. If we can get in there unnoticed, then we can find some way to lure that gator back there. Our boat should be able to hold just us and him. All we gotta do is cut in through the river." He explained. Neil slowly shook his head with disapproval. "Troy, if you ain't noticed, that gator has a mohawk- I don't even wanna know how that's possible, but even if we manage to get him, how're we supposed to pass him off as a wild one? If that girl sees him layin' in our boat, she'll automatically know it's him. And if the board finds out we killed some girls pet for this contest, then we're in the mud hole." He exclaimed. Barney had nodded with concern. "Yeah, he's right, Troy."

Another moment of thinking.

Then Troy spoke up again. "The contest is being held in the next state over. Since this small town rides along the border, all we'll have to do is get him across the county line after dispatching him. Won't nobody know a thing about that gator being a pet then. And once we win that contest with him..." Troy finished off his drink with a cruel smirk.

"We'll have that brute sold to the tannery before she even notices he's gone."