Goose Creek State Park in North Carolina wasn’t crowded on that summer day. I decided to get some miles on foot, while my husband Richard opted for his bike. We took different routes at one point, Richard sticking to the flat trail and me and Billy, our golden retriever, staying on the more mountainous terrain.

After a few miles Billy and I reached a secluded lake. Billy made a bee line for the water. I picked up a stick, noticing that it looked like a snake. I chucked it into the water and watched Billy swim after it. I removed my shirt and shoes and entered the lake, soon becoming waist deep in it. Billy frantically made his way toward me. He had abandoned the stick I’d thrown. Water rippled around him. Weblike tentacles wrapped my ankles. Billy trotted out of the water and stood on the shore barking. I took one last dip then made my way back to shore. Billy’s barking grew louder. I started swimming harder.

Suddenly I felt the most painful feeling in my right leg. I was pulled under the water so fast I couldn’t understand what was happening. I felt dizzy and breathless. My leg was in agony, feeling both like it was on fire and crushed at the same time. I opened my eyes and saw in the murk a long snout making contact with my body. I also saw a dinosaur-like-tail. We were sinking to the bottom of the lake fast. My heart sprinted. The murky water turned red as the pain in my leg was unthinkable.

“Always carry a knife.” I heard Richard’s words echo in my head. I reached my right hand into the waistband of my shorts and felt the sleek metal clip of my pocketknife, which I knew was as sharp as a gator’s tooth. I pulled the knife from my side, opened it, and started stabbing my assailant. I felt some relief in my leg and was able to start swimming to the top of the water, which smelled of blood and grit. The monster was swimming away from me as I made my way to the shore. Billy was in the water again. The snout of the creature stuck up from the water, heading toward him. Suddenly there was a “bang, bang!” and then the monster was still. I had reached land, exhausted and critically anemic. I saw black spots and then nothing.

Billy had swum out in the lake to try to distract the monster. Richard had shot it with his handgun and then used his first aid kit to apply a tourniquet to my leg. I was airlifted to a hospital, where I lost what was left of my leg. My attacker was later recovered. An American Alligator. It was older than me – 40 – and the wildlife biologist estimated he’d been through 2000 teeth in his lifetime. A prosthesis allows me to be bipedal again. We still go to Goose Creek State Park. I bring my pocket knife still, and Richard brings his gun. We stick to the trails and bikes. Billy is still brave enough to enter the lake. ~