Whenever the lake in the woods froze over during the winter, Mike and his friends would go for an ice skating trip. It was a tradition they did every year and they never had any issues before. But this time, they had no idea that things would be different.
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Mike was the first to notice that there was something strange on the surface. It looked like a big rock jutting out of the ice. Mike decided to move it out of the way so that it won’t hurt other ice skaters. But as he got closer, he realized that this was no rock.
It was not a rock
As Mike got closer, he noticed that the object was elongated and it only looked like a big rock from afar because it was frozen in place. The texture looked different from that of a rock. Mike squinted his eyes to try to get a clearer look at the frozen object.
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When he realized what he was looking at, Mike quickly backed away from the object. He quickly looked back to see if any of his friends were nearby but they were too far away. When he made sure he was a safe distance from the thing, he took a deep breath.
A croc on ice!
Mike could not believe what he had found. What he thought was a big rock turned out to be the head of a crocodile. And based on the size of the thing, he had no doubt that this crocodile was a huge one. After a while, Mike recovered from the shock of his discovery.
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When Mike felt that he was calm enough to feed his curiosity, he gathered the courage to take another closer look. After all, this was the first time he gets to see a crocodile up close. Slowly, he skated toward the crocodile’s head.
It was still alive
As Mike approached, he realized that the crocodile did not seem to be paying much attention to him. In fact, it seemed like it was not moving at all. It was probably because his head was frozen and stuck in the ice. Is the crocodile still alive?
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Mike could see the crocodile’s eyes following his movement now that he was closer. There was no mistake – the crocodile is definitely still alive. Looking straight into the eyes of this beast was a remarkable and unforgettable encounter for Mike.
Should he help?
But now he was faced with a dilemma. He knew that a crocodile as huge as this one could do some serious damage to him. But he also could not just walk away from it knowing that it needed help.
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Mike looked at where his friends were and they just seemed like small dots in the distance. They were too far now and they have no idea what was going on. If the crocodile does attack Mike, they probably would not even notice.
He had to help
Deep down, Mike knew that skating away would probably be easier and safer. But he also knew that it could mean the crocodile could freeze to death. The thought of being part of the reason why the animal could die haunted his conscience.
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At that moment, Mike decided it would be worth it to do what he can to help. But there was a question of how. The ice was way too thick to smash with his ice skates. Mike had to think quick. He looked around for something but he was in the middle of a frozen lake.
Finally noticing his absence
Mike looked towards where his friends were having fun skating. He noticed that there was no wind so he thinks they could hear him if he yelled loud enough. He called out to them and started waving his arms but nobody heard him.
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Frustrated, Mike skated back to where they parked the car to see if someone brought along anything heavy or sharp but he could not find anything useful. When he looked up, his friends were skating back toward him. Looks like they finally noticed that he was gone.
They did not believe him
Two of his friends looked annoyed that Mike just disappeared out of the blue. The rest were mostly worried and wondered if he was injured. Mike then told him about the crocodile on the ice who needed help.
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At first, nobody believed him and thought a crocodile couldn’t be out there. Frustrated that they did not believe him, Mike led them to where the crocodile’s head was emerging out of the frozen water.
Teamwork was the key
Once they saw that Mike was telling the truth, they could not believe their eyes. After confirming that the crocodile was still alive and stuck, they all agreed that they should help the crocodile. It had to be free from the ice.
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The group decided to split up. Two of Mike’s friends would drive to the nearest house they could find to borrow some tools that they can use to smash the ice with. Mike and the rest would stay and keep a close eye on the crocodile.
Breaking the ice
After 15 minutes, their friends returned with tools. They discussed the situation one more time to see if they were all still together on the plan to free the dangerous animal. Everyone was still in agreement to free the crocodile so they started working.
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As Mike observed earlier, the ice was really thick. The boys were trying to smash it for some time now and had barely cracked the surface. They could feel the cold and the wetness starts to soak into their gloves but they were not doing much progress.
The ice cracks
Mike and his friends were determined to get the crocodile out of the ice. They continued hitting the ice until real cracks started to appear. Mike did one more hard blow to the ice and they heard more cracks start to spread around the crocodile’s head.
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The cracks started spreading across the lake with a loud noise and increasing speed. It seemed like the cracks had traveled a long way. Mike and his friends looked down and saw that the ice they were standing on was now filled with cracks.
Double trouble
One wrong move and they can all go down through the ice. The group was near the middle of the lake so running for shore may be impossible without the risk of falling into the ice. But that was not their only problem.
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The last blow on the ice had managed to free the crocodile’s head from the ice. The crocodile tried to crawl onto the surface but this made things worse. Every time it tried to climb up the ice, the ice would crumble under its weight and form more cracks.
The rescue mission was not done
They had to act quick before they would fall through the ice or before the crocodile would get to them. Mike told them they had two options: make a run for the shore and just hope for the best or call emergency services and wait.
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The crocodile was moving faster. It was very determined to get out of the water and crawl onto the ice. Mike realized that there was no guarantee that the crocodile would not die if they all left it behind now. The beast was clearly still struggling.
They started running
Mike knew the right thing to do was to free the animal first then run away as fast as possible. But when he turned to his friends to tell them the plan, he noticed most of them had already run off the lake. Mike sighed and grabbed a shovel.
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Mike was all alone in the lake now. His friends started to call him from the shore, telling him to forget about the crocodile. But Mike couldn’t just walk away. He took a deep breath and pointed the shovel toward the crocodile.
The plan
Mike’s plan was simple. He would wait for the crocodile to grab the shovel with its arms and Mike would help pull it out of the water. He was hoping this plan would work. But the crocodile reacted differently.
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As his friends watched Mike struggle with the shovel, they yelled at him to just run away. But Mike was determined. The crocodile was able to climb onto the ice as Mike pulled on the shovel. Once the creature was out, Mike lost his balance and fell on the ice.
The tables were turned
As Mike fell on the ice, a loud crack echoed once more across the lake. Mike then felt a cold shock through his body as he fell into the ice. Mike tried to shoot up through the hole he fell through and tried to climb up the ice but could not do it.
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In some weird twist of fate, Mike and the crocodile had switched places now. Mike had nowhere to go as the crocodile was starting to make its way toward him. Losing hope, Mike closed his eyes and waited for the crocodile to attack him.
Reckless move
But suddenly, Mike felt someone grabbing him by the collar. Mike opened his eyes and saw Nick had come to his rescue and was trying to pull him out of the water. Once Mike was out of the water, he did not follow Nick to shore.
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Instead, he grabbed the shovel and started to run toward the crocodile. Everyone started to panic as they watch Mike do such a bold and reckless move. Mike lifted the shovel then the beast quickly ran away to the other side of the lake.
Going back under
Mike waved the shovel in the air and everyone cheered. At least now that the crocodile was out of the lake, he was sure it won’t be in trouble again. Everyone was now ready to head back to the car and leave but then they heard a loud splash once more.
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Mike had fallen through the ice once more. But this time, Mike did it on purpose. It turned out that when he was under the water, he spotted something but before he could grab it, Nick grabbed him by the collar.
The retrieval
Mike knew the risk of jumping into the freezing water again but he was determined to retrieve what he saw. When he resurfaced, he could hear his friends yelling at him, telling him how stupid he was. Mike asked for help and Nick headed over again to pull Mike out.
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This time, they walked back to shore together. Mike’s friends were angry and annoyed but were glad that they can finally go home now. On the ride home, they promised never to do something so stupid and risky like that again.
His reward
When he finally got home, Mike got out of his damp clothes and took a hot shower. Mike grabbed his jacket and reached into his pocket. Now that he was alone, he took out the object he retrieved from the lake.
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It was a rare gold coin. He had the coin valued later that week and found that it was worth over $2,000. Mike got his money and donated part of it to a crocodile sanctuary in honor of the crocodile that led him to it.