Bugged Out!

by Matthew Porter

  Abby scrambled to her feet and ran to Nick. She jumped at him and began to sob into his chest. “I changed my mind. I love these powers. Love ’em, love ’em, love ’em.”

  I felt the wind blowing again. The trees started swaying and the petals resumed their graceful descent to the ground. There was a loud screech that shattered the beautiful atmosphere.

  The insect looked over at us, and to my horrified amazement, it spoke in a predatory gurgle. “How did you get over there, my little morsel?”

  “Ew, it can talk?” said Kelly.

  Abby hid behind Nick, and the four of us started backing up toward the school, but the mantis followed.

  So, there we were, staring into the creature’s burning, red eyes. Its teeth were dripping with acidic saliva, its sharp tongue ready to impale us. Kelly looked down at something, took a deep breath, and flung her hand forward. A purple ball of light shot out of her hand and surrounded a lone wooden spike on the ground. She threw her hand as if she were slapping the air, and the spike flew at the mantis so fast that it looked like it had been shot out of a cannon, but the creature caught it and snapped it in half.

  “Okay, that didn’t work,” said Kelly, looking at her hand with a disappointed expression.

  “What are you children that you possess Segols?” the mantis inquired curiously. “Do you belong to Master Doren, or another group of Corrupted?”

  Kelly looked back at the creature. “No, we’re agents of the Edania Organization,” she said with an air of pride.

  “It is unwise to lie to your predator…” it hissed. “I have been told there are no active agents in this region.”

  “Yeah? We’ll show you, you science-fair reject!” said Nick, clenching his fists.

  I inched toward the door. “Nick, perhaps it would be better if you didn’t taunt the thing that’s trying to kill us.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” said Abby, tugging on Nick’s shirt.

  But Nick didn’t budge. “No, we have to fight. Isn’t that what we were given these powers for? Let’s kick this bug to the curb.”

  The giant mantis hissed. “You speak out of line, child. You are simply a meal to me. It doesn’t matter if you’re Corrupted, or even if you are members of the Edania Organization. A meal is a meal, and the four of you have plenty of energy. I can feel it. I have never sensed so much life energy before.”

  Nick glanced behind him at the three of us. “You guys go. I’ll fight it off.”

  “Don’t be stupid,” Kelly yelled. “You’re going to get killed!”

  “I’ll be fine,” he insisted. “Go—”

  “I’m not leaving you,” said Kelly.

  “Me either,” said Abby timidly.

  “I guess it is unanimous,” I said, letting go of the door. “We are all staying here with you.” I tried to sound brave but, in truth, I had never been so scared in my life.

  The mantis roared and lunged at us. Nick’s hand began to glow, and a fireball appeared in his palm. He hurled it just as the creature opened its mouth and exposed its proboscis tongue. The mantis lurched back and screeched in pain. “How dare you attack me, you little wretch! I will enjoy sucking your bones dry.”

  Nick threw another fireball. The mantis took a step back. Nick threw another, and another, and another. Finally, the creature turned around and began to retreat, and Nick ran after it.

  “Nick, come back!” Kelly yelled.

  The mantis unfurled its giant wings and began to fly away, creating a gust of wind that knocked Nick over. The three of us ran to him.

  “Are you okay?” asked Kelly, helping him up.

  “Yeah, I just got the wind knocked out of me,” he said, trying to make light of the situation.

  Kelly slapped him across the face. Abby and I gasped.

  “What was that for?” he asked, staring at Kelly as he held his reddening cheek.

  “Don’t you ever worry me like that again,” she said angrily. “I thought that thing was going to take off with you or something.”

  “I’m sorry, Kelly,” he said softly.

  She started to tear up. Then, surprisingly, she embraced him with enough force that she almost knocked him back to the ground. The rest of his face turned red, matching the slap mark on his cheek.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “F-for what?” he said, his voice cracking a little.

  “For fighting that thing off.” She let go of him and lightly punched him on the arm. “But don’t ever scare me like that or I’ll kick your butt.”

  He smiled. “I’ll try. But I can’t make any promises.”

  “You better,” she said sassily. “Now we should get inside before everyone gets to the cafeteria.” She turned around and headed back inside.

  Nick whispered to me. “Hey, J-Man. Is she always so assertive?”

  I nodded. “Ever since we were little.”

  “Cool. Very cool.” He rubbed his cheek and smiled ear to ear.

  ***

  “We really need to figure out a way to kill these things, especially that giant one,” said Abby as we sat at the lunch table.

  “What’s with the bold desire to fight all of a sudden?” Nick asked.

  She shrugged. “I figure the sooner we kill the thing, the sooner we can get back to our normal lives. Plus, it needs to pay for messing up my hair.”

  I nodded. “Well said...minus the hair part. We need to get that specimen from Mrs. Snider’s classroom.”

  Kelly’s eyes widened. “You’re not suggesting that we steal it, are you?”

  Guilt seemed to tie my stomach in knots. “I... suppose so,” I answered. “Although, we were the ones that acquired the specimen, so is it really stealing?”

  “Nah,” Nick said, flicking the air with his hand. “It’s not like we’re taking school property or anything.”

  That made me feel marginally better. “Anyway,” I said. “We’ve got to study the insect carefully, and it may take all night—”

  “I can’t do an all-nighter,” Abby said. “I need some sleep, or it will do terrible things to my complexion.”

  “I thought you wanted to get this over with,” said Nick.

  She frowned. “There are limits.”

  Nick rolled his eyes. “Remember, Abbs, we were ch—” He was cut off by a loud crash that came from the front entrance of the school.

  CHAPTER 10:

  F.e.s.p.a.—james

  Everyone in the lunchroom jumped out of their seats and looked toward the main hall. A group of twenty or so men rushed into the cafeteria. Most of them had S.W.A.T. team uniforms, but a few wore hazmat suits. Their uniforms had a strange insignia with the letters F.E.S.P.A. emblazoned across the chest. The four men in front had assault rifles.

  One of them used a megaphone to address the crowd. “Attention, students and faculty of Force-Pointe High School. Due to the recent insect infestation, we have no choice but to enforce an immediate evacuation of the premises. Do not grab your belongings. Do not go anywhere else in the building. Quickly and safely evacuate the area. Your buses are waiting for you outside as we speak.”

  Something about this didn’t feel right. Just who was this F.E.S.P.A. group, anyway? I had never heard of them before, and I had done a lot of research on government agencies when I did a project on C.D.C jurisdiction. Whoever they were, did they really think that they could deal with these insects? I did not like this one bit.

  As everyone began to rush out of the lunchroom, I spoke to my friends as quickly as I could. “We can’t leave without that specimen. I have to examine it. We’ve got to get to Mrs. Snider’s classroom before they lock us out of the school.”

  “How do we do that without getting caught?” Abby asked nervously, looking toward the group of uniformed men.

  “We can use the stairwell near the math wing and then take the back hallways to get there,” I said. “That way we will be less likely to run into anyone from this suspicious group.”

  “What if we get caught?�
� asked Kelly, her face pale. “Who knows what these guys can do?”

  “I’m not scared,” Nick said boldly, looking ready to spring into action, per usual. “C’mon, it’s not like we’re defenseless. We just sent bugzilla packin’ a little bit ago. What’s a group of regular guys?”

  Abby rolled her eyes. “But we’re not allowed to use our powers to hurt regular people under any circumstance. That’s one of the big rules.”

  “You can use your ability on them, Abby,” I said. “Your Segol can’t hurt them.”

  Nick punched his palm. “Besides, I won’t need my superpower to knock some jerks out.”

  Kelly looked around the lunchroom. “If we’re going to make our move, we need to go now while these guys are preoccupied with trying to control the stampeding herd.”

  We wound our way through the crowd of people moving toward the front door as a man’s voice came over the intercom, telling the rest of the school to evacuate.

  Nobody was in the natural science wing by the time we got up there, but I could hear the echoing footsteps of people running toward the main hall. I peered into Mrs. Snider’s classroom. The coast was clear.

  We entered the room, and I walked over to the teacher’s desk to take the specimen. I reached my hand out to take it, but I couldn’t seem to do it.

  “Hurry and grab it so we can get out of here,” said Abby, rubbing her elbows and looking nervously out into the hallway.

  I had to remember that this wasn’t stealing because we were the ones who procured it. But it didn’t make me feel any better. Mrs. Snider had told me I couldn’t take it...but she didn’t know that my friends and I were Edanian agents who were tasked with dealing with these insects. I couldn’t wrestle with myself any longer; we didn’t have the time. I took a deep breath and grabbed the jar.

  I almost dropped it from surprise when three F.E.S.P.A. men stormed into the room. My stomach lurched when I saw that two of them had guns.

  The man without the gun stepped forward. “Don’t you kids understand English? You’ve been directed to leave the premises immediately. You are not permitted to gather your belongings. It’s not safe. Now get a move on.”

  “Yes, sir,” said Nick, motioning us to follow him out.

  “Hold it!” one of the armed men yelled as I walked past him, and I cringed at his voice. He was staring directly at the specimen. “What do you have there?”

  “Wh-what?” was all I could manage to say.

  “Those insects are dangerous.” He held his free hand out. “Give me that jar!”

  I tightened my grasp on it. “B-but it’s dead.”

  His eyes narrowed. “I said, give me the jar!” He grabbed it out of my hand and shoved me into a desk.

  “Hey, you can’t do that!” Kelly protested.

  Nick stood up to the man who pushed me. “Yeah, what gives? You can’t just shove someone like that. We’re going to report you!”

  The man glowered at Nick. “Don’t threaten me, boy. If you say anything, my colleagues and I will claim that you were resisting authority during a dangerous situation. You and your friends will spend a long time behind bars.”

  Kelly leaned over to Abby and whispered, “Can you freeze them so we can get out of here?”

  “What?” Abby squeaked.

  “You there, stop whispering to each other,” said the other armed man as he and the guy who shoved me made their way toward the girls.

  Abby raised her hands in what I assumed was an attempt to Freeze-Frame the room, but it didn’t work.

  “Come on, Abby, you can do it,” said Kelly.

  Abby’s eyes widened and her lips tensed. “I’m trying.” She attempted to do it again, but nothing happened. One of the men grabbed Kelly, but she tore free from his grip.

  He went to grab her again. “Why, you little—”

  “Leave her alone!” yelled Abby. She gestured toward the man, and he and his two colleagues froze in place.

  Abby looked at her hands and smiled. “Hey, I did it!”

  “Thanks, Abby,” said Kelly. She glanced at me. “Now grab the jar and let’s get out of here, James.”

  I reached my hand out to grab the jar, but once again, I found myself unable to take it. I was frozen, not by Abby’s Segol, but by my own fear.

  “C’mon, man,” said Nick, sounding impatient. “Hurry it up.”

  I couldn’t do it. What if the soldier unfroze while I was grabbing it? We would be in even more trouble. “I—I can’t,” I muttered.

  Nick looked at me with a frown, then snatched it out of the man’s grasp. When he did, the men immediately unfroze.

  “Let’s go!” Nick yelled, then shoved the F.E.S.P.A. man out of the way and led us out of the room.

  “Hey, you brats! Come back here!” one of the men shouted as they all rushed out of the lab, chasing us.

  We ran to the main stairwell and down the stairs. I caught a glimpse of the men out of the corner of my eye. They were right behind us. We merged into the small herd of students still heading outside, and it was a little difficult to push through the crowd.

  After a few seconds of claustrophobia, we got outside. We just needed to reach Nick’s car and we would be home free.

  “Get back here!” one of our pursuers yelled over the crowd.

  We reached the parking lot. Our getaway vehicle was in sight, but they were catching up.

  One of the men grabbed Nick, who was busy fumbling for his keys while trying to hold on to the specimen. Nick pulled free and rolled over the hood of a car to get away from the man, who ran into the vehicle and let out an enraged “umph!”

  We got in Nick’s car and he turned the ignition. Two of the men knocked on the windows, making me jump out of my seat. Nick shifted gears and shot out of the parking space. The men yelled after us, and one of them kicked a car out of frustration.

  “Where to?” Nick asked as he threw the specimen back to me.

  “Let’s go to the Edania Organization,” I said, relief washing over me. “We can use their laboratory equipment. We also need to tell Kristiana about this F.E.S.P.A. group.” I looked at the specimen. A horde of these things was infesting the school, and their mother was stalking somewhere around the grounds, waiting to kill. I wondered what those F.E.S.P.A. jerks would do if they ran into the mother mantis.

  ***

  We reached the Edania Organization and went inside to the reception desk.

  “Excuse me?” said Kelly.

  “May I help you?” the young female receptionist asked, not bothering to look up.

  “Is Kristiana available? We need to talk to her.”

  The receptionist looked at us as if we had asked her for a kidney. “I’m afraid she’s out right now. May I ask what this is in reference to?”

  “Never mind that,” I said. “Can you tell us where the bioresearch lab is?”

  She leaned back in her chair. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you unless I see some ID. Are you affiliated with the organization?”

  We got our identification cards out to show her. She looked at them and her expression softened. “I see. You have level-three clearance. You may use our facility, then. You’ll need to sign in.” She gave us a sign-in log, and we each signed it.

  “The lab is on the second floor,” she said in a bored, monotone voice, as though she’d gone through this 500 times before. “Room 238. One of you will have to scan your access card to get in. Whoever it is will be responsible for the work space.”

  We went up to the second floor: Medical Research and Development. We walked down a long hallway with dozens of doors on either side. When we reached room 238, I swiped my key card through the slot. After a click, the red light on the slot turned green.

  “Welcome, James Levi Stump,” said an automated voice, and the door slid open.

  When we walked in, the automatic lights illuminated the room. I knew the laboratory was going to be impressive, but I wasn’t prepared for what I had just walked into.

  It was s
tate of the art, top to bottom. The most up-to-date equipment lined the walls and shelves. I saw the newest microscopes with HD screens, a shiny new electron microscope, brand-new beakers and test tubes, an impressive centrifuge that had at least a dozen modes, and anything else you would expect to see in a medico-biology lab.

  “Wow” was all I managed to say. I was in heaven. I walked to one of the stainless-steel examination tables and placed the jar on top of it. I gleefully ran over, grabbed one of the HD 400× microscopes, and carefully carried it to the table.

  “All right,” I said. “It’s time to get star—”

  A loud noise startled me so much, I almost knocked the microscope over. I turned around to see it was the television. Nick had the remote and was fumbling to turn the volume down.

  He laughed guiltily. “Sorry, J-Man. Just wanted to see what was on TV.”

  “Could you turn it off? I need to concentrate,” I said impatiently.

  “Sure thing,” he said, pointing the remote at the TV.

  “Wait!” I said. Something on the screen caught my attention: a picture of Force-Pointe High.

  “We interrupt this broadcast for an important news flash,” the female news reporter said. “We’re reporting live right in front of Force-Pointe High School, where earlier today all students and faculty members were evacuated because of an insect infestation. According to reports, an unknown group of men initiated the evacuation. They are calling themselves the Force-Pointe Emergency Situation Protocol Association, or F.E.S.P.A. for short. They claim to have governmental authority, but this has yet to be substantiated.”

  “They are not from the government,” I said, trying to focus on doing a gross examination of the mantis.

  “Whoever they are, I don’t think they have the slightest idea of what they’re dealing with,” said Kelly.

  “What’s this?” the news reporter said in shock. My attention went back to the screen.

  A beam of golden light shot out from each corner of the school at a sloped angle, connecting at a point above the building, forming a pyramid. The camera zoomed in on one of the corners, where a machine was projecting the energy beam.

  “It looks as though something is surrounding the school,” said the news reporter. “Let’s take a closer look.”