Attack of the Giant Bugs

by A. J. Ponder

  Everyone starts talking at once.

  “Let’s rescue the Chief.”

  “We need to cordon off the building.”

  “No, we have a mission.”

  “What about Frankie’s transmogrifier?” you ask. “The one the Bugman stole.”

  “What? Frankie’s silly trans-mouse-ifier?” Steve says. “Why are you worried about that? Oh heck, it’s a shrink ray too, isn’t it? That means it could shrink Ms. X. Or turn her into a mouse. Or anything!”

  “No, just a mouse,” Kennedy says. “Well, that and the shrink ray bit.”

  You nod in agreement. That’s what Frankie said on the bus.

  “Well, we can’t just stand here,” Greg says. “We have to do something, and quick!”

  “You’ve convinced me,” Steve says. “Let’s get Frankie’s device back from the Bugman, that thing’s dangerous.”

  “No. We need to know what’s happened to Chief X.” Kennedy looks around.

  They all start arguing again.

  “Yeah, the Chief could still be alive.”

  “We shouldn’t be looking for her. Not while the Bugman is loose.”

  “We need the Chief back, now!”

  “No,” Greg says. “We need to do her proud. So we’re going to cordon off the building—

  “And send a team in after the Bugman,” Steve insists.

  “No,” Kennedy says. “I’m going to find Frankie and Ms. Xavier. Oops. I mean Chief X.” She turns bright red.

  So Chief X is Ms. Xavier. It might be a good idea to stay on her good side.

  “Alright,” Greg says. “I think you’re both right. So can we have volunteers for both missions? And I’ll organize with WOS and get this place cordoned off. Everyone else, you need to decide if you’ll help Kennedy find the Chief, or join Steve to find the Bugman?

  Do you:

  Volunteer to help Steve find the Bugman.

  Or

  Volunteer to help Kennedy find Ms. Xavier and Frankie.

  Volunteer to help Steve find the Bugman

  “Thank you, everyone,” Steve says. “You should all know me, I’m Steve. But some of us are new, so—” He nods at you and looks pointedly across at a boy with patched jeans, scraggly red hair, and a shirt that’s way too big for him.

  “Hi, I’m Murray,” the boy says. “Homeschooled.”

  “Megan,” says a girl with curly brown hair. She turns to you. “Stick with me, I’ll keep you safe.” She pulls a lipstick from a mini purse. “Here, I’ll show you low beam.” She points it to the wall. A red dot appears – it doesn’t look like much, but it blackens and burns right through. “Whoops, I must have forgotten to calibrate it,” she says. “Still, it’ll be good in a pinch. Who’d like a Taser ring?”

  She hands a gold ring to Murray, who is suitably impressed.

  “A laser pen? Anybody?”

  “Don’t worry about me – I’ve got plenty,” Steve says.

  Megan turns back and hands the pen to you. “Be careful not to touch that button, unless it’s an emergency,” she says. “That’s the overkill setting. And point it away from us. WOS insists on responsible laser usage.”

  “Oh, and here they are: my explosive packets of chewing gum. I’ve enough for one each. Also useable as cell phones – our emergency number’s already preloaded – 0118 999 881 999 119 725 30118 999 881 999 119 725 3.”

  You grasp the pen and a packet of chewing gum – carefully.

  Steve puts on a pair of ultra-dark glasses and ushers you all down the corridor. How he can see through them is a complete mystery – until you notice they’re working as TV screens and one of the screens shows him an enhanced view of the corridor. The others flick back and forth to show various rooms. Some you recognize from school, others are from the museum, and some you’ve never seen before.

  “Incoming bug!” Steve yells.

  “A ladybug! It’s so cute,” Megan says.

  “You mean, Ladybird!” Murray squeals. “Run for your lives! Ladybirds can devour fifty aphids a day – and we’re the size of aphids.”

  The ladybug darts after him, its wings whirring as loud as a helicopter.

  Steve ducks, but he can’t get out of the way. The ladybug is going to drop right on top of him.

  Megan runs to his rescue, putting her schoolbag between the ladybug and Steve.

  Bashing Megan’s bag aside, the ladybug sinks its jaws into Steve’s arm.

  Blood pours from the wound and drips to the floor.

  You have a choice:

  Throw the exploding chewing gum at the ladybug.

  Or

  Race up to fight off the Ladybug with your laser pen.

  Throw the exploding chewing gum at the ladybug/ladybird

  It’s a good throw. The chewing gum hits the wing shell of the ladybug. “Hooray,” you shout, moments before the chewing gum bounces off the wing shell and explodes on the corridor wall.

  You dive away, protecting your head from the debris falling all around.

  The roar of the explosion dies away and is replaced by the sound of a helicopter. No, not a helicopter. It’s the ladybug rapidly beating its wings. They blur, and the enormous creature flies off.

  Steve sits up, coughing. He’s covered in soot and plaster, blood is dripping down his arm, and his hair is standing up on end. “Watch what you’re doing, next time,” he says. And winks. “Wouldn’t like to die or anything. At least not so soon after being heroically rescued from a giant ladybug.”

  “Hey, look,” Megan says, pointing to a huge smoking hole in the wall. Frankie and three scientists are on the other side. They’ve been tied to chairs with masses of shiny white stuff, but despite everything, they’re still arguing.

  “It can be done. I did it in first grade,” Frankie muttered. “It has to be done, so we can shrink the insects back.”

  “Of course it can’t be done,” a bearded man with glasses snaps back. Then he looks up, his glasses slipping down his nose. “Finally, someone to rescue us. Thank goodness, we won’t be eaten by lionants, I mean antlions.”

  “No need to worry about that,” Steve says, kicking and punching at the the hole in the wall until it’s just big enough for him to push through to the other side. Still covered in soot and plaster, he poses heroically, while you, Murray and Megan hurry through the Steve-shaped hole to free Frankie and the scientists.

  “Ew,” Megan says. “This stuff is really sticky.”

  “And stretchy,” you say. It’s almost impossible to pull away from the scientists, without it snapping right back. Globs of gluey stuff sticking to your hands make the job even more difficult.

  “Spider web,” Frankie says. “Burning would work best.”

  “Not with us in it,” a bearded guy snaps. “What are you thinking?”

  Carefully, you and Megan start using the laser to cut strands as you pull them away. They’re almost free, when one of the scientists screams and points.

  Ants are swarming into the room,

  The Bugman is close on their heels. “Mwah ha ha ha,” he says. “Let me make it simple for you, you can join me or die. Go line up next to the far wall with your hands up, and I won’t set my giant ants on you.”

  You look left and right. Two of the scientists nervously shuffle toward the wall. Steve puts his hand in his pocket and steps toward the Bugman. “Would like some chewing gum?”

  It’s time to make a decision. Do you:

  Put your hands up and go to stand by the wall with the two scientists?

  Or

  Stay with Steve and defy Bugman?

  Put your hands up and go to stand by the wall with the two scientists

  You’re shuffling to the wall when Steve repeats his offer. “Gum?” He offers the Bugman a whole packet of WOS brand gum.

  An ant intercepts, its jaws closing on the strip as Steve lets go and jumps away.

  The gum explodes in a wave of sound and debris.

  Your ears are ringing. There are bits of ant everywhe
re. The walls and floor, everything. Steve and Murray are wiping their faces.

  The remaining ants go crazy, tearing people apart. Steve is the first to go. With your ears still buzzing from the blast, you cannot hear him or anyone else screaming as they’re knocked over and ripped apart by the rampaging ants.

  “Hold on, just a moment,” Murray squeaks. He rushes back to the wall, but he never reaches you. An ant intercepts him, and squirts a clear liquid in his face. He screams, his face melting. Then he’s torn apart.

  The only person still fighting is Megan. She’s holding off three ants with her laser lipstick. Maybe she can win? The overkill setting is definitely an advantage.

  The Bugman sends more ants to attack her. Three giant-ant corpses are smoking on the floor when Megan is finally brought down.

  “Megan!” you yell, but she doesn’t move.

  “She’s dead,” the scientist with the beard whispers.

  The ants run toward you, and attack.

  “Stop!” The Bugman yells, but not before the scientist with the beard has his head bitten off.

  Smiling, the Bugman grabs Frankie with one arm and the remaining scientist with the other. “Don’t move,” he hisses. Then he gives a speech about the wonders of the World Wide Web of Evil.

  It’s time to make a decision. Do you:

  Stand up for what you believe in?

  Or

  Tell the Bugman you want to join WOE?

  Stand up for what you believe in

  You walk up to the Bugman and say, “No, I’d rather die.”

  “That’s easily arranged,” the Bugman says.

  He points Frankie’s transmogrifier at the ceiling. He’s going to press the button!

  You can’t stand around and watch, whatever plan the Bugman has, you’re sure it’ll be horrific. You grab his arm.

  The machine backfires, and suddenly, the Bugman’s whole body ripples. He’s growing fur and shrinking at the same time. His nose becomes a pretty shade of pink and sprouts long whiskers – they wobble a little as he sniffs the air.

  The Bugman has turned into a mouse?! Steve was right, but he was kind of wrong too. Frankie’s trans-mouse-ifier wasn’t silly, or all talk.

  No time to worry about that. The mouse bunches up and jumps down onto the transmogrifier lying at your feet. Maybe he’s trying to push the buttons. You grab the mouse and place him in your pocket, before he can do any such thing.

  “I would have gotten away with this,” he squeaks. Then adds the terrible cliché, “If it wasn’t for you meddling kids.”

  So not entirely a mouse then. A mouseman? Which isn’t a bad name for the creature. You can hardly call him the Bugman anymore.

  Frankie picks up her remote and points it at the remaining giant ants.

  A balloon floats into the room. Frankie points her remote at it. There’s a loud bang and Ms. Xavier appears. “Not a word about Megan, or Murray, or Steve,” she says stepping clear of shredded balloon. “I’m going to try and get them treatment.”

  “Treatment? But they’re dead,” the scientist says.

  “Best to wait for a professional opinion, don’t you think?” Ms. Xavier says, calling in something called a World of Surgeons extraction unit.

  As you leave the museum, you’re swarmed by reporters and camera people. They all want to know your story, so you tell them some of the wildest tales they’ve ever heard. But you don’t tell them about the Bugman, who is washing his whiskers in your pocket.

  Everyone is impressed. Mostly because you tell them about how brave you were fighting off giant ants single handedly. Which isn’t true. That was Megan. But you try not to think about her. Or Steve and Murray who fought so bravely against the Bugman’s evil machinations. Hopefully Ms. Xavier can save them. Frankie and the remaining scientist exchange glances but they don’t way a word either.

  Having had more than a little fun making up stories, you decide to become a famous author and live in wealth and luxury. Sometimes you hear about strange organizations called WOE and WOS. According to the rumors, they’re some kind of spy thing. But nobody believes such outrageous claims. The stories that the silly Bugman was part of an evil group fighting against a clandestine spy agency, is even less likely than some of your books; A Day in the Life of the Mouseman, Attack of the Giant Bugs, and Saving the World a Day at a Time. In your autobiography, The Bugman and Me, you even admit the kids were playing spies, but they didn’t know what they were doing any more than you.

  Ms. Xavier pops by sometimes to see how you are, and to tell you how well the others are going. But she’s always racing off because, as you know, schoolteachers are the busiest people on earth. They have endless emergencies. And Ms. Xavier has them more than most. Sometimes she’s so worried about her students, you’d think she was saving the world or something.

  After a few years, the Mouseman disappears, but he hasn’t gone far. You can still hear his tiny voice plotting revenge from under the kitchen cupboard. Still, even though he was horrible, it can be lonely without him and there are times when you’re busy typing on your computer, or talking into your voice recorder, that you wonder what would have happened if you’d made a different choice.

  Now you’re an author you can find out. Whichever path you chose is going to be awesome fun, because there’s nothing more exciting than a really good adventure. You might die horribly, then again you might even save the world – again.

  For more adventure, click on a link to:

  Go back to the museum.

  Or

  Go to the Adventure Contents and choose any path.

  Tell the Bugman you want to join WOE

  With your life on the line, you quickly decide to fall in line and join WOE. It is, after all, the only decision where you’re likely to live.

  “Excellent,” the Bugman says. “I see we have no opposition. You’re all going to do the prudent thing.”

  You nod eagerly. Surely that will keep the horrible man happy?

  The Bugman smiles and nods.

  “Thank goodness we’re being sensible and doing the right thing,” the scientist next to you whispers.

  “Except,” says the Bugman, “I’ve never liked suck-ups. So I’ve decided to feed you to the spiders after all. It’s important work. I’m going to need plenty of spider silk over the next few days. I hope you’re happy to know your contribution is going to be instrumental in allowing us to take over the world. Thank you all for joining the World of Evil, I hope you enjoy the last few minutes of your life.” He points Frankie’s transmogrifier at a spider web in the corner of the ceiling.

  An enormous spider drops to the ground.

  The Bugman searches through his pockets and sprays something at you, and the spider lunges. Enormous fangs the size of samurai swords sink into your chest.

  You scream. But not for long. Everything goes black.

  I’m sorry, you’ve been eaten. The world of bugs is a dangerous one, which is what makes it so exciting. There are many wonderfully horrible deaths, for someone brave enough to risk the Attack of the Giant Bugs.

  There are also many wonderful opportunities. You could become one of the most famous inventors of all time and create inventions so amazing they’ll take you up, past the stratosphere. Or you could become a super, top-secret spy and live a life full of extraordinary adventure. It’s all up to you and the choices you make.

  For more adventure, click on a link to:

  Go back to the museum.

  Or

  Go to the Adventure Contents and choose any path.

  Stay with Steve and defy the Bugman

  You’re standing right next to Steve as the Bugman looks at the strip of gum. He looks like he’s about to take it, when an ant jumps to intercept, its jaws closing on the gum.

  “Watch out!” Steve yells and pulls you back.

  The gum explodes in a wave of sound and ant debris.

  Your ears are ringing. Ant debris is everywhere. Gross.

  You’re j
ust regaining your hearing when Steve yells, “Quick! Have you got your laser pen?”

  Quickly, you pull out the pen Megan gave you and stand back-to-back with Steve. You’re quickly surrounded. Steve is waving his laser pen, chopping ant limbs in half, but you’re not doing so well, barely scorching them.

  They’re getting really close, jaws snapping in your face.

  “Here, swap!” Steve yells, wheeling around to take care of another ant for you. He takes a moment to twiddle the settings and soon you’re both chopping into the ants like Jedi Knights.

  Megan and Murray are also swinging away with gusto. Soon all the ants are smoking corpses on the ground, their dismembered legs twitching.

  The Bugman raises the transmogrifier.

  “No!” Steve yells. He can’t reach.

  It’s up to you. You have to grab it before the Bugman can push any buttons.

  Diving, you snatch the transmogrifier from his hands, skid into a roll, and point it right back at him. The Bugman rushes to get back through the blackened hole in the wall, and you miss. The transmogrifier beam scorches the plaster even blacker before the Bugman crashes into it.

  For a moment the Bugman’s stuck, plaster and soot flying as he thrashes to get through the Steve-shaped hole. His haste only makes him slower, and there’s just enough time for Steve and Megan to rush over to grab him and pull him away from the exit.

  “But I wanted to take over the world. It was my destiny,” The Buman yells. “And I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for you rotten meddling kids.”

  “Indeed,” comes a formal voice. Ms. Xavier appears, climbing into the room without getting a speck of soot on her. Kennedy and the rest of her team are not far behind. After a short discussion with her students, Ms. Xavier turns to you, “Well done. You’ve saved the world from the Bugman and his giant bugs. Have you thought about joining us at WOS – you know, the World of Spies. We could use quick thinkers like you.”