by Jack Patton
“What now?” Gigantus rasped.
“We know Spike’s up there somewhere, so that’s where we have to go,” Max said. “Barton and Buzz had better scout ahead again. The rest of us can make our way up to the volcano’s side. We all need to keep our eyes open and see if we can spot the cave where they’re keeping Spike.”
“Roger!” Buzz flew up and away, with Barton close behind. Max, Gigantus, and Webster cautiously made their way across the rocky ground. Max noticed deep cracks here and there, which would be all too easy to fall into.
“Max?” whispered Webster. “I’m worried about something.”
Nothing new there, Max thought. “What’s on your mind?” he asked the spider.
“What if those turtles go and warn General Komodo that we’re here?”
Webster had a point. Max mulled it over. “Lucky for us, they’re not very bright. But one of them is bound to think of warning Komodo sooner or later. They can’t move fast, though. We’ve still got a head start at least.”
A deep rumble came from the volcano. Beneath their feet the earth trembled.
Webster shuddered and drew his legs in. “Was that … what I think it was?”
“Probably,” said Max. “That volcano’s still active. No time to lose. Let’s go!”
But to Max’s dismay, they only made it a short distance before yet another disaster struck. The earth rumbled and a wide crack opened in the ground out in front of them. For Max and the bugs, it was like a canyon in the middle of the desert, flooded with flowing lava. The red-hot molten rock gurgled and spurted like a living thing as it slid sluggishly by below them. Waves of heat made Max’s mouth feel dry and his eyes sore. If he got any closer he’d be burned to a crisp.
“Maybe we can find another way around,” he started to say, but Gigantus was already surging forward on her many legs.
“Leave it to me!” the centipede cried.
Gigantus stretched herself out like a makeshift army bridge, grabbing on to the far side and spanning the gap with her body. The sight reminded Max of soldiers forming a human bridge to help stranded people across a river.
“You go first,” Max told Webster. He didn’t want the spider left fretting on the chasm’s edge.
Webster obediently scampered out across Gigantus’s body. Max held his breath. Luckily, the spider made it all the way. His eight legs spread out across Gigantus’s back helped him keep his balance.
“Come on, Max!” Gigantus grunted. “I’m being roasted here!”
Moving on all fours, Max climbed onto Gigantus’s segmented back. The centipede’s body sagged alarmingly as it took his weight. He scrambled along Gigantus’s length as quickly as he could, trying not to look down into the lava.
The volcano rumbled again, much louder this time, and the earth shook. Suddenly, Gigantus’s back legs lost their grip on the rocky ground. The centipede scrabbled madly at thin air as her whole body swung down—Max slammed into the wall of the chasm.
“Argh!” he yelled as he bounced off the rocky wall. He reached out frantically for something to grab on to, but could only find thin air …
With a desperate lunge, Max reached out for anything he could get his hands on. In an instant he grabbed at one of Gigantus’s many legs and the centipede yelled in surprise.
Below his swaying feet, the lava bubbled and spat. A stench of scorched rubber wafted up. The soles of his sneakers were starting to melt!
“Gigantus, help me!” Max yelled, breathlessly.
“I’m trying,” bellowed Gigantus. She scrabbled with all her lower legs at once, but only a few of them came anywhere near the wall. Instead of grabbing on, they just brushed it.
Max knew his weight was dragging the centipede into the chasm. There was only one thing to do. He had to get off Gigantus’s back before they both fell into the lava.
Using Gigantus’s legs like a ladder, Max began to climb. The giant centipede howled as Max clambered up. “That hurts!”
“Sorry! It’s our only chance!”
One by one, Max took hold of the thick black legs and pulled himself up. As the chasm wall began to give way and Gigantus slipped slowly down toward the molten lava river, Max scrambled up and out over the ledge.
Then, he and Webster both grabbed hold of one of Gigantus’s front legs each. Together they pulled the giant centipede out of the crevasse until enough of her legs were on the flat ground for her to climb the rest of the way.
“Thanks,” the centipede said, sounding gruff and tough again. “You two are stronger than you look.”
Max brushed himself down, but there was no time to relax—not while Spike was still trapped somewhere on Reptile Island. The trio pressed on toward the mountainside.
Two distant specks burst out of the shroud of smoke and came hurtling at them. Max squinted, trying to see if they were flying lizards. To his relief, it was only Barton and Buzz, back from their scouting mission.
“Did you find where he’s being held?” Max called.
“We did better than that,” Buzz said, sweeping in low to land. “We’ve found Spike.”
“Yes!” Max punched the air. “Is he okay?”
“He’s alive,” Barton said, “but he’s hurt his leg. He’s been poisoned, by the look of it. He can’t climb out on his own. We’ll need to help him.”
A suspicious thought crossed Max’s mind. “Did you see any lizards?”
“None. They may be out on patrol. Or they may be so confident of our surrender that they didn’t bother to guard Spike.”
I doubt that, Max thought darkly. The lizards knew how important Spike was, and how dangerous. There was bound to be a guard here somewhere, even if they couldn’t see it yet.
Buzz and Barton led the way up the side of the rocky volcano. Max felt uneasy, as if he were being watched. There was a reptile of some kind nearby. He’d bet his life on it. But what sort of beast would be powerful enough to guard Spike, the emperor scorpion?
Barton landed next to Max and pointed out a pitlike crevasse up ahead. It looked like it had been scraped out of the mountainside by titanic hands. “There it is.”
“Everyone stay close and keep quiet,” Max warned.
All Max’s senses were on high alert as he crept up to the edge of the pit. Nothing moved or made a sound, but the feeling of being watched was stronger than ever. Although this was the perfect chance to scout out Reptile Island and get valuable intel on the enemy, he made up his mind then and there to get Spike out and get away fast. This place gave him the creeps.
He looked down and saw Spike far down in the shadows, waving his pincers happily. “Max! You came to get me!”
“We wouldn’t leave you behind, buddy. We even brought a SWAT team!”
Spike saluted briskly when he saw Barton. “Sorry I got caught, sir. Those filthy lizards knocked me out! Next thing I knew, I woke up here.” He waved his injured leg. “I’d climb out, but one of them bit me.”
Webster shuffled forward. “K-keep still. I’ll drop a web line and we can winch you up with it.”
“Hurry up!” Spike scuttled back and forth eagerly. “That guard will be back any minute.”
“Guard?” Max gasped. “You didn’t mention a guard!”
Suddenly, an ominous shadow loomed over Max.
“And what is thisss?”
The bugs turned quickly at the sound of the strange hissing voice that was edging ever closer.
What Max saw then would haunt his nightmares. Spike’s guard was an Indian cobra, hooded and fanged, many times larger than the bugs. Cobras were frightening enough when they were normal size, but this gigantic creature was a true monster.
“Er …” Max tried to stammer a reply, but was frozen to the ground in fright.
Suddenly, Barton leapt into action. “I’ll hold him off,” he growled. “You get Spike.”
“Wait!” Max yelled. “It’s venomous—be careful!” But the brave general was already flying into action.
Startled, the cobra
reared up as it saw Barton coming. “Sssilly bug! You are really trying to fight me?”
Barton’s response was to hurl himself at the cobra like a buzzing meteor and latch on to its upper body with his strong mandibles. Max knew those pincers were strong as a vise, and the cobra had underestimated Barton badly, but they were still in a lot of trouble.
“Buzz, fly back to Bug Island as fast as you can. We need some serious reinforcements.”
“Roger that, Max!”
The cobra thrashed its body to and fro, trying to shake Barton loose. With one determined fling, it threw him backward onto the sand. The bug general lay with his legs kicking in the air, helpless, and for a second Max feared the worst. Then Barton righted himself again and flew back into the fight. “Not finished yet,” he muttered.
“Quick, Webster, get that web line down!” Max said.
Webster shot a glistening web rope into the pit, which Spike caught and wound around his pincer. “Haul away!” he shouted.
Webster began to tug, helping Spike to scramble out of the pit. He was halfway up when Max heard a strange, frantic buzzing sound. The cobra had the advantage on Barton. It lunged again and again, trying to strike the commander with its venomous fangs.
“Barton’s not strong enough to beat it on his own,” Gigantus said.
“Hurry, Webster! We need Spike in this fight!”
But though Webster was pulling for all he was worth, Spike wasn’t out of the pit yet.
And the cobra was slithering straight at them …
Gigantus slid forward on her hundred legs and formed a living barrier, blocking Max and Webster from the approaching cobra. “You two pull Spike out, and leave the reptile to me!”
Max grabbed Webster’s sticky silk rope and helped the spider haul Spike out of the crevasse. Spike managed to hook one pincer over the edge.
The cobra’s hooded shadow fell over them all. It hissed a challenge to Gigantus: “Wretched little crawler. Groveling bug. Who are you to s-s-stand againssst me?”
Gigantus struck like a whiplash. Quicker than any of them could have expected, she rushed at the snake and clamped her poison injectors together, trying to bite. Startled, the cobra recoiled.
“You talk a lot,” growled Gigantus, “but I’m going to bring you down to size.”
The cobra went on the attack, striking, and striking again, but Gigantus dodged smoothly out of the way both times. Her segmented body could loop and coil like a ribbon streamer, and it drove the cobra crazy. The cobra struck for a third time. Gigantus darted out of the way, and the cobra’s head whacked against a stone half-buried in the sand.
“That hurt,” the cobra hissed, with murderous anger in its voice. It swayed dizzily, looking around to see where Gigantus had gone.
“Really? Well, this is going to hurt a lot more,” Gigantus said.
Before the stunned cobra could react, the centipede had rushed up its long body. Like a vampire, Gigantus plunged her venomous barbs into the snake’s throat.
The poison went into action instantly. The cobra’s mouth yawned wide and it twitched along its entire length. Then, all at once, the cobra flopped down in the dust like a loose heap of old rope.
Meanwhile, Spike had scrambled over the edge of the pit. “Nice!” he told Gigantus. “Did you kill it?”
“My venom’s not deadly,” Gigantus admitted. “But the reptile’s paralyzed. Right now he can’t move, but he’ll recover soon.”
Max wondered what to do about the fallen cobra. “Let’s roll it down into the pit. Otherwise it might come after us.”
Together, he and the bugs bundled the hapless snake down into the crevasse. It glared at them with eyes full of hate. Spike gave it the final push. “Bye!” he yelled as it tumbled down into the dark. “That’s for biting my leg!”
Max glanced up at the sky, wondering when Buzz was coming back. The cobra might be defeated, but they had a long way to go before they were out of danger.
“Spike, can you walk?” he asked.
“Just about,” Spike said. “I, um, can’t carry you yet, though. Sorry.”
“No problem. Let’s just get you out of here.”
Together, Max and the bugs edged their way back down the side of the volcano. It was slow going with poor Spike hobbling along, and to make things worse, the volcano kept making rumbling noises.
“It’s still bubbling away,” Webster squeaked.
Max hoped the spider was just fretting. But then a roar sounded behind them, and a fresh wave of lava came flooding over the very top of the crater like milk boiling over on a stove. It gushed down the volcano’s side in a thick, glowing tide. It wasn’t as powerful as the eruption that had created the land bridge, but it was still spewing out enough lava to cause the bugs trouble.
“Great!” Spike cried. “That’s all we need!”
“Can this get any worse?” Gigantus grunted.
Webster’s voice was a trembling, tiny peep: “Yes, it can. Look!”
The cobra’s head rose out of the prison pit. Still groggy from Gigantus’s poison, it slithered down the slope in their direction. “Get back here!” it hissed at them.
Everyone put on a fresh burst of speed, including Spike, though it hurt him to do so. With Gigantus acting as a bridge, they crossed from rock to rock, staying out of the way of the pools of lava that had already begun to form.
Soon, they were almost halfway back down the volcano. Max could see the beach in the distance. There was no sign of the turtles, and the seas had calmed down. The lava bridge looked like it would be easy to cross.
He glanced behind and saw the wave of lava still surging down the mountain, but not fast enough to reach them. The cobra was nowhere in sight.
“I think our luck’s finally changed,” he told his bug friends.
“It has indeed,” said a gloating, raspy voice. “In fact, I’d say your luck has RUN OUT!”
“That voice,” Barton said. “That’s …”
A gigantic reptilian head loomed up over the ledge. General Komodo himself slithered into view, heaving his massive body up and into their path. There was no way to reach the lava bridge now.
“It’s Komodo. Get back!” Max yelled. “Find another way down.”
But the words died in his throat as he saw what was coming. From all sides, greenish winged lizards were swooping down on them.
“Gliding lizards, again,” roared Spike. “I hate those sneaky things!”
The lizards flopped down to land in perfect formation, surrounding the group completely.
All the SWAT team could do was huddle together, brandishing their stings, mandibles, or fists, as the lizards advanced. Steadily they closed in, leaving no gap to escape through. Komodo loomed over them all, a ghastly grin of victory on his face.
“This is the moment I have long been waiting for,” he said with relish. “Today, General Barton and his human friend Max will die. And Bug Island will be ours!”
Max could see no way to escape this time. The lizards had them surrounded. The battle for Bug Island was finally over … but his side had lost.
“Did you really think Reptile Island would be so easy to enter?” Komodo mocked. “This has all been a trap. And you blundered right into it!”
“Battle Bugs,” said General Barton, “this could be our last stand. Fight like you’ve never fought before.”
“Don’t be a fool,” General Komodo spat. “You’re surrounded and outnumbered.”
“Maybe we should listen to what Komodo has to say?” Max suggested, giving Barton a meaningful glance. He hoped the bug general understood what he was thinking. Komodo loves to give long speeches, so maybe while he’s gloating at us, we’ll be able to think of a way out of this.
“I say we fight!” Gigantus roared. “Let’s take some lizards down with us.”
“Stand down, Gigantus. We’ll do as Max says,” Barton said.
Komodo chuckled. “The human being always was the brains of your pathetic operation, Barton. Whi
ch is why I waited until he was off the island before putting my plan into action.”
“Plan?” Max blinked. “What plan?”
Now Komodo roared with laughter. His gliding lizard minions joined in, mocking and pointing at the bugs.
“What’s so funny?” Spike shouted. For some reason, that just made them laugh all the more.
“Do you really think I happened to be here by chance, when I have the whole of Reptile Island to roam around?”
Max understood. “I get it. You knew we’d be here, didn’t you?”
“Naturally. I knew you bugs would rush to the rescue of your friend and comrade in arms. Especially you, human.”
Spike moaned as the truth dawned on him, too. “I was bait in your trap!” he yelled.
“Why else would we capture you?” Komodo gloated. “It’s not as if you were important.”
Spike scuttled around inside the ring of lizards, waving his pincers in the air and shouting with fury. A gliding lizard nipped at Spike, taunting him. The scorpion rushed forward to attack, but Webster stopped him.
“Leave it, S-Spike.”
“You bugs are so predictable,” Komodo hissed, flicking his tongue in and out. “Now you’re trapped, and there’s no way out. And no hope for the rest of the bugs across the water.”
Max felt like kicking himself. The signs had been there all along. No wonder Reptile Island had seemed deserted. The lizards were all hiding, under the orders of General Komodo, waiting to ambush them. No wonder Spike had been so easy to find, with only one guard—a fearsome one, true, but that must have been to make the trap more convincing.
“The bugs will never surrender to you,” Barton said. “Even if all of us here are destroyed, new leaders will rise.”
“Spare me the inspiring speeches,” Komodo sneered. “Your bug forces might recover from the loss of Barton or his human adviser, but both?”
Nobody spoke as Komodo’s words sank in. The trouble was, Komodo was right and they all knew it. The bugs would never recover from such a blow.