“Are you all right back there?” Nika called out to Cameron.
“Yes, yes, I’m fine. I’m just thinking,” he replied.
“Well, maybe you should try to keep pace with the rest of us,” she suggested.
Cameron glanced up from staring at the thick, spongy grass squishing beneath his feet and noticed that several yards had spread out between him and the others. The mountain with the waterfall had proven to be quite a distance away, and the group had been walking for almost ten minutes.
“Maybe you should consider walking slower,” Cameron grumbled to himself, picking up his pace.
Cameron stared at the back of Devin’s helmet as he walked at the head of the group. When Cameron had found out that Devin would be joining them on the Adventure Machine, he was overwhelmed with excitement. Most people as gifted as Cameron knew about Devin’s ability. You didn’t have to dig deep on the Internet to find articles about the peculiar boy. He wasn’t a psychic, because that, of course, was ridiculous, but Devin definitely had the ability to sense certain events before they took place. Which made what had happened earlier on the ride all the more troubling. Why did Devin have the sudden urge to end the ride less than a few minutes after the launch? Did he foresee a tragedy?
And then there was Trevor, who seemed like a nice enough boy, but he was born completely fearless. Only a handful of people in the world had a misfiring amygdala. Cameron tried to make sense of it all. What were the odds of bumping into not one but two scientific anomalies on the same ride? And then, if you threw in Cameron, who was considered by Whiz Kid Weekly to be one of the most brilliant child geniuses on the planet, the plot grew thicker still. Cameron found himself grinning widely as he remembered the article about himself in the magazine. It included a really good picture that went with it.
“Focus!” Cameron whispered to himself.
The only participant who broke Cameron’s theory was Nika. He knew hardly anything about her, other than her grandfather’s occupation. Gazing in Nika’s direction, Cameron’s eyes narrowed. She was definitely keeping something from them. She had to be. And if she was, then that meant…What? What did that mean?
He suddenly felt the urge to solve something. Where was his whiteboard or a large pane of glass and a marker when he needed them? Oh, and a can or two of Kraken Spit. Cameron’s suit had taken on a cramped sort of feel to it. He tugged at his collar and pulled at his sleeves, but the neotanium material clung to him like plastic wrap covering his mom’s burned pumpernickel bread. What he wouldn’t give for some privacy to solve a few things in his underwear.
Something small, brown, and furry scuttled past Cameron’s foot. He leapt back in surprise, but kept control of his urge to scream out.
“Wait up for a second,” he yelled to the others. Nika stopped and so did Trevor. Devin scowled back at Cameron and then mumbled something to Trevor before throwing his hands up in frustration to wait with the others.
“I found something,” Cameron said. “It’s some sort of creature.” He squinted, stooping down to one knee, as the tiny animal tried to hide beneath the folds of a leafy bush. Cameron’s fingers trembled as he parted the leaves to inspect his finding. The creature hissed angrily, and Cameron gasped, toppling back on his behind.
Trevor hurried over and steadied Cameron with his hand. “What is it?”
Cameron swallowed. “That’s odd.”
“What’s odd?” Devin asked skeptically.
Cameron pointed to the plant, his eyes widening behind his glasses. The Castletons were playing a cruel, cruel game. Of all the things they could’ve selected for the Adventure Machine, why did they have to choose this specific creature? He furrowed his brow in thought, trying to determine how Doug or Terry would’ve discovered his secret fear. As far as he knew, it wasn’t recorded in any of his databases. Not even his mom knew about it. “Either this is a spectacular coincidence, or the Castletons know way more about us than we think.”
“Why do you have to talk like that?” Trevor asked. “If you just spoke like a normal person, maybe we could help you.”
“This is the only way I know how to talk!” Cameron shouted. “I was born this way. Brilliant. Misunderstood. Do you want me to put it in terms you can understand? Should I speak like a caveman in grunts and growls?” He once again pointed anxiously at the bush, his heart throbbing in his chest. “Would someone please see if it’s gone?”
Nika carefully bent down and peeled back one of the leaves. She stared for a moment, her eyes inquisitive before they softened. “Aw, it’s so sweet.” When she removed her hand from under the bush, Nika held an animal no bigger than a rodent.
Trevor and Devin leaned forward for a closer look, while Cameron tried to squirm away.
“Is it a moose?” Devin asked.
Nika nodded. “I believe it is. I’ve never seen one so small.”
The creature had a set of antlers and four knobby legs, and it blinked up at Nika through a pair of pinprick eyes.
“That’s what you’re afraid of?” Trevor reached out his hand, and Nika gently passed the creature into his palm. “It’s as big as a hamster.”
“I don’t care how big it is. It’s a moose, okay? I don’t like them. I never have.” Cameron scrambled to his feet, sticking his tongue out in disgust as Trevor began petting the creature’s antlered skull.
“Hate to break it to you,” Devin said. “But it looks like there’s more of them.” He pointed to a quivering patch of leaves a few feet away.
Dozens of miniature moose darted out from beneath the bulbous plant, like a burrow of cockroaches fleeing from the light. The moose produced a high-pitched squee as they ran, kicking up thin furrows of dust behind them.
“Look at them all!” Nika clasped her hands together. “There are dozens of them.”
“Yeah, just in that bush.” Trevor nodded to another cluster of shrubs, leaves quaking from the ongoing activity of scurrying moose beneath them.
“So, that’s kind of freaky,” Devin said.
Cameron groaned, a fit of nausea threatening to overtake him. Judging by how the unusual plants appeared to harbor the disgusting little creatures, and calculating the sheer volume of vegetation dotting the landscape, Cameron estimated there could be at least ten thousand pocket-sized moose out there, waiting to strike.
“We need to go,” Cameron said, his voice squeaking.
“Yes, I agree.” Nika backed away from the bush, nudging up against Cameron’s arm. “Why do you think they’re here?”
Wanting to put as much distance as possible between himself and the army of creatures, Cameron turned to run. “The Castletons have somehow found out about my deepest fear and inserted it into…” He couldn’t finish the sentence.
A colossal moose stood less than twenty yards away, noisily chomping a mouthful of leaves. Feathery strands of cobwebs dangled from its antlers, which were so big that they were more like mangled billboards.
Cameron spun around to face the others. He blinked rapidly and started hyperventilating. This was why he never went camping anymore. Well, this and the mustard incident.
Trevor laughed, gawking at the gigantic creature. “No way! That must be their mother. Do moose even get that big?”
Nika held her finger up to her lips and crouched down on her knees. “Stay quiet. Keep low so we don’t seem like a threat to it.”
Devin didn’t argue as he ducked down beside her. Nika urgently motioned to Trevor, who joined them on his knees.
Cameron dropped to the ground and curled himself up into a ball. “Not the mother, it’s not the mother,” he muttered. “It’s clearly a male, you idiots.” Was he the only one who understood zoology?
“Cameron’s not in a good place right now.” Trevor cupped his hands over his mouth to project his voice, while maintaining a whisper. “Probably not the best idea to lie down right in its path.”
“I’m playing dead! Doesn’t anyone read? If I play dead, it’ll bypass me and charge after someone else.” Where were
his pills when he needed them? The inside of Cameron’s suit felt like boiling rubber. It clung to him, itchy and constrictive. He rolled to one side and peered up at the monstrosity looming almost cartoonlike above him, blotting out a surprisingly expansive chunk of the horizon. Cameron’s mind began to whir like a computer processor. The leafy vegetation scattered in clusters all around them stood no more than a foot off the ground. Using the plants as a starting point, he calculated the moose’s height. From the bottom of its hooves to the top of its massive skull, the animal towered at least twenty-four and a half feet above the ground.
Cameron suddenly uncurled his legs and hopped up onto his feet. “Impossible! You’re not real!” He pointed vigorously at the moose. Twenty-four feet? No quadrupedal creature in the animal kingdom reached such heights. Even the world’s tallest giraffe stood a foot or two shorter than that. “This is just one of your tricks, isn’t it, Doug? A clever scheme to ignite fear within us? Well, ha!” Cameron marched all the way up to the moose. When he stood beneath it, his helmet failed to reach the bottom of one of its lanky kneecaps.
“Great,” Devin moaned. “Now we’re going to have to carry his corpse the rest of the way.”
“Yeah, what are you doing, Cameron?” Trevor shouted.
Cameron jabbed his finger above him. “I’m proving a point. This is not an actual living entity. It’s a projection. Just like I said earlier. We’re seeing things through these helmets.” Of course! Cameron didn’t actually realize the truth of it all until he spoke it out loud. The suits and the helmets were the final pieces of the mysterious Adventure Machine puzzle. In order for the ride to truly function, you needed a vehicle, elaborate projections to showcase the images, and then a screen to view them on. The visors acted as those screens. “I believe I’ve graduated into a whole new level of genius!”
The moose stopped chomping on the leaves and lowered its head in Cameron’s direction. Black, lidless eyes, like a pair of softballs, stared at him. It bristled, the thick tuft of hair on its neck standing on end. Then the moose bent down, nostrils flaring, as it curiously sniffed Cameron.
Cameron tried to laugh, but when the moose’s muzzle pressed against his helmet, knocking him off balance and gumming up his visor with a sort of opalescent mucus, it was a miracle he kept his breakfast down.
“Wait. How did you just knock me down?” Cameron gulped. “You’re just a big, real moose. El gigante!” And then he fainted into a tiny heap on the ground.
MOOSE DON’T EAT people, do they? Trevor wondered as he watched the giant creature stoop over Cameron, dragging its tongue across the tiny boy’s helmet.
Nika clung to Trevor’s arm, yanking on his sleeve. “How do we help him?” Her voice was high-pitched and panicked. Devin was speechless, his fists clenched at his sides, unable to move.
“Hold on.”
Trevor trotted toward the large animal and the bundle of Cameron lying lifeless at its feet. Trevor puffed out his chest and flailed his arms above his head, shrieking as he ran. He just needed to establish dominance. Most creatures dwelling in their natural habitat respected a dominant human. Trevor remembered that from a documentary on gorillas he had watched a few months ago.
As Trevor approached, the moose recoiled in surprise. A clump of mushy, chewed-up vegetation dropped from its mouth. It snarled, jerking its head from side to side, before lunging at Trevor. One of the antlers barely missed him as Trevor somersaulted out of the way.
“Well, that didn’t work,” he said, catching his breath. Maybe moose were the exception to the rule in the animal kingdom.
He scrambled to his feet as the creature attacked again, its antlers swinging wide, once again missing their mark. Then, the moose bent down once more and opened its mouth as if to swallow Cameron whole.
Trevor rolled his eyes. “You’re going to eat him?” he asked. “You have an entire world of grass all around you, and you’re going to eat Cameron?”
The moose’s eyes suddenly glowed red, its mouth widening.
Trevor laughed. “Red eyes? Seriously? How cheesy is that?” For Trevor, the red eyes solidified to him that the moose couldn’t be real. And since the creature had managed to touch Cameron, it wasn’t a virtual creation of some projector either. Which meant it was a robot, or something else Trevor couldn’t explain. Either way, he didn’t really believe the Castletons would allow the moose to carry through with its plan to eat Cameron. And yet, something told Trevor he shouldn’t just sit there and not respond. Even if he had brought it on himself, Cameron needed help.
“How do I knock that thing down?” Trevor asked.
Something whizzed overhead, and Trevor glanced up in time to see a small rock strike the creature on its snout. The moose clamped its mouth shut in surprise and released an agitated hiss. Trevor’s head swiveled as another projectile shot through the air, ricocheting off the moose’s antlers. Nika and Devin had gathered armfuls of rocks and they took turns throwing them at the target.
“Great shot!” Trevor cheered, after yet another rock struck the moose’s shoulder.
“Just get Cameron!” Nika shouted.
The annoyed animal reared back on its hind legs, pawing at the barrage of rocks. Trevor raced in and ducked beneath its hooves. He grabbed Cameron beneath his armpits and pulled him out of the way. Behind Trevor arose the piercing cry of what sounded like a million angry mosquitoes. Then the ground began to patter. It wasn’t an earthquake, or even loud enough to be confused with thunder, but a wave of the miniature moose charging out from their hiding places. They squealed, racing directly toward Trevor and Cameron, but then moved wide, arcing out to avoid the two boys, before climbing up the gigantic moose’s legs.
Nika threw one more rock, which hit the creature squarely on its chest. It howled and shuddered and then turned to retreat.
—
Trevor reached down and shook Cameron by his shoulder. “Hey, wake up, sleepyhead. No time for naps now.” He had seen people faint in movies all the time, but it had always looked fake. But not Cameron. The small boy had collapsed like an action figure, arms and legs folded in on each other.
“Is he really still asleep?” Devin asked. “After all that?”
Trevor shrugged. “I guess so.” He drummed his fingers on Cameron’s visor.
Cameron swatted at Trevor’s hand, grumbled something incoherent, and peeled his eyes open, one at a time.
“Can you move, or are you hurt?” Nika asked, squatting down beside Trevor and snapping her fingers softly next to Cameron’s helmet.
“I’m fine,” Cameron grumbled. “I just had a hyper overload. It happens.” He tensed, his small hands clenching into fists as he looked desperately up at Trevor. “Is it gone?”
Trevor sucked back on his teeth. “Not exactly, but you shouldn’t look.”
Cameron didn’t listen, turning to search for the moose. When he found it, he produced a sound similar to that of a smoke alarm’s warning chirp.
“I told you not to look,” Trevor said.
The creature had moved a decent distance away from the group, to where it no longer felt threatening, but the throngs of baby moose had gathered in a cluster on the giant’s back. To Trevor, it kind of looked like a mutated wolf spider, toting about its miniature offspring.
“What happened after I passed out?” Cameron asked, watching the moose suddenly bristle and then gallop across the meadow with long, awkward strides.
“Uh…” Trevor glanced at Nika. She discreetly shook her head and whispered to Trevor not to tell Cameron the truth. Trevor agreed. If Cameron discovered how the moose had almost swallowed him, he’d never be the same.
“What’s that on its back?” Cameron demanded, turning back to face them.
“The babies,” Devin said. “They all freaked out and climbed aboard their momma.”
“Daddy,” Cameron replied meekly. “It’s their daddy. You can tell by the antlers.”
“Are you sure?” Devin asked.
Cameron started
to nod, but then that petered away. “No, I’m not so sure about anything anymore. I don’t understand how I could physically feel the moose. It had definite substance. No virtual projection could simulate such authenticity.”
“Maybe it’s a robot,” Trevor suggested.
“A robot?” Cameron scoffed. His lip curled in thought and then he shrugged. “I suppose that’s a feasible option. The Castletons sure went to great lengths to create something so uniquely frightening as a robotic moose.”
“Why are you so scared of moose?” Trevor asked. All of Trevor’s past friends were scared of something. Snakes. Bees. Monkeys. But this was the first time he had ever heard of someone possessing a fear of a common forest creature, albeit a humongous one.
“They’re not natural,” Cameron said. “They’re like alien deer, sent here thousands of years ago by the overlords to lie waiting for the perfect time to overthrow humanity.”
Devin chuckled. “Is that a scientific theory?”
Cameron shook his head rapidly. “No…just an idea.”
“We should probably be on our way to that mountain,” Nika said. “We’ve been out for a while now.”
“Yes, excellent idea.” Cameron brushed the grass from his knees and stood up. “Just as long as we steer clear of that thing, I’ll be dandy.”
“Don’t worry,” Trevor said. “I’m sure that moose is too busy plotting to take over the world to bother about us.”
—
The temperature dropped significantly once the group arrived at the base of the waterfall. Instead of blistering heat, a biting chill laced the air, causing Trevor’s skin to prickle from the cold. Nika shivered, hugging her arms close to her body and periodically reaching up to wipe the condensation from her visor.
“Looks deep,” Cameron said, peering over the edge at a large pool of water gathering beneath the roaring waterfall. “I do hope these suits are waterproof.” For some reason, Cameron wasn’t showing any signs of discomfort. His voice was steady, and his body didn’t tremble like the others’.
“Aren’t you cold?” Trevor asked him.
The World's Greatest Adventure Machine Page 9