by Jack Patton
“You humans are weird,” Roxy muttered. “It took me ages to shed my skin when I was small. You just pulled yours off in seconds!”
Max just laughed. “It’s not quite the same thing …”
He and Roxy climbed up the slope and carefully picked their way down the other side. The worm lizards were still next to the shallow pool.
Slowly Max and Roxy crept forward, hiding behind boulders and bulges in the cave wall, until they were close enough to hear what the worm lizards were saying.
“The new bug is bold,” said one. “He keeps insulting me. I’ll have to give him a lesson in manners, I think.”
Glower, thought Max.
“No!” hissed another lizard. “No matter how annoying—or delicious—the bug captives are, we must not eat them!”
“But I’m hungry,” groaned the third lizard. “There’s so little to eat in these tunnels.”
“The bugs are for our master, remember?” hissed the second lizard. “Think how pleased she’ll be when she sees them. That’s what we’ve been working for. Think what a mighty ally she will be for the reptile army.”
The worm lizards chuckled to themselves.
Don’t stop now, Max thought desperately. Keep talking …
“Will this offering be enough?” asked the first lizard.
“It will be enough to remind her how sweet bug-flesh is,” said the second. “When her appetite is awakened, she will be sure to come to the surface with us, to help us conquer the bugs once and for all.”
“The bugs will surrender in terror, once they see who is coming for them!” gloated the third lizard. “They cannot have forgotten the name of Lieutenant Titan!”
The moment she heard that name, Roxy let out a squeal of pure fear.
And in that instant, three pairs of tiny black eyes glared at them, full of hatred … and hunger.
“Run!” Max yelled.
With Roxy close behind, Max ran for his life. The worm lizards gave chase, slithering across the rocks more quickly than he could have imagined. They reached for him with their hooked claws.
He reached the upward slope and took it at a run. From behind came a startled squeal as one of the worm lizards caught Roxy.
“Keep going!” she screamed to Max.
Max turned—he wasn’t about to leave a bug behind. He pulled out his screwdriver and faced the other two lizards. All too quickly they were on him, grabbing with their sharp claws and dragging him backward. He slashed at them with his weapon, but soon they had him held fast in their grip. Their scaly, wormlike bodies pressed up against his—there was no escape.
A worm lizard’s ugly face loomed in front of his own. “You’re no bug. Are you on their side?”
“He’s not with me,” Roxy bravely tried to say, but the worm lizard holding her covered her mouth with a claw.
“I’m Max,” he said defiantly.
The worm lizard started at the sound of his name. “I’ve heard of this one: Barton’s special adviser. We’re in luck. Our special banquet for Lieutenant Titan just got a whole new course!”
Max struggled in the creature’s clammy grip, but it was no use. All he could do was let himself be dragged along to his fate.
The worm lizards took Max and Roxy all the way to the back of the cavern and down a short tunnel. Up ahead, Max saw something that made him stare.
There was a wide hole in the floor, covered with a layer of what looked like reptile skin. It must have come from something at least the size of General Komodo, judging by the size of it. Rocks had been dragged into position around it, holding it secure like a tarpaulin. A dim, greenish light shone through the skin from the other side.
One of the worm lizards, grumbling, moved rocks out of the way until he could lift a corner of the skin and make an opening. “Chuck ’em in with the others,” he growled.
The two other worm lizards bundled Max and Roxy down into the pit below. Once they were through, the reptiles weighed the skin down with rocks again. Max shoved it as hard as he could, but it was tight as a drum skin.
“Don’t bother trying,” laughed a worm lizard. “That skin’s tough as Lieutenant Titan herself. It ought to be—she shed it, after all!”
“You’ll meet her soon enough,” sneered another. “I think she’ll like you two. You’ll make a lovely dessert.”
Laughing, the worm lizards moved away.
Max punched the thick skin angrily, but couldn’t budge it an inch. Suddenly, a voice from behind made him start.
“Good to see you again, Max. Although I do really wish it had been under better circumstances.”
Max spun around. There, hovering in the air, was the source of the light he’d seen shining through the skin.
“Glower! You’re alive!”
“For now,” Glower said. “They are keeping us imprisoned for a reason—and it’s not a very nice one. We’re going to be Lieutenant Titan’s first meal.”
“We?” Max asked.
“Yes,” said Glower. “It’s not just us who got ourselves captured, I’m afraid.”
Out of the shadows, two fearsome-looking insects emerged. They looked like huge blue-black wasps. Their wings were a rusty color, and their long legs ended in hooked claws. Max thought they looked like ninjas. He knew the bugs were his friends, but these two looked downright sinister.
“Let me introduce two members of the underground intelligence service,” Glower said. “They are tarantula hawks—flying insects with a powerful sting. Max, meet Nightshade and Dagger.”
“Which one’s which?” Max asked.
“That is not your concern,” the two tarantula hawks said together, in voices just above a whisper.
Roxy shuddered. Max decided not to ask them any more questions.
“Max?” Roxy piped up. “I’m sorry I got us into this mess. I shouldn’t have made a noise and alerted those horrible worm lizards.”
“It’s all right,” Max said. “But why were you so scared? Who is this Lieutenant Titan, anyway?”
“She’s a myth on Bug Island,” Roxy said. “None of us have ever seen her in the flesh, but the stories have been passed down from our ancestors’ time. She’s one of the Old Ones, like Slimer.”
“You mean … another prehistoric creature? A living fossil?”
“Yes, a snake. A titanoboa. One of the largest and fiercest reptiles that ever lived.”
Max looked at the piece of shed skin that the lizards had used to keep them imprisoned, and felt his throat closing up with dread. Lieutenant Titan must be huge.
“Yes, we’ve all heard the stories, and none of us wants to meet the real thing,” said Glower. “If we don’t get out of here quickly, we’re done for. Any ideas, Max?”
Max couldn’t think of anything. He wished Slimer had been there. The old snail might be a little odd, but at least they’d been able to hide in his shell.
“I might have an idea,” Roxy said suddenly.
“What is it?” Max asked.
“General Barton didn’t just pick me for my bright skin, did he? There’s my toxicity, too! I can ooze cyanide from my skin. Poison hurts living creatures, and that doorway’s made of snakeskin, which came from a living creature. Maybe my poison will weaken it enough to break?”
Nightshade and Dagger exchanged glances. Glower looked hopeful. “It’s all we’ve got.”
“Let’s try it,” Max said.
Roxy scuttled over to the snakeskin barrier and climbed up onto it, clinging with all her many legs. She squeezed poison out of her body, shivering with the effort. Max stepped back in case any splashed on him.
“That’s as much as I can manage,” she said.
Max tried to scrape at the bubbling poison patch with his screwdriver. He managed to poke a few holes in the covering, but mostly it was too tough.
“If someone can just help me up, maybe I can—” Max began. Suddenly, he was interrupted.
“I think we’re about to have company,” Glower hissed. “Listen!”
>
A distant sound reached them, like someone dragging heavy cloth over a gravelly floor. It grew louder and louder. Roxy trembled. Glower’s light flickered fearfully. A vast shadow appeared on the other side of the snakeskin doorway.
“It’s her,” Roxy said in a quavering voice.
They retreated to the very back of the cave. Then came the sound of the worm lizards moving the rocks out of the way.
The snakeskin was drawn aside and Max was suddenly looking into a gigantic eye: a terrible, ancient eye with a vertical-slit pupil that was staring right back at him.
Max swallowed. There was only one reptile this could be—Lieutenant Titan!
Lieutenant Titan slowly pushed her head through the opening. It was almost as large as General Longtooth’s had been, and he was a crocodile. Max couldn’t imagine the size of the body that must be behind it.
“Iss … thiss … allll?” she rumbled, in a voice so loud and deep that it shook the cave walls. “You woke me from my sslumber to offer me this meassly assssortment of bugss?”
“Sorry, Mighty One,” groveled one of the worm lizards. “This is just an appetizer, to get you started. The real feast is up on the surface!”
“Are they any good? I cannot remember. I have not tassted bugss in many yearss,” said Lieutenant Titan dreamily. Her head edged forward even farther. Her forked tongue flickered out menacingly.
Max and the bugs pressed back against the rock wall. There was nowhere left to run.
“Bugs are delicious!” insisted the worm lizard. “Just gobble up these, and you’ll soon remember. Then you can lead the reptile army to greatness!”
“They had better be deliciouss, or I shall eat you insstead!” snapped the immense snake. The worm lizards shrank away in fear.
Suddenly, Max realized what was happening. When Titan got a taste for bugs once more, the reptiles would advance on Bug Island under her command. With the snake on the lizards’ side, the Battle Bug army would be finished.
Lieutenant Titan swung her head back and forth, looking carefully at the bugs in front of her as if she was wondering where to start. Then she fixed her gaze right on Max. “Ah, strange little bug. You shall have the honor of being my firsst meal in centuriess!”
Her broad, muscular body surged into the cave like an oncoming subway train. Her jaws opened wide. She lunged at him.
Max dived out of the way. Lieutenant Titan’s monstrous jaws chomped the air where he had been moments ago. Being tiny had one big advantage; he was nimble and could dodge fast.
Lieutenant Titan shook her head as if she was groggy and trying to wake up. Her cold, unblinking eyes swiveled around, trying to find him. “Sstrange bug? Where did you go?”
Glower yelled, “Nightshade! Dagger! Protect Max!”
The two tarantula hawks took to the air. They flew at Titan’s face in a bold attack, jabbing at her eyes with their fearsome, long stingers.
Titan hissed in anger. She snapped at them, but they danced back out of her reach.
Together they began a daring team assault, with one of the pair zooming in close to bombard her with stings, then withdrawing to let the other one attack from a different direction. Titan swung her head back and forth between them, unable to track both at once.
“They can buy us some time,” Glower said, “but not long. We need to get out of here.”
But there seemed to be no way out. Titan’s body almost filled the whole tunnel.
Max suddenly realized that Titan’s size could work against her. The prison cave was hardly big enough to hold her head, let alone her whole body.
“She doesn’t have enough room to turn around! We can get out of here. We just have to run alongside her body faster than she can pull her head back.”
“It’s worth a try,” said Roxy.
“Let’s do this!” agreed Glower.
Max ran. He sprinted right underneath Lieutenant Titan’s lower jaw. A waft of her breath smelled horrendous, like something moldy found underneath a fridge. He dodged the snapping jaws and ran down into the crevice between her flank and the rock wall. Roxy and Glower followed close behind, with Nightshade and Dagger after them.
Max heard Titan give a furious hiss. “Trickssy bugs! You won’t get away from me that eassily!”
The great scaly body began to move, sliding back along the tunnel. Max prayed she didn’t roll to the side or they’d all be crushed against the rocky walls.
“She’s backing up!” Max cried. “We can still make it. We just need to go faster than she can turn around!”
The worm lizards tried to follow, but Titan’s bulk meant they had nowhere to turn.
Titan’s body was sliding out of the tunnel faster and faster. Max felt cool air on his face. The cavern with the pools was just up ahead. He could see the rest of Lieutenant Titan coiled up in front of him, a mountain of muscular flesh. She was like a dinosaur, almost too big to be real.
One by one they scrambled out of the tunnel and into the cavern beyond. Max spotted the larger tunnel they’d originally come in through. “This way!” he yelled.
Behind them, Lieutenant Titan withdrew her head all the way. She looked around the cavern. Max thought for a second that she wouldn’t spot them, but Glower’s shining body gave them away. She came slithering toward them with a triumphant hiss.
“She’s still coming,” Roxy cried.
They headed up the slope and down the other side. Titan was gaining on them. Max pounded down the tunnel and saw Slimer’s shell blocking the way ahead, right where they’d left him.
“Slimer, move!” he shouted.
“Is that you, Max? Back already? Just give me a minute.”
“We don’t have a moment! Lieutenant Titan’s right behind us and she’s hungry!”
Slimer hastily pulled his shell out of the way.
Gasping, Max stumbled out of the tunnel and into the stalactite cave. His sneakers made stretchy, squelchy noises in Slimer’s slime trail. Glower came out, then Roxy, scurrying desperately on all her legs. Behind them all were the two flying tarantula hawks, with Titan’s monstrous face filling the whole tunnel behind them.
Nightshade and Dagger flew out of the tunnel like fighter jets. Titan shoved her head out of the opening—and stopped only a little way out.
“She’s stuck,” Max said in awe.
“I can sstill reach you, bug!” she snarled.
Titan spread her jaws and lunged at Max. He tried to dodge like he had before, but the rocky, uneven floor sent him stumbling. He fought to stand up as Titan bore down on him.
Then, to his amazement, Slimer was there by his side. The ancient snail shoved his long, pointed shell up at Titan like a knight brandishing a lance. Titan hissed and recoiled.
“Get back, you miserable reptile!” bellowed Slimer.
Titan chuckled and then began to laugh out loud. “A ssnail challengess me? Me? The very oldesst of nightmaress? You are a fool.”
“Save your breath for fighting,” Slimer said, and he spun around on the spot in his patch of slime. His shell whacked Titan across the face as hard as a club. Titan swayed back and forth, stunned by the blow.
Slimer swung his shell again. It jabbed her inside the mouth and made her screech with pain. Titan hissed, and moved her body back down the tunnel.
“Thiss issn’t the lasst you’ll hear from me, bugss!” she hissed as she disappeared back into the darkness.
“Slimer, that was incredible!” Max yelled.
“There’s still some life in this old snail, yet,” Slimer huffed proudly. “You little ones get to the surface! I’ll guard this exit to the tunnel. If she dares to come back, she’ll have me to deal with.”
Max hesitated. “But which way do we go?”
“Don’t you remember? Turn right, then straight ahead, then the third tunnel on the left, and when you reach the big root, go straight ahead!”
Max could only hope instinct would send him in the right direction.
“Thanks, Slimer,” said
Max. “We couldn’t have done this without you.”
“No problem, little Max,” he said. “Now get out of here before that big brute comes back.”
Max didn’t need telling twice. With Glower and Roxy lighting the way, they delved into the labyrinth of tunnels once more.
“Straight ahead at the big root,” Max repeated to himself as he and the bugs ran down the tunnel.
“Max! Is that light up ahead?” Roxy asked.
Max paused and peered into the distance. Sure enough, a dim light was filtering through into the underground world.
“Come on!” he yelled, running forward with fresh energy.
Slimer had pointed them in the right direction after all. They ran out into the cavern they had descended into earlier. Welcome daylight poured down from above.
“Look at that!” Max laughed. “We were down there for so long, it’s daytime now!”
The ground vibrated under his feet.
“Uh-oh,” Roxy said. “Titan must have found another way out. I think she still wants her meal.”
“Dagger! Nightshade!” Glower barked. “Fly up and prepare a welcoming party. If Lieutenant Titan makes it to the surface, we need to give her a proper Battle Bugs welcome.”
“Yes, sir!” the tarantula hawks buzzed as they quickly flew up to the surface.
Max strained to see if Webster was still up there, but there was no sign of the spider. He hoped he’d see his friend safe and sound again. Then a terrible thought struck him.
“Roxy, you can climb up the side of the wall, and Glower can fly, but without Webster’s webbing line, how am I going to get out?”
“That’s easy,” Glower said. “I’ll carry you.”
The ground shuddered again, more strongly this time. A distant hiss echoed through the tunnels.
“How?” Max asked. As the ground rumbled, he felt the same creeping sense of anticipation he used to feel on the subway platform when he was little, palms tingling, waiting for the train to come rushing out of the dark. Back then he’d been excited. Now he was afraid.
“You can hang on to my legs,” said Glower. “It’ll be easy.”