Mutant Bunny Island #2

by Obert Skye

  The trail of powder led back to the path. After we’d walked it for five minutes, the path became very steep. My legs burned, and right before I began complaining for the sixth time, the path leveled out, giving me some relief. I could now see part of the tall sanctuary walls and pointed it out to my friends.

  “We have eyes, too,” Rain reminded me.

  I think that was Rain’s way of saying thank you.

  The three of us kept following the clues on the road, and the trail of orange and trampled branches led us to the sanctuary walls. The color ended right in front of a wall that was taller and more intricate than anything I’d ever seen before. It ended at a large metal gate shaped like a rabbit with ears sticking straight up. There was a huge latch on the gate that looked like a small rabbit head with no ears. Hanging on the gate were three small metal rods.

  Rain scratched his head. “I don’t think even Big Bun could have hopped over that.”

  “In one issue of Ocean Blasterzoids, Admiral Uli has to climb over the wall that surrounds Tuna Town. Of course, he has suction cups and tentacles.”

  Juliet walked to the gate, grabbed the bunny-head knob, and pulled.

  It was locked.

  I stepped up and took a closer look.

  “Weird,” I said quietly. “What are the holes on the top of its head?”

  “Maybe there were some little ears and they broke off,” Rain suggested.

  I stuck two of my fingers in the holes.

  “Or maybe it’s like the time Admiral Uli looked into the pool holes near Manta Bay”—I was excited—“and he saw the way to dismantle that newtlear bomb?”

  I leaned down and looked into the holes on top of the knob. There was nothing but an inky darkness.

  Luckily, Juliet was more levelheaded than me. She grabbed ahold of two of the small metal rods hanging on the gate and stuck one in each hole. The small head now looked like a complete bunny.

  She tried to twist the knob, and it didn’t move.

  “They’re not even,” I pointed out. “One rod’s longer.”

  Juliet grabbed two small rods that were the same size. She put them into the holes. This time as she turned the knob, it clicked open.

  “Nice,” I whispered.

  “Come on,” Rain said. “We haven’t got time to waste.”

  “Wait.” I was surprised to hear myself speaking. I wanted to go in, but standing near the tall wall made me suddenly feel more chicken than squid. “This is a good idea, right?”

  “Not at all,” Rain said. “But your uncle needs our help, so let’s stop messing about and get to work, okay?”

  Juliet turned the knob farther and pulled open the large metal rabbit gate. We stepped into a small space with another metal gate that was identical to the first. After closing the one we had walked through, we opened the second one. Once we were inside, I shut the second gate.

  We were in.

  But where were we?

  The sanctuary looked positively mountainous from our vantage point. It was filled with oddly shaped hills with plastic tubes running between them. Directly in front of us was a clearing, a field, with a large old moving truck rusted in the middle. Beyond it were a few small and run-down buildings. I could make out what appeared to be a gift shop, long-ago abandoned, with broken windows and vines growing over it. Across the road from it, nearer to the gate, were a garage and toolshed. The garage door hung open, and inside stood a couple of old trucks, and the shed was practically hidden behind wooden barrels topped with rusted tools.

  There was no sign of any bunnies anywhere, which made the scene feel extra creepy.

  Juliet shouted, “Over there!”

  I could see where the faint trail of orange dust picked back up. All three of us looked back at the wall and did the same calculation.

  “Wow,” Rain said for all of us. “That was a huge jump.”

  We followed the trail past the abandoned gift shop and between two large, rabbit-shaped hills, toward the plastic tunnels that looked like a playground tube slide. They were easily big enough for a person to climb through. The whole place was like a total bunny fantasy land—but with no sign of bunnies.

  Juliet poked me and pointed to two rusty metal “hamster wheels.” I walked over to one of them and tried to make it move by running. It squeaked but wouldn’t spin fast enough to be any fun.

  “So people would come here and act like bunnies?” Rain asked.

  “I guess some did . . . before it closed.”

  “I wish this place were still working,” Juliet said.

  The orange dust wound through hills and led up to the front of a large tunnel that went directly into a fat hill. There were tunnels and holes all over the place, but this one was taller than I was, wider than a car, and darker than I like my tunnels to be.

  I gulped.

  “I don’t think we should go in there.” Juliet was serious.

  “Me neither,” Rain chimed in.

  “We’re not going to,” I whispered.

  I was just as nervous as both of them, but fortunately for all of us I had a plan.

  “Wait, do you have a plan?” Rain asked. I nodded. “Is it based on one of your comic books?”

  “Of course, it is,” I said. “Ocean Blasterzoids #35: ‘To Catch a Carp.’ We’re going to build a trap.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  HARE SNARE

  Not far from the field with the rusted truck was a pile of junk and leftover building supplies. There were also a number of separate plastic tube segments—long, round pieces that could be connected to make a slide or a tunnel.

  Of course, I had other plans for them.

  “Keep your eyes open,” I warned Rain as we both carried sections of the tubing over to the rusted truck. “I don’t want to be ambushed by any massive bunnies or angry newts.”

  “I don’t see any bunnies, and I haven’t seen a single newt,” he replied.

  “That doesn’t mean they’re not there. Newts, salamanders, squids, they’re all good at camouflaging themselves. There could be a ning of newts hiding right on that hill.”

  Rain looked skeptical. “A ning?”

  “There’s no special name for a group of newts, so I call them a ning. It sounds like something they would be called.”

  “It sounds stupid,” Rain said.

  “Exactly,” I agreed.

  “I think it’s a good name,” Zeke said from the Barky I had hooked to my belt. “Under.”

  My uncle had been talking to us whenever he could. He had told us that Sheriff Rolly had gotten another message from Beatrice insisting that all people needed to be off the island by tomorrow.

  “So, is the sheriff going to evacuate the island?” I asked. “Under.”

  “No,” Zeke replied. “But he seems worried. I think inky times are ahead. Under.”

  It was good to hear Zeke’s voice, but we all wished that he were here to help us move things. It was hot, humid, and I was getting way more physical activity than I had ever wanted.

  “Someone’s coming,” Zeke said suddenly from back at the police station. “I have to go. Under.”

  The Barky went silent.

  When we got to the truck, Juliet was there tying knots in some rope we had found. The tools we had taken from the shed were lying on the ground and ready to be used. The three of us had also broken off one of the big running wheels and managed to roll it over to work on.

  “It’s time to build,” I said.

  Juliet had a Sharpie in her backpack, and we drew out our blueprint for the trap on the side of the old truck. The idea was loosely based on the board game Rat Grab. We would lure Big Bun out of the tunnel, and when he came out he would step on the rakes we’d spread around. The rake handles would flip up and hit him on the head as they yanked up the rope that would be attached to a rock that would fling it into the air so that it would land on a seesaw we’d made from a long board and barrel. On the other end of the seesaw, we placed a round piece of plastic tun
nel, which would be launched into the air by the rock and slide onto Big Bun’s head. Disoriented, Big Bun would then stumble over an assortment of old yard tools, perfectly positioned to make it hard for him to hop away. Then two long boards would swing in from the sides, forcing him into the back of the truck, where we’d lock him up. The plan seemed solid to me, but when we finally finished setting things up it didn’t look quite the same as the drawing. Honestly, it looked more like a junk yard with bits connected by rope and tools.

  “I don’t know,” Rain said. “If this works, I’ll never say any of your plans are stupid again. That’s how confident I am that this will never work.”

  “I’m gonna say I’m having my doubts as well,” Juliet admitted.

  “It’s going to work,” I promised them.

  “So how are we going to get Big Bun here?” Rain asked.

  I motioned for them to follow me.

  We walked to the shed where the tools had been. Inside the shed in the corner were two huge wooden barrels. They were sealed up and both of them had the word pellets painted on the side of them.

  “Help me get these out.”

  Rain tipped one of the barrels over and rolled it out. Juliet and I rolled the other one. They were heavy and full of rabbit food. We put the barrels at the beginning of our trap where the rakes were. Then, using a rusty hammer and crowbar, we made a hole in the top of one of them. We tipped the barrel over on its side and spilled out the grassy-green pellets near the opening.

  “Perfect,” I exclaimed.

  Rain rolled the barrel away from the trap and toward the hills, leaving a line of pellets in his wake. Juliet and I followed to the side of him with our still-closed barrel. When the pellets in Rain’s barrel ran out, we cracked open ours and continued the line all the way up to the foot of the large tunnel that Big Bun had gone into.

  “He’ll smell these pellets,” I explained. “Then he’ll come out of his tunnel and follow them all the way into the trap.”

  “I don’t know,” Rain said. “What if he’s not hungry?”

  “Also,” Juliet said, sounding worried. “He’d better hurry before they’re all gone.” She was looking back toward the direction of the trap. All along the trail of pellets, there were now regular-size rabbits eating the bait.

  “No,” I hollered while waving my arms. “It’s not for you.”

  Rain ran to scare some off, but they barely moved.

  I was flipping out trying to scare off the normal-size bunnies, but then the sound of something rising from behind us in the huge tunnel caused us all to turn our heads and look back into the large black hole.

  Frummp!

  Frummp!

  “We should probably run,” I whispered.

  “We should definitely run,” Juliet whispered back.

  We took off just as Big Bun’s big head popped out. His nose was twitching, and his eyes glowed red. He began hopping toward the pellets.

  “Get to the trap!” I yelled.

  It was harder to run back to the trap than I’d thought it would be. There were thousands of rabbits now trying to snarf down the pellets we had spilled out. I kept stumbling over bunnies as I ran. It also didn’t help to hear Big Bun loudly screeching as he hopped along the pellet trail.

  When we got to the trap, all of us took our places. Juliet and Rain were manning the long wooden boards to corral Big Bun into the truck. And I was in charge of closing the truck doors once he was in. As soon as I was in my spot, I looked back and saw Big Bun coming out from behind the hills and pushing away smaller rabbits as he sucked up pellets like a hop-vac.

  “Are you ready?!” I yelled.

  Both Juliet and Rain yelled back yes.

  The bunny monster was hopping closer. As he moved into position, I saw that he was forcing hundreds of regular-size rabbits toward the trap with him. They were all scrambling to get out of his way. My heart skipped a beat, knowing that if the smaller rabbits got to the trap first, they might set things off and ruin the whole thing.

  Big Bun took another huge hop and chomped down on more pellets. Then with a scream he hopped again. As he landed, his right foot hit one of the rakes and sent the handle flying up into the air. The handle pulled the rope, which released the rock, which landed perfectly on the seesaw. Big Bun jumped sideways and hundreds of smaller rabbits crowded around him. They set off the other rakes, which messed with the position of the seesaw. The board was now crooked and flung the plastic section of tube up into the air and toward Rain. He was standing in his position and the section of tube dropped down on him. It slid over his head and down around his torso, binding his hands to his sides, leaving only his head and legs free. He couldn’t help but release the board he was in charge of early. It swung wildly and hit Big Bun in its big butt. The scream Big Bun emitted was deafening. Juliet released her board to cover her ears and it smacked at least a hundred rabbits, who went flying into the air. The rabbits rained down on us as Big Bun continued to screech. Rain tipped over in his tube and couldn’t move. I ran to him and rolled him toward the back of the truck, where the doors were open.

  “Get me out of this!” he screamed.

  Big Bun’s ears twitched, and he turned his head to look at me and Rain. I know rabbits aren’t supposed to be particularly smart, but it looked like Big Bun knew that we were the cause of the trouble and now he wanted to make us pay.

  Juliet ran up and helped me roll Rain. We rolled him like a barrel with his head sticking out of one side of the tube and his feet sticking out of the other. We heaved him into the empty back of the large truck. Big Bun shook and sent more rabbits into the air and moved in our direction.

  “Get in!” I screamed.

  “I already am,” Juliet screamed back.

  I looked and saw that she was in the back of the truck with Rain. I scurried up after her and pulled one of the back doors closed.

  Big Bun leaped closer.

  “Close the other!” Juliet yelled.

  I grabbed the second door, and as I was pulling it closed, Big Bun leaped forward with his mouth open and eyes on fire. His head slammed into the door, shutting it for me. His jump had been so forceful that his two teeth had pierced the back of the metal door and were now sticking inside. His impact had also jammed the doors shut. He pulled his teeth back out and screamed. It was dark inside the truck, but a small shaft of daylight shot in from the hole his teeth had caused.

  I held my breath, too scared to move and unsure if we were safe. We could hear the monster rabbit moving around outside of the truck. His eye appeared through the hole, and both Juliet and I screamed.

  Big Bun banged up against the doors, but they were wedged shut due to the force of his impact. He hopped around the truck and scratched and bit at the sides. His teeth made a few more holes in the sides, but he couldn’t get to us. It seemed like forever, but eventually he stopped trying and hopped off and we were able to exhale.

  “Would you get me out of this?” Rain growled.

  The round section of tube he was stuck in was too tight for him to squeeze out of. With a lot of effort and some swearing on Rain’s part, we were able to get him up onto his feet, but we still couldn’t get the tube off him.

  “Perfect,” he said as he stood there with his arms bound and looking like he was trapped in a straw. “I told you your plan was dumb.”

  “You might have been right this time,” I admitted, realizing that if our goal had been to capture the rabbit, we’d only wound up catching ourselves.

  Juliet and I tried to get the doors to open, but they were jammed shut. We were officially trapped.

  “Did Big Bun look even larger than when he carried Bouncer off?” I asked them.

  Juliet nodded slowly as she realized he had. Rain just shook his head and swore.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  TRAPPED LIKE SARDINES

  Juliet moved away from the metal doors and let me take another look at the large holes Big Bun’s teeth had made. I could see all the pieces of the t
rap we had set lying all over the ground. Normal-size rabbits were hopping around and looking for any last pellets that may have been left behind. I sighed like a sad squid and turned back to my friends. According to my watch it was now five in the afternoon. Luckily, Juliet and I had been wearing our backpacks when we were trapped. So at least we had some water bottles. I also had a couple of candy bars in my pants pockets that I reluctantly shared.

  The holes in the sides of the truck let air come through and helped prevent the confined space from heating up too much. I still would have preferred to be outside and sweating, but at least we were alive.

  “I’ve got to get this off,” Rain said for the thousandth time.

  He was starting to get really stiff from being unable to bend his waist or move his arms. We had tried to free him a hundred times, but it was hopeless with what we had on us.

  “We need to call your uncle Zeke,” he insisted.

  “If we do, the cops might hear it,” I reminded him. “We have to wait until he contacts us so we know he’s alone.”

  “This is horrible,” Rain complained. “Imagine having no use of your arms.”

  “I’m already upset that I don’t have ten tentacles like Uli.”

  Juliet was looking out of one of the other holes. “All the rabbits seem to be making their way back into their tunnels.”

  She moved to the back doors and tried again to push at them. They still didn’t budge.

  “This is so bad,” she said. “I’m supposed to be in the talent show tomorrow.”

  “I’m supposed to be helping my mom serve smoothies at her booth.”

  “Well, I’m supposed to not be locked in an old truck,” I pointed out. “We have to figure things out. Let’s think about what we know.”

  “How did I ever end up in a mess like this?” Rain was upset and needed to talk. “Beatrice and Bouncer are nuts. They somehow created a giant rabbit, and now we’re all doomed. Why? Why?!? WHY?!?!?”

  “Maybe the two of them are in love,” Juliet said, “and they just want some privacy.”

  Rain and I made faces.

  “In love with rabbits, maybe,” I told her. “I bet that tunnel they’re in isn’t really just a tunnel. It’s probably the way to their evil headquarters. Bouncer wanted that rabbit to take him. He wanted us to be scared and turn back to town.”