by Obert Skye
Juliet spoke. “Maybe you should try your uncle, because we need help. Even if they catch him using his walkie-talkie, at least the police will know we’re trapped and send some help.”
“It’s a Sharky-Barky,” I corrected her.
I knew Juliet was right. There was no way out of the moving truck, and nobody knew where we were. It wouldn’t be the worst thing for them to discover my uncle had a Barky and that we slipped it to him in a cake. Then they could come and arrest us and at least we’d be in a jail cell instead of a dark, warm truck with not a lot of water or food.
“Fine.” I gave in. “I’ll try to radio him.”
“So you’ll listen to Juliet but not me?” Rain complained.
“Yes.”
I took the Barky off my belt and pushed the button once. There was a small beep, and I spoke.
“Are you there? Under.”
There was only silence.
“Try again,” Juliet said.
I pressed the button and waited for the beep. “Uncle Zeke? Under.”
Rain was irritated. “Seriously, can’t you just say over like normal people?”
“You know my uncle and I aren’t normal.”
The Barky beeped, and we all jumped.
“Perry,” I heard my uncle whisper. “They’re going to hear this. Are you okay? Under.”
“We’re not okay,” I told him. “We’re trapped in the back part of Furassic Park. In a big moving truck. We were attacked by Big Bun. Under.”
“I don’t know . . .”
My uncle stopped speaking, and we could hear some other voices in the background at the jail. The Barky went quiet.
“What happened?” Rain asked. “He didn’t say under.”
I tried a few more times to contact him, but nobody answered. Rain stomped his feet and danced around angrily. His small tantrum caused him to slip and fall onto his side. He then rolled around inside the truck. Seeing him like that gave me an idea.
“Juliet, get on the other side.”
I stepped around Rain and got behind him.
“What?” she asked.
“Come here.” I started to roll Rain toward the jammed door.
“What are you doing?” he yelled.
“We’re going to slam you into the doors,” I told him. “Maybe this tube is strong enough to pop them open.”
Juliet had joined me, and we began to roll Rain in earnest.
“You . . . can’t . . . ram . . . meeee!” Rain hollered as we pushed him along the slightly sloping floor. “Stop it!”
He was gaining speed, and we pushed even harder. The plastic tube was thick and strong, and it didn’t seem like the worst idea until he slammed into the doors and it shook the entire truck.
It was quiet again, but the doors were still closed.
Rain started to really scream. He was mad—and more than a little dizzy—but he wasn’t hurt. I was about to apologize to him when I noticed that there was now a small crack of light between the two doors.
“Hey,” I yelled happily. “I think it’s working.”
Juliet saw the light.
“Let’s do it one more time!” I said.
“Nooooo!” Rain screamed.
He kicked with his legs to get us to stop, but it was no use. We rolled him back as fast as we could at the front of the truck, then we climbed over him and did it again and again. Rain was yelling and throwing out threats, but I figured we would ask for forgiveness later.
“Push, Juliet!” I yelled.
“No!” Rain yelled back.
And finally, on the fourth or fifth try, the doors popped open with a terrific crack. Rain rolled right out of the truck and onto the grassy field. Juliet and I burst out behind him clapping and cheering.
Rain came to a stop against the very seesaw that had flung the tube on him earlier.
“Stand me up!” he yelled.
(He yelled a few more things, too, but they mainly had to do with me, and they weren’t particularly flattering.)
Juliet and I got him onto his feet.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“No, I’m not okay. I’m trapped in a tube!” he said, which was true. But at least he wasn’t trapped in a tube trapped in a truck anymore.
It was a very small comfort.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
TUNNELS ARE NO FUNNEL
After Rain finished yelling at us, we stood there wondering what to do next. Luckily, or unluckily, we didn’t have to wonder long.
“Did you feel that?” Juliet asked.
“You mean the ground shaking?” I asked back.
The ground shook again, and I yelped accordingly. Far off in the distance, we could see Big Bun jumping over some hills and heading away from where we were.
“Where’s he going?” Juliet asked.
“To town,” I said. “Do you know what this means?”
“What?” Rain said impatiently. “Something to do with a squid?”
“No,” I replied. “I mean, I wish. It means that Big Bun is not in the tunnels. Which means now is the perfect time to search them.”
Juliet and Rain followed me as I ran down the same trail that we’d laid with pellets. When I reached the front of the large tunnel, we stopped and caught our breath.
“We can’t go in there.” Rain was out of breath and patience for me. “Are you crazy?”
“Squids don’t go crazy. Besides, you’ll be safer than the two of us. That tube is like armor. Nobody can hurt you while you’re wearing it.”
“They can tip me over!”
“Then stay out here and be our guard,” I offered. “If Big Bun returns, whistle. Try to imitate the sound of air moving through a squid’s funnel.”
I demonstrated the noise, but neither of my friends seemed impressed.
Juliet looked confused. “That won’t help anything.”
“Listen, I’m scared, too,” I admitted. “But we’ll go in quick and see what we can find. If there’s nothing, we’ll hightail it out of there and begin walking home. But Beatrice radioed the police station from somewhere. I believe this tunnel is their headquarters.”
I took the flashlight out of my backpack and flipped it on.
I used to be scared of things like newts and outdoors, but now I had a hard time not walking up to trouble and poking it. One of the worst things about going back home to Ohio after I had been here was that there was no trouble or mystery. I had thought my neighbor was running an illegal clam ring, but after a couple of weeks of snooping and sleuthing it had turned out that he just smelled like old fish. Even still, I was proud of myself for facing up to my fears. I was turning into a proper squid, and like Admiral Uli, I was out for ink. Now, as we stood before a dark tunnel, I was fearful, but I was determined to figure things out.
“Come on.” I stepped into the tunnel and motioned for them to follow.
The tunnel was so big it almost felt like a cave. The walls and ceiling were dirt with roots sticking out of them and pieces of bark and pebbles on the ground. Juliet was beside me and Rain, who had decided to come along. The three of us moved slowly, with me shining the light to lead the way.
“My life was much more boring before you arrived,” Juliet whispered.
“I almost never left my room before you guys,” I whispered back.
“I had use of my arms before hanging out with the two of you,” Rain complained.
“Is that a light up there?” Juliet asked.
Up ahead, there was a small glow coming from around a turn in the tunnel. We moved slowly, and when we got around the bend we could see that it was a large, rectangular room with wooden walls and plush rugs on the floor. Near one of the walls there was a long table with a glowing lamp on it. I shut off the flashlight and the room was still well lit. Next to the lamp was a radio and a few other electronic-looking things. There were two more tables covered with test tubes and glass bowls. In the corner nearest to us, there were two big, comfortable-looking chairs.
&
nbsp; “Soft, itchy underbelly!” I exclaimed quietly but with excitement. “I was right about the secret headquarters.”
“I can’t believe it,” Rain said. “You were.”
“Where is Beatrice?” Juliet asked. “And Bouncer?”
Looking around the room, we could see three tunnels heading off into other directions.
“I’m not sure, but I bet we could use that radio to call the police for help,” I whispered. “If we tell Melanie that this is all just some weird hoax, maybe she’ll let Zeke go.”
“Fine,” Juliet said. “Do it quick. Then let’s get out of here. This place is the opposite of awesome.”
To make things even less awesome, we could now hear the sound of someone coming from one of the other tunnels.
Juliet and I tipped Rain over and hid him behind the big chairs as quickly as we could. We ducked down next to him to hide ourselves. I could hear two voices growing nearer. One of them was Beatrice. I thought the other would be Bouncer, but it didn’t sound like him. I peeked between the chairs and saw them coming out of the tunnel and into the room. The man with Beatrice was short and bald. I’d never seen him before. He had on a white lab coat and round glasses. Beatrice looked like a mess. Her hair was sticking up wildly, and her dress was rumpled and tinged with dirt.
She walked directly to the radio.
“Don’t use that,” the bald man said. “You’re upset. Wait till you’ve cooled down and you can communicate calmly.”
Beatrice farted—I mean bubbled.
“What did you say, Neil? How dare you tell me to calm down,” she snipped. “I’m just fine. If you had better control of that rabbit, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“I’m sorry. It’s growing at an alarming rate, and the collar isn’t working.”
“It was supposed to scare the town into leaving the island. Now who knows what it’ll do.”
“I’m sure it’s still scaring the town at the moment,” Neil said. “It’s just we have no control of it.”
“I hired you to solve my problems.” Beatrice harrumphed and bubbled simultaneously. “The purple carrots we used to turn people into rabbits were a bust and blew up in our faces. Now this. It might serve our purpose, but if we can’t control him and he keeps on growing, the whole island could be destroyed!”
“We’re not done for,” Neil insisted. “We have other tricks.”
Beatrice flipped on the radio and pushed a few buttons. She picked up the microphone and spoke into it.
“Hello. Hello. This is Lady Beatrice. Is anyone there?”
After a couple of moments of silence, I recognized Melanie’s voice saying, “I’m here still.”
“Where is the sheriff? Where’s Rolly?”
“He’s on Rabbit Road, helping at the Carrot Con.”
Beatrice fumed. “Has he begun the evacuation?”
“Um . . . I don’t think so,” Melanie answered. “Last I heard, he was eating carrot dogs and helping with crowd control. That big rabbit just hopped through the town again. It’s a really great promotional tool. What’s it made out of?”
“I didn’t make it,” Beatrice screamed. “It’s real.”
“It is real neat,” Melanie said.
“This isn’t a joke,” Beatrice insisted.
“I told Rolly you said that,” Melanie replied.
A small metal controller in Neil’s hand began to beep.
“He’s coming back,” Neil said nervously.
Beatrice flipped off the radio without saying good-bye and spun around to face Neil. “This is an epic failure!”
“By my calculations,” Neil said, “if it returns here, it’ll probably rest for a short while and then take off back into town. It might not have hurt anyone yet, but I can’t promise it won’t start.”
“I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Beatrice said. “It’s just supposed to scare everyone off the island, so that I can have a little peace and quiet and my rabbits can have their home back.”
She bubbled like she was scared.
I started to laugh and put my hand over my mouth to stifle the noise.
“What was that?” Beatrice snapped. “I heard something. Over there, behind the chairs.”
Neil ran across the room and reached down behind the chairs. He grabbed me by the collar of my shirt and pulled me up.
“Let go!” I yelled. “Run, Juliet!”
I threw her the flashlight, and she caught it as she was jumping up. Neil reached for her with his free hand, and she kicked him in the shins. He screamed and she darted out of the room and back down the tunnel we had come through.
“Forget about her,” Lady Beatrice said. “Bring that boy over here. And what’s that lying on the ground?”
Neil pulled up Rain and then dragged both of us over to Lady Beatrice.
“Children,” she cursed. “What a nuisance.” Beatrice stared at Rain. “What are you doing in one of my bunny’s tube sections? Tomfoolery. You boys shouldn’t be here.”
“We came to see what happened to you,” I said. “Now it’s clear that you really are the one causing all the trouble.”
“Me?” Beatrice held her hand to her heart. “My dear boy, it is you and every other person on this island who are causing the trouble. This island belongs to the bunnies, and you are all ruining that.”
Beatrice shivered, bubbled, and then burped.
“It is my responsibility to make sure that the bunnies get their island back. We built Furassic Park to protect as many as we could. We thought people would appreciate our efforts. But it cost a lot of money to staff a place like this. And when the donations dried up, we had to close it from the public and start thinking up new ways to protect the rabbits from you humans. You just want to build and play and run around—without thinking about how it affects the bunnies who live here. We used to have dozens of scientists working on ways to keep the bunnies safe and happy and healthy. Now we just have Neil.”
“Thanks a lot,” Neil said.
I could see Bouncer coming out of one of the tunnels behind them. I thought about punching Neil in the stomach and making a run for it, but I wasn’t sure Rain could keep up, and with Bouncer here I knew we wouldn’t both get away.
“Let them go,” Bouncer said.
Beatrice and Neil turned their heads around and dropped their jaws.
“How did you get out of that cage?” Beatrice snapped. “I thought we locked you up.”
“I dug through the dirt walls,” he said. “Now let these boys go.”
“You are my butler,” Beatrice said. “I don’t take commands from you.”
“I used to be your butler,” Bouncer said.
“That’s right.” Beatrice smiled and her pale face looked like a MoonPie. “I fired you right before I locked you up.”
Bouncer looked at me and Rain. “I didn’t know what she was doing,” he said. “I thought I was helping, but when I found out she was planning to use the monster to terrorize the island I decided to stop her. I was chasing you kids on the road because I wanted to tell you what I had discovered. But before I could tell you, I was picked up by that beast!”
“He’s not a beast,” Beatrice snapped. “He is a marvel. And it’s too late for any of you to do anything. The rabbit is on the loose, and I suppose it’s only a matter of time before he tears up the town and has everyone fighting to get off the island. Soon this place will become the bunny heaven my late husband, Owence, and I dreamed about.”
Neil’s remote beeped again.
“The bunny’s getting closer,” Neil said. “And it’s not obeying anything I tell it anymore.”
Neil and Bouncer looked nervous. Beatrice just looked awful. She bubbled and laughed. For a woman with such high standards, she sure seemed like she was having a total breakdown.
“It’s not funny,” Neil informed her. “By my calculations, the rabbit is making up its own mind now. The collar must be completely malfunctioning.”
“Fine,” Beatrice replied. “T
hen it’s out of our hands and the island will get what it deserves.”
“Actually,” Neil said, “we should probably get out of this tunnel before it gets back. Who knows what he will do if he finds us here.”
Rain and I decided to start running. We didn’t wait for permission. Neil wasn’t holding on to me any longer, and we knew our way out. If Big Bun was coming, I didn’t want to be anywhere near him. Also, Juliet was out there, and even if she didn’t need my help, I might need hers.
I ran down the tunnel toward the exit. Rain had gotten pretty good at keeping up with the tube on. Under any other circumstances, I would have thought it was hilarious to watch him run like that, but not only was it dark, his condition was sort of my fault. So I kept my laughing to myself.
We could see the exit of the tunnel where the light was coming in. I sighed with relief when I saw Juliet standing at the entrance waiting for us.
“Are they chasing you?” she yelled.
“No, and Bouncer’s not . . .”
Before I could finish my sentence, we saw a giant brown paw slam down next to Juliet outside of the tunnel. The ground shook, and a large furry arm picked her up.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
A HAREY SITUATION
Juliet kicked and screamed as she was hoisted up by Big Bun.
When we got to the opening of the tunnel and looked up, my stomach began to spoil. Big Bun was more like Massive Bun. He was huge, just enormous, bigger than he was even just a few hours ago, and holding Juliet in his right paw. He looked down at me and Rain and screeched. Bunny saliva flew everywhere as his red eyes blinked and he whipped his whiskers through the air. The control collar around his neck had become too small and was choking him. With a snap, it finally busted apart and fell off. I was so scared that if Rain’s arms hadn’t been trapped in the plastic tube, I would have tried to hold his hand. Big Bun’s big teeth chattered, and then with one massive stomp he stood up to his full height and hopped away toward town, holding Juliet.