lifeless in the central plaza – except for one.
The troll leader – undoubtedly the captain of their golden galleon - stood in the center of the courtyard, towering at least eleven feet tall.
Ty, Turner, Roderick, Tipton, Marley and me surrounded the beast, slowly closing in on it. It wore a black leather tunic with a glistening silver sash, from which hung a giant curved blade. Its body was covered in matted brown hair, and his huge face looked like it had been stepped on one too many times. Around its neck was a necklace of little skulls – surely a collection from his victims.
I could hear the thing panting, breathing, grunting – as it looked around at each of us, its massive fists balled at its sides.
Without warning, it brought one of its fists up and pointed it at Turner. Its eyes glowed red and a wave of energy blasted out of its fist with a deep sound like something exploding under water. The air shimmered like a heat wave and Turner was knocked off his feet to the gravel.
When he landed, his body crumbled to a chunky powder.
Before we could react, the troll spun and raised its other fist to Tipton, pulverizing the Captain in the same way.
Roderick raised his sonic bazooka and fired at the troll. It groaned as its enormous palms came up to the sides of its head. It scrunched its eyes closed as the deep hum disabled it, and Ty, Marley and I tossed the last of our flash bombs at its feet. We closed our own eyes and the devices exploded, and the troll fell over backwards, landing with an earthshaking thud.
Then we all moved within striking distance and started wailing on the creature with our quantum whips. It was strong – it took about three minutes of continuous whipping to finally slice through its thick fur, its flesh, and eventually begin to sever the body.
When we were done, the troll lay there in so many pieces, like a giant log that had been cut up for firewood.
We collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
“Hey Roderick,” I said, looking over at the Brit. “You know we really could’ve used your laser cannon.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” he said. “Unfortunately, the government appropriated it upon our arrival and took it to back to the bloomin’ Bermuda Triangle.”
“The Triangle?”
“Yeah. They’re gonna try and use it to punch a hole back to the island to save all the rest who are still stranded there.”
“Just as long as they don’t release any more monsters into the world,” I said, resting my head back on the rough Earth and daydreaming of home.
THE END
MORE BOOKS AT WWW.MICHAELDBRITTON.COM
The Release Page 3