Attack of the Giant Bugs Read online

  Attack of the Giant Bugs

  You Choose a Bug Adventure

  Eli Ponder

  A.J. Ponder

  First edition 2018

  Text © 2018 A.J. Ponder

  All rights reserved. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise without written permission from the publisher.

  Phantom Feather Press © 2014

  29 Laura Ave, Brooklyn, Wellington 6021,

  New Zealand

  [email protected]

  © Copyright 2018

  Books From Phantom Feather Press

  Attack of the Giant Bugs has over 25 endings to amaze, delight and horrify.

  Someone needs to stop Jeremy Wilder the Bugman from taking over the city of Greenville, and indeed the whole world – it should be YOU.

  YOU are Greenville’s only hope. You choose which path you take. You can fail your mission or succeed your wildest expectations. But beware, within these pages lies great danger – giant bugs, ants, ladybirds, praying mantises and more. You might come to a grizzly end, or be transformed but whatever happens a real hero keeps fighting, even after they fail.

  Are you ready?

  Yes! I want to go straight to the story, save Greenville and be the hero I was meant to be.

  Or

  Wait a minute, I want to learn how to use the hyperlinks first.

  Learn how to use the hyperlinks in this book

  At the end of every section, is a choice. A set of hyperlinks. Click on the hyperlink of your choice and you’ll be carried deeper into the adventure. Hyperlinks will also transport you to and from the Insect Glossary, where you can find out more about any of the insects featured in this book. So they’re very useful, almost as useful as a time machine. But more about that later.

  On most devices, all you have to do is click on a hyperlink, or touch it on your screen. But some devices can be tricky. You can try using the ideas below, and if you’re really stuck, follow your readers’ instruction manual. (If you’ve lost your copy you should be able to find one online.)

  On a PC, press Ctrl and click your mouse over the hyperlink.

  For some devices you need to press SELECT to highlight a choice and SELECT again.

  If you have an up/down control on your device try pressing UP. Then use UP and DOWN to select your option. Then press the main button.

  Ready?

  Yes, I’m ready to save Greenville from the Bugman

  Still stuck? Find the model of your device and use that to find a user’s manual or discussion group online to look for common problems.

  School Trip

  New teacher. New school. The weirdest school you’ve ever been to. Ms. Xavier, next door, runs her class like a military academy, while your teacher, Mr. Adams is soft as cheese. The bell rang five minutes ago, and half the class aren’t even sitting down.

  Mr. Adams strums his guitar. “Gather round. We’re going to go on a primo museum trip with class Xavier.” He gets up, still strumming his guitar. “Hey, let’s have a singalong as we walk to the bus stop.”

  No one actually sings as the class straggles to the bus stop, accompanied by Mr. Adams plunking. Some students are arguing about who’s going to get into the most trouble – Frankie or Steve. Whoever they are.

  Ms. Xavier, the other class teacher, is standing next to the bus stop already. She’s wearing a stiff brown suit buttoned up to her neck, and shoes so sensible they could be army issue. Maybe she is ex-army – her hawkish gaze is enough to keep her class in military rows.

  Your new friend Kennedy nudges you, and points to a girl at the back of Ms. Xavier’s queue. “Hey, that’s the Frankie. Watch out, her inventions are dangerous. Last year, her Homeworkulator Delux ate my homework and exploded.” Since you arrived at Greenville High, you’ve heard stories about Frankie, the mad inventor. And Kennedy’s not the only one. Someone is always talking about Frankie’s exploits. Crazy stories about her shrinking the class to the size of insects, and making some kind of hot air balloon that swallowed half Mrs. McGinty’s class and terrified the school. Of course, you don’t believe a word. Surely it would have made the news or something?

  Besides, Frankie doesn’t look anything special – short hair, flannel shirt, and jean pockets with bits of wire sticking out.

  A tall boy, his face covered in spots, scurries up. The backpack slung low over his shoulder hits his butt as he walks.

  “Steve. Detention!” Ms. Xavier snaps.

  He shrugs nonchalantly, like he gets detention every day. Somehow, he’s also immune to Ms. Xavier’s queue.

  Nobody seems to notice, except Kennedy, who rushes over and winks, “Hey, bad luck. Detention again.” She grins. “Can I have detention too, Ms. Xavier?”

  Weird, who’d want detention?

  Besides, if Kennedy’s ditching you, maybe it’s time to find out more about this Frankie. “Hi,” you say as the bus pulls up. It has an overpowering bus-smell of farts and grease.

  Frankie keeps tinkering with her phone – no, whatever it is, it’s longer and narrower than a phone – more like a remote control. She doesn’t seem that friendly, but when you clamber onto the bus, there aren’t exactly heaps of seats left. So you hunker in beside her near the back. Mr. Adams is crammed onto the back seat with half a dozen students. They’re singing some awful school song.

  Ms. Xavier moves into the seat across from you and Frankie. She keeps on looking over, as if you’re about to catch on fire. Or as if Frankie is.

  Whenever Ms. Xavier isn’t looking, Frankie’s tinkering with the strange remote.

  “Hi,” you say again, kind of awkwardly. Being the new kid sucks.

  “Hi,” she says. “I’m Frankie. Don’t mind me. I’m just working on an old invention. It’s almost there.” She pulls out a mini-screwdriver. “Just have to tighten the last few screws.”

  “So what is it?” you whisper, glancing across to Ms. Xavier. She’s busy telling someone off. Probably for breathing wrong.

  “It was a shrink ray,” Frankie says. “But now it’s a transmogrification ray. If you press this button, it should re-size almost anything it’s pointed at. But don’t press the black button, that’s transmogrification. It could change you into a mouse, and once that happens, you might not turn human again.”

  “Well, don’t point it at me.”

  She laughs. “No, I thought I’d try it out at the museum. On something small. Like an ant. Or a cockroach”

  The bus drives up to the museum entrance, and Ms. Xavier rushes to the front of the bus. “Step to it,” she says. “No dawdling. Last person out empties the trash for the whole semester.”

  Kennedy throws her a salute as she bustles past.

  “Behave yourself, Kennedy, or you’ll be begging to empty those bins,” Ms. Xavier snaps.

  Kennedy grins back, and salutes. “Yes, Ms. Xavier, sir!”

  §

  Jeremy Wilder at the Museum

  You and Kennedy are the last to walk through the revolving doors of the Greenville Natural History Museum and into the foyer. A weirdly-thin guy in a museum t-shirt is introducing himself to the class. “Hi, I’m Jeremy Wilder. People call me, the Bugman,” he says with crazed glee. “I’m your guide for today. So, come with me and we’ll explore the creepy-crawly world of bugs.”

  You’re walking along with Frankie, when Jeremy Wilder reaches out and snatches Frankie’s transmogrification remote. “No cell phones or devices,” he says. “It’s on your permission form.”

  “Give it back, now,” Frankie demands.

&n
bsp; “Hey,” Kennedy says. “You can’t take cell phones off us.”

  “Or transmogrifiers!” Frankie yells. “They’re dangerous.”

  “Hey—” you yell, but Jeremy Wilder’s already walking away, holding the device high above his head. “I’m sorry, I’ll just be a moment. I have to check this with, um, security.”

  “That’s bull,” Frankie yells loud enough that Mr. Adams and Ms. Xavier can hear through a class of noisy students. Ms. Xavier barely turns around from reading an information plaque. “Whatever it is, it can wait,” she says adjusting her reading glasses with a worried frown.

  Mr. Adams doesn’t even turn around. No surprise there.

  “The display is straight ahead,” Jeremy Wilder says. “Go on through.” He points to a huge room packed with bug displays, cabinets and terrariums, then disappears behind a door with a large sign that says, Museum Staff Only, taking the transmogrifier.

  “I’m going to get my transmogrifier back,” Frankie says. “You coming?” She looks over at Ms. Xavier who’s talking to Steve in angry whispers.

  “Coast’s clear,” Frankie says, and pushes her way through the door.

  Do you:

  Follow Frankie through the staff only door?

  Or

  Stay with the class?

  Stay with the class

  You walk past a colorful display of Bugs of the Antipodes. There are pictures and small models of spiders and insects, including a life-sized weta. But the human-sized models of common garden insects in the center of the room really stand out. Closest is a giant fly. Its fluorescent blue and green body glows beautifully, but the model’s underbelly is dark and spiky and its brownish-red eyes appear to follow you around the room. Creepy. There’s also an enormous ladybird, a spiky stick insect and a very fluffy bumblebee.

  Below each model is a digital plaque covered with information. Kennedy is hunched over one, busy working. No. Kennedy never works. Everybody knows that. Even you, and you’re the new kid. You look a little closer. She’s waving a purple fluorescent light at the screen and making notes.

  23-15-1913-5-5-20-9-14-720-8-18-15-21-7-8

  7-18-5-5-145-13-5-18-7-5-14-3-254-15-15-18

  Kennedy’s not writing about the bugs, but writing down the numbers. Weird. She’s being careful to cover the words under the numbers – but you catch the last word in the sentence as she writes each letter – D-O-O-R.

  Okay, that’s weird.

  There’s a flash as the lights flare and die. The room is lit in the green glow of emergency exit signs. “Hey, what’s up with the lights?” Mr. Adams asks, stumbling around in the semi-darkness.

  Kennedy and a couple of her friends have disappeared. There must be at least five people missing, including Frankie.

  Ms. Xavier shrugs as the lights flicker back to life. “Let’s get on with the bug tour,” she snaps. “No need to make a fuss. You should be taking plenty of notes for your projects.” Hasn’t she noticed that some of the students have disappeared?

  Ms. Xavier pulls out her phone. While she’s distracted, you could sneak away to see what Kennedy and the others are up to.

  You look around. There are three ways you could go – sneak out a blue door, sneak out a green door, or continue through the archway to the next part of the exhibit. If you go through one of the doors, you might find Frankie, or Kennedy and the others, but if you continue on, there’s a good chance you’ll see more amazing bugs.

  You have three choices. Do you:

  Sneak through the blue door.

  Or

  Sneak through the green door.

  Or

  Continue through to see the rest of the exhibit.

  Sneak through the blue door

  On the other side of the blue door is a short corridor. Signs above point to the foyer and bathrooms. You spend a few minutes exploring, but there’s nothing to do. So you wander back to the doorway. Before you even open it, you hear Ms. Xavier shouting from the other side. “No! You can’t do this to my students.”

  Carefully, you open the door a crack and peek through. She’s yelling at a weirdly-thin dude in an ugly grasshopper face-mask. Behind him, a giant white bowling pin wobbles.

  A bowling pin?

  Good on Ms. Xavier, she might be full of vinegar, but she’s standing in front of the Bugman, protecting everyone, while Mr. Adams is…where is Mr. Adams? Oh, he’s cowering behind an exhibit, clutching his guitar.

  Students shriek in fear. What’s happening? You open the door a little wider. For a split second Ms. Xavier is standing inside a beam of light coming from a remote that’s being waved about by the skinny guy in the ugly grasshopper face-mask. Then she disappears.

  “Ms. Xavier’s gone!” Someone yells. “Kidnapped! Murdered! Blasted to a million pieces! What are we going to do?”

  You hold your hand over your mouth to stop from gasping.

  “No one dare defy me, I am the Bugman. Together, my bugs and I are going to take over the world!”

  Where is Frankie?

  Thinking about Frankie reminds you of her remote. Maybe Ms. Xavier isn’t really dead, or blasted to a million pieces. If the Bugman’s remote is Frankie’s transmogrifier, she could just be very small. Then you realize the giant white bowling pin behind the Bugman is Frankie. You can just see her face sticking out of swaths of the sticky white stuff coating her body. Spider web?

  The Bugman orders everyone to pick up a terrarium and carry it out through the emergency exit. Because you’ve been so quiet, he doesn’t notice you peeking through the doorway.

  Soon they’re all gone. Even Frankie.

  Do you:

  Rush out through the emergency exit to rescue the class?

  Or

  Try and find Ms. Xavier? If she’s been shrunk maybe you can sneak after the class together?

  Rush out through the emergency exit to rescue the class

  In your hurry, you crash into Frankie. She’s being carried by three people.

  The weirdly-skinny Bugman stops mid-rant and turns to face you “Mwah ha ha ha. You cannot stop the Bugman.” He points the remote at you and the world spirals sickeningly, like you’ve been spun around in a dryer. Everything grows and grows until even the grass is taller than you are.

  Something’s moving through the giant blades of grass. A shiny reddish-brownish creature.

  A centipede. Its spiky jaws open as it scuttles toward you.

  You run, fighting against the thick grass.

  Behind you, the creature, its many legs moving in waves, scurries faster than you ever could.

  Your heart beats in terror. You duck behind a twig, gasping for breath.

  The twig’s twice as big as you.

  The centipede pulls away, shiny segments closing up like a squeezed accordion.

  You breathe a sigh of relief. Surely you’re safe now.

  The creature launches itself so fast it’s like a thunderbolt descending. It grabs you in its jaws and raises you off the ground, flooding your body with poison. Your vision grows black. All your senses numb.

  I’m sorry, you’ve been eaten. The world of bugs is a dangerous one, with plenty of wonderful opportunities to die horribly. When you head out on a new adventure you may like to die a hideous death again, become a spy and learn how to crack codes, raise dragons in the country, or help invent a machine that twists time and allows you to have many, many adventures.

  Now your adventure is over you have three choices:

  Go back to the museum.

  Or

  Discover what would have happened if you’d tried to find Ms. Xavier first.

  Or

  Go to the Adventure Contents and choose any part of the adventure.

  Try and find Ms. Xavier. Maybe you can sneak after the class together

  While you’re searching the floor for Ms. Xavier, you wonder about Frankie’s transmogrifier. How can such a machine work? But why else would Jeremy Wilder take it? And who else could the Bugman be? It’s a shame you didn�
�t get a closer look.

  Shrink rays, really? Just as you’re thinking maybe the whole class is making a fool of you, you see something. A tiny green and brown figure. It’s wearing the same earthy colors as Ms. Xavier. And it’s totally the wrong shape for an insect.

  You kneel down. Yes, it’s definitely her.

  Cautiously, you put your hand out and she climbs on.

  She’s talking in a high-pitched whisper that’s hard to understand.

  You put her up to your ear. “What are you waiting for?” she squeaks, the sound worse than feedback. “We need to rescue the class!”

  “Good idea.”

  She claps her hands over her ears.

  “Right, sorry,” you whisper, “I’ll try not to talk so loud.”

  Putting Ms. Xavier in your pocket, you race out the emergency exit. You’re just in time to see the rest of your class disappearing into a tunnel in front of an elephant statue. The tunnel door is closing as you exit the museum.

  As you run across the lawn the hatch clicks shut. You pull. It was open just moments ago, but the tunnel door will not open.

  “I know how to get into this,” Ms. Xavier’s tiny voice says. “All you have to do is press the toenails in the right order.”

  Toenails? Oh, the elephant’s toenails. A little suspicious, you place her near the foot of the elephant. She points out the second toe, and then the third. You have to press them because she’s not strong enough. “Now one and four, and four again.”

  When you press the last toe, the hatch opens so smoothly you can barely hear the hum of an electric motor. You grab Ms. Xavier and put her safely back in your pocket, then take the steps down into the long corridor.

  The door closes behind you, leaving you in the dark. But not as dark as you first thought. There’s light sneaking from under some of the doors lining the dim corridor – just enough to see the walls are covered with posters.

  Muffled voices are nearby. Are they friends, or enemies? Most likely enemies. This is a secret bunker hideout.