#5: Setting the Bait

“Okay, so I made some special modifications to the net,” Gizmo explained.

She held up the large, magenta colored thing that looked more like a Snuggie™ made for a giant than a net (I briefly wondered was demon scorpion child of the corn spit was magenta colored). From what I could tell, it was a finely crafted net (not that I was an expert in net-lore).

“First of all, it’s fire proof, so you won’t accidentally incinerate it.”

I wanted to say I had excellent aim and there was no chance I would incinerate it, but there were far too may freshmen sent to the infirmary saying otherwise.

“It’s also a great conductor of electricity so once you get the praying mantis babies inside you can kill them,” Gizmo continued. “Quick and easy.”

“Excellent,” Hannah said excitedly, drumming her fingers in anticipation.

With the net completed and our plan set, the APMBS set out for Bodaybo, Russia once again, though we were careful to stay clear of the town itself (after all, we were banished for life). We dug a pit in the tough, Russian ground large enough to fit the net. Then, carefully, we set the net at the bottom of the pit and lined it with seven sophomores. They were crying and begging for mercy, but I quickly reminded them that if they weren’t in the net, they’d be taking the PLAN test.

Once the sophomores were silent, Hannah, Mitch and I began calling the praying mantis babies to us with a series of clicking noises made by out hands. We quickly scaled a tree.

No sooner had we done so than the first of the praying mantis babies arrived. Out from the frozen land outside the town came the hundreds of scuttling feet. The noise sent shivers down my spine. The last time I’d heard that noise, Jon had been capture.

I was determined to make this time go differently.

However, my resolve shattered when the praying mantis babies were accompanied by none other than Mrs. Stone. We gasped collectively, and shared panicked looks. The weirdest part was the fact Mrs. Stone was missing her sack of children.

“They’re in the tree!” she called to the praying mantis babies. “Get them! Ignore the sack of children! They’re mine!”

We were trapped. The praying mantis babies had begun climbing the tree and there was nowhere to jump down. Mitch didn’t have the room to pull out his light saber. I managed to blast a few babies while lighting the lower branches on fire as a deterrent, and Hannah used her lightning to clear a small path, but it was all in vain. Moments before the praying mantis babies were upon us, Mitch used the force to bring steel drums of some sort of flammable gas close.

“Alyssa!” he shouted.

I knew what to do. I hit the drums with a fire blast.

A thunderous explosion sent a shock wave across the Siberian tundra, knocking out praying mantis babies, Mrs. Stones, and APMBS members out alike. Mitch, Hannah, and I fell from the tree – right into the demon scorpion children of the corn spit net.

Darkness enveloped us. There was nothing we could do, all of us still dazed from the explosion. We heard laughter all around us before the net closed.

Mrs. Stone cried elatedly. “Yes! They’re mine!”