With the Bats Read online

  They had landed on something squishy.

  “Worms!” yelled Andrew.

  Eek! Eeeeeek! Ack! Ack! Ack! the baby bat squawked. It began to creep along the floor of the cave.

  Andrew and Judy climbed atop the bat’s wings.

  “Euuuw!” said Judy. “Smells like someone didn’t clean the litter box—ever!”

  meep … “Bat poop!” said Thudd. “Called guano. Very stinky stuff. Super stinky!”

  As the baby bat scuttled along, Andrew’s flashlight beam lit the floor of the cave.

  White worms tangled in twisting knots. Beetles were scrambling over the worms.

  “I don’t see any poop,” said Andrew. “Just zillions of worms and bugs.”

  meep … “Poop underneath wormy guys,” said Thudd.

  Ploop …

  A big, dark, sticky drop splashed down in front of the baby bat.

  Plooorp … plooomp …

  More drops were falling around them. It sounded a lot like a slow rain.

  meep … “Now Drewd see bat poop,” said Thudd.

  “Eeeeeuuuw!” groaned Judy.

  meep … “Bats poop here thousand years, maybe more,” said Thudd. “Make lotsa, lotsa poop.”

  Judy’s face scrunched up. “Yuck-a-roony! Don’t make me come over there and take out your batteries, Thudd,” she said.

  meep… “Bat poop is good stuff, Oody,” said Thudd. “Is food for lotsa animals in cave. Like little wormy guys. Wormy guys eat bat poop like candy!”

  A streak of bright green light zigzagged toward the baby bat. It was a centipede. And it was battling three giant beetles!

  meep… “When this centipede scared, it make glow-in-dark color,” said Thudd.

  The centipede and beetles tumbled toward them. The centipede flung the beetles onto the baby bat’s wings!

  Eeeek! squeaked Thudd. “This kinda beetle eat living animals!”

  Eeek! Ack! Eeeeeek! the baby bat squeaked loudly.

  “We can’t let them hurt the baby!” said Judy.

  She crawled over the baby bat’s wing and punched one of the beetles between its eyes.

  “Take that!” she yelled. Then she grabbed the beetle by its antennas and tossed it off the baby bat. But the beetle was heavy. Judy lost her balance and fell off the bat’s wing!

  Andrew tugged the flashlight off his forehead and whacked another beetle on the head. But that just seemed to make it angry.

  It charged at Andrew. It shoved him off the wing and onto the squishy worms below. Then it opened its scissor-like jaws and reached for Andrew’s neck!

  meep … “Breathe on beetle!” squeaked Thudd. “Drewd got garlic breath. Beetle hate garlic!”

  Andrew huffed and puffed as hard as he could at the beetle. It backed away! Another beetle came up behind Andrew. Andrew turned and blew at that one, too. He blew so hard, he felt dizzy.

  Andrew heard soft flapping above him.

  The next instant, he saw a big bat swooping down. It plucked the baby from the ground with its clawed feet and zoomed toward the ceiling of the cave.

  meep… “Bats help bats,” said Thudd. “Big bats help baby bats. Healthy bats help sick bats.”

  “Ooooof!” Andrew heard Judy yelling nearby. “That’s what you get for trying to eat me! Now get out of here!”

  “What are you doing?” hollered Andrew.

  “Beating this ugly bug’s butt!” Judy yelled back.

  Andrew was swimming in an ocean of squirmy, wormy creatures. Their slimy little bodies rubbed against Andrew’s legs.

  “It’s like walking through a field of wiggly sausages,” said Andrew.

  “Andrew!” yelled Judy. “Watch out behind you!”

  Andrew turned to see a wide, flat, armored creature scurrying straight at him. Compared to Andrew, it was as big as a tank.

  “Woofers!” hollered Andrew, leaping over worms.

  The creature was faster than Andrew. It shoved him facedown into the wriggling sea of baby beetles.

  meep… “Giant cave cockroach!” squeaked Thudd.

  Andrew pulled himself up and wiped slime off his face. He looked up to see Judy standing over him. She was still catching her breath from her bug battle.

  “Okay Disaster Master,” she said. “How are we going to get out of here without being eaten by bugs or something worse?”

  meep … “Drewd! Look!” squeaked Thudd from Andrew’s pocket. He was pointing to a strange white shape. It looked like the monster roach they had just seen. But it was upside down with its legs in the air.

  “Looks like a dead one,” said Judy.

  “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Empty skeleton of roach.

  “All bugs got skeleton on outside. Called exoskeleton. Exo mean ‘outside.’

  “Bug grow. Bug skeleton not grow. When bug get too big for skeleton, skeleton split. Come off. Bug got new skeleton underneath. But new skeleton soft. In few hours, bug skeleton get hard.

  “Bug skeleton help Drewd and Oody! Use like armor!”

  “Come on, Judy,” said Andrew. “Let’s take a look.”

  Andrew shoved his way through the wormy sea toward the bug skeleton. Judy rolled her eyes and followed him.

  Andrew reached the skeleton. His flashlight shined through it like thin paper. He poked it.

  “Feels like hard plastic,” he said. “And it’s big enough to cover both of us.”

  Andrew stuck his flashlight back onto his head and pushed the skeleton onto its side. It felt light. “There’s a big slit on the back of it!” he said.

  meep … “When bug get too big for skeleton, skeleton crack,” said Thudd.

  “Get under here, Judy!” said Andrew.

  “And then what?” Judy asked.

  “And then you might not get eaten by that big weird thing behind you!” said Andrew.

  UH-OH, GUANO!

  Andrew’s light shined on a snakey head with frills on the sides. The creature’s body was snakey, too, but it had four legs. Its skin was white and so thin that they could see its in-sides!

  “Cheese Louise!” Judy shouted. She scrambled under the roach skeleton with Andrew.

  It wasn’t quite high enough for them to stand up, so they had to crouch, waist-deep, among the slimy, wriggling worms.

  meep … “Blind cave salamander!” said Thudd.

  “Whew!” sighed Judy. “If it’s blind, it can’t find us.”

  “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Cave salamander smell stuff. Feel stuff move. Find what move. Eat what move.”

  The bug skeleton shook. They could see a blurry shadow through the skeleton. It was the salamander’s head wagging above them.

  “It’s gonna get us!” cried Judy.

  Andrew felt a poke from Thudd in his pocket.

  meep … “Cave salamander not like heat,” said Thudd. “Flashlight make heat. Drewd gotta shine light on salamander head. Hurry!”

  Andrew lifted the skeleton a crack. The spooky white head was a quarter-inch away.

  Andrew shined his flashlight beam right in the salamander’s face. It reared its head, then turned and scooted into the darkness.

  meep… “Salamander need to be wet, need to be in water,” said Thudd. “Follow salamander, get to water. Find way to get out, maybe.”

  Judy rolled her eyes. “How is water going to get us out of here?” she asked.

  meep … “Cave made by water,” said Thudd. “Water come into cave. Water come out someplace. Find stream, find river in cave, find way out of cave.”

  “Follow that salamander!” said Andrew.

  With Andrew in front of Judy, they balanced the bug skeleton on their heads. The light on Andrew’s forehead shined through the skeleton just enough for them to see where they were going.

  Slowly, they began plodding along in the direction the salamander had taken. With every step, they had to plow their way through slimy, wormy things.

  In places with fewer worms, their feet sank ankle-deep into bat guano.

>   “Gross-a-mundo!” complained Judy. “This is soooo disgusting!”

  “Feels like sloshing through mud,” said Andrew.

  As they pushed on and on, the cries of the bats sounded farther away. Fewer squishy things rubbed against them. Soon they were scratching their legs on sharp pebbles and rocks, not sinking into bat poop.

  The air felt cool and damp against Andrew’s skin. The farther they went, the colder it got.

  “I haven’t had to smack a stupid bug for at least half an hour,” said Judy. “Let’s get out of this creepy shell. It’s giving me a headache.”

  “I guess we could do that,” said Andrew. “It’ll be easier to see where we’re going. One, two, three, push!”

  The bug skeleton tumbled onto its side.

  Andrew squinted. Was that a dim glow in the distance or was he imagining it? He rubbed his eyes. The glow was still there.

  “I see light!” he shouted.

  BACK TO THE STONE AGE

  “I see it, too!” said Judy. “Maybe it’s a way out of here. Move it, Bug-Brain!”

  Thudd’s jellybean-shaped feet were kicking in Andrew’s pocket.

  meep … “Drewd! Take exoskeleton!” said Thudd. “Might need later. Cave is dangerous place.”

  Andrew and Judy picked up the bug skeleton and carried it between them.

  As they hurried toward the glow, they came to a place where the rock floor was smooth and flat. A curved wall blocked the way ahead of them.

  The wall was yellowish white and smooth. It was several inches high and towered over them.

  Andrew touched it. “This reminds me of something,” he said.

  meep … “Mammoth tusk!” said Thudd.

  “Jeepers creepers!” Andrew whispered. He thought of Max the mammoth from their adventure in the Ice Age 14,000 years ago.

  Andrew shined his light on the ground near the base of the tusk. There was a small crack of space. “Let’s go through here,” Andrew said.

  Andrew and Judy shoved the bug skeleton ahead of them, then slipped through themselves.

  On the other side of the tusk, their feet stirred up little clouds of dark dust.

  Andrew beamed his light around. They were in a circle made of mammoth tusks!

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “Someone made this circle!”

  As they trekked across the circle, they passed lumpy chunks that towered over them like black hills.

  “Wait a minute,” said Andrew. He put down the bug skeleton and rubbed one of the chunks. It made his hand black.

  “This feels like charcoal,” he said. “The black dust we’re kicking up is soot. Someone made a fire here!”

  meep … “Thousands, thousands of years ago, people use cave as home,” said Thudd. “Cook food. Sleep. Hide from bear. Hide from saber-tooth tiger. But sometime tiger and bear live in cave, too.”

  Andrew walked around a flat stone. It had sharp chipped edges and a point at one end.

  “It’s an arrowhead!” said Andrew.

  “Yoop! Yoop! Yoop!” said Thudd. “This time called Stone Age cuz people make tools from stone.

  “See two stones next to arrowhead? Called firestones, or flint. Stone Age people rub firestones together. Make spark. Make fire.”

  Andrew picked up tiny chips of the firestones and put them in his pocket. “These could come in handy,” he said.

  Whoosh … whoosh … came a soft sound in the silent place.

  Andrew turned his light up. “Oh, it’s just a bat,” he said.

  meep … “Vampire bat!” squeaked Thudd.

  WEIRD-A-MUNDO!

  “Eeuuw!” said Judy, running to get under the bug skeleton. “You said there were no vampire bats here, Thudd!”

  meep… “Sometimes animal move to new place,” said Thudd. “Maybe vampire bat get lost.”

  “And now it’s looking for blood!” said Judy. “Well, it’s not going to get mine!”

  Just as Andrew and Judy flopped the skeleton over themselves, the vampire bat swooped low.

  “I’ve always wanted to see a vampire bat,” said Andrew. He lifted the skeleton just a crack.

  “Leaping lizards!” he cried. “This guy should be the star of his own horror movie!”

  meep… “Vampire bat got nose that feel heat from animal,” said Thudd. “Nose help bat find good place to suck blood, too.

  “But Drewd and Oody not gotta worry. Vampire bat suck blood from sleeping animal.”

  “Then let’s move it!” said Judy. “I don’t want that bozo-bat to think we’re snoozing!”

  “It’s headed back toward where we came from,” said Andrew, peeking out.

  meep… “Maybe suck blood from other bats,” said Thudd.

  Andrew spied a narrow space between two of the mammoth tusks. They crept through it and kept hiking toward the glow of light.

  As they scrambled around a bend in the rock wall, the glow got brighter. They could see it through the bug skeleton.

  plip … plip … plip … came the soft sound of water dripping.

  Andrew lifted the skeleton.

  At first all Andrew could see was a glowing, twinkly blur. Then his eyes got used to the light.

  “Holy moly!” he said.

  They were in an enormous room. It was as long as two football fields and as high as a ten-story building.

  Huge shapes hung from the ceiling and rose from the floor. Many looked like enormous glistening white icicles. Others were shaped like waterfalls. Some looked like twisty tree branches and wedding cakes and strange animals.

  “Weird-a-mundo!” said Judy.

  “Looks like an ice palace!” said Andrew.

  meep… “Shapes hanging from ceiling called stalactites,” said Thudd. “Shapes coming up from floor called stalagmites.”

  Thudd pointed to his face screen.

  “Water dripping from cave ceiling carry special stony stuff,” said Thudd. “Kinda like stuff teeth made of. Every water drop leave tiny bit of stony stuff behind. Stony stuff build up. Make stalactite. Make stalagmite. Take hundred years for stalactite to grow one inch!”

  plip … plip … plip …

  A drop of water sloshed over Andrew and soaked him.

  Everywhere, water was dripping, making little streams that came together and trickled off into the cave.

  “It’s brighter up ahead,” Andrew said. “Let’s see if we can find where the light is coming from. Maybe there’s a way out.”

  Judy kicked the bottom of a stalagmite. “We’re just getting deeper and deeper into this stupid cave,” she said.

  meep … “Follow water. Find way out.”

  Judy rolled her eyes and picked up her side of the bug skeleton. Andrew and Judy crept over the slippery stones near a stream.

  Suddenly the glow became a bright beam from high up. Andrew looked up. There was a hole in the cave ceiling! Andrew could see the moon!

  “Wowzers schnauzers!” said Andrew. “That’s where the light is coming from!”

  “Hey!” said Judy. “Maybe we can climb a stalactite and get out of here.”

  “Noop! Noop! Noop!” said Thudd. “Stalactite slippery, slippery slippery! Gotta follow water!”

  Hauling the bug skeleton between them, Andrew and Judy trudged on.

  Suddenly Andrew slipped. “Urf!” he cried as he slid down a large, bumpy boulder.

  Andrew landed on his back in an ice-cold stream. The boulder loomed above him. At its top were two large, round holes. There was a triangle-shaped hole in the middle—and teeth at the bottom!

  “Uh-oh,” he said. “It’s a … a … skull!”

  GOOD-BYE TO THE STONE AGE

  “Eeeeeuuuw!” said Judy, looking down from the top.

  Andrew crept to the edge of the stream. Judy shoved the bug skeleton down to him, then slid down herself.

  They looked up at the skull.

  “I wonder what happened to this person,” said Judy.

  meep … “This could be burial place,” said Thudd.
“In Stone Age, humans bring dead to cave. Sometimes bring just bones.

  “Look!” Thudd pointed to a round shape next to the skull. “Little jar,” he said. “Maybe food inside. Gift for dead person.”

  “I wonder what this person’s life was like,” said Andrew.

  Judy looked farther down the stream. “Cheese Louise!” she exclaimed. “There’s another skull!”

  “Thudd is right,” said Andrew. “This must have been a burial place.”

  “Or a very bad Stone Age camping trip,” said Judy. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Andrew looked at the stream and the cockroach skeleton and scratched his ear. “Woofers!” he shouted. “The stream is pretty wide here. We could use the bug skeleton as a boat!”

  “We don’t have paddles,” said Judy. “We won’t be able to steer.”

  meep … “Not need paddles,” said Thudd. “Stream go fast. Carry Drewd and Oody to end of cave.”

  “Humph,” said Judy. “Anything to get past these spooky bones fast.”

  Andrew flipped the bug skeleton over. The crack was on top and the legs dangled down. Andrew dragged the skeleton into the icy stream and held it steady while Judy scrambled into the back. Then Andrew climbed into the front, almost tipping their strange boat.

  The bug boat wobbled as it took off down the stream.

  “I’m closing my eyes,” said Judy. “Tell me when we’re past the skulls.”

  “Okey-dokey!” said Thudd.

  But Andrew couldn’t take his eyes off the skulls as their boat passed by.

  These people went to sleep knowing that a saber-toothed tiger could come into their cave, thought Andrew.

  I wonder if they were happy. Imagine living without flushing toilets and pizza!

  The stream got wider and wilder as other streams rushed into it.

  Ahead was the entrance to a tunnel. It looked like a huge, dark, yawning mouth with pointy stalactites for teeth.

  They passed under the scary-looking stalactite teeth and into the darkness.

  WORMS, BEAUTIFUL WORMS