by Mo O'Hara
Sam nodded.
While the rest of the campers were being herded back to the food tent and Mark was being helped to the medical tent, Pradeep and I snuck off and headed for Mark’s tent instead, to try to find out more about whatever Sam Savage and Mark were planning.
It was much easier to see everything in daylight. I picked up a metal-and-rubber shoe thing from the floor. “What’s this?” I whispered to Pradeep.
“I’m not sure, but there’s another one here,” he said. Then he sat down on the floor and held it up to his foot. “It’s made to fit over the top of a shoe.” He turned it over and looked at the bottom. “Check this out.” He held up the sole of the shoe, but instead of being like a normal trainer, the treads were in the shape of an animal footprint. They looked exactly like the tracks that Sam had been following around the camp earlier.
“So it was Mark who made the tracks last night?” I said.
I dug through Mark’s backpack as I spoke and pulled out a really cool pair of night-vision goggles like they have in those nature shows on TV. I put them on.
“I guess this is how Mark could see last night when he was sneaking around pretending to be the beast. How do they look, Pradeep?”
Pradeep turned around and gasped. “The yellow eyes!” he said. “The goggles have got yellow eyes painted on them!”
I slipped them off to see for myself. So now we knew that Mark was tricking everyone into believing that there was a Beast of Burdock Woods. And that Sam Savage was probably in on it too. But was Mark really just doing all this just to get a summer job as an Evil Assistant?
As I put the goggles back where I found them, I noticed a torn page of a magazine had fallen out of the backpack.
I read it aloud: “Take your first steps toward world domination. Earn enough money in one summer to get the Evil Scientist lair you’ve always dreamed of. With Evil Scientist Assistant and Apprentice schemes you can do it! Do you have what it takes? Call Sam Savage to apply…”
“That must be the missing page from Evil Scientist magazine,” Pradeep said.
“So Mark’s working for Sam Savage to earn enough money to build an evil lair!” I replied. “But that still doesn’t explain why Sam is out there right now, tracking a fake Beast of Burdock Woods.”
“Maybe Mark will spill the beans if we confront him,” Pradeep suggested. “I mean, maybe he will just tell us, if we ask him,” he explained.
“We can’t take Frankie near Mark,” I said. “He’ll just zombie-fish-attack him in front of everyone.”
“OK,” said Pradeep. “I have a plan. I’ll take Frankie back to our tent and put him in one of the water containers or something so he’s safe. You go and find Mark. Take this as evidence,” he added, putting one of the animal-print shoes in my backpack.
I lifted the plastic wallet over my head, but as I did Frankie jumped out, bit the sleeve of my jacket and wouldn’t let go.
“I know you want to come and help, Frankie, but we can’t risk it,” I said to him. He shook his head and held on tight.
Pradeep took a clear plastic bag out of a mini Evil Scientist chemistry set we found in Mark’s backpack and filled it with water from his canteen.
“Frankie, if we get the information out of Mark, then we can stop Sam Savage doing whatever evil plan he’s planning on doing!” I said.
Pradeep held out the bag for Frankie to jump into and Frankie looked up at me. “I promise you can come with us when we go looking for Sam later,” I said. “Deal?”
Frankie held out a fin for a fin-slap high five, then somersaulted into the plastic bag of water.
* * *
Pradeep and Frankie headed off while I ran to the medical tent, but when I got there Mark was gone.
One of the group leaders was tidying up some bandages. “Mark? The kid who had the ‘claw mark’ on him?” he asked. “He was sent back to his tent. Why?”
“Um, just checking he’s OK,” I said.
“He’s fine,” he answered. “In fact, when we checked his bag we found a garden tool that he had clearly used to make the scratch on his shirt look like an animal attack. Now Sam Savage and Grizzly Cook are out there wasting a whole morning tracking something that this kid made up. I’m sure they’ll call his parents when they get back.”
“OK, well, thanks,” I said. “I’ll just get back to the food tent then,” I lied, crossing my fingers behind my back.
I need to tell Pradeep, I thought as I raced back to our tent.
But when I opened the zipper, the first thing I spotted was Pradeep stuffed into a sleeping bag with only his head sticking out and a rope tied around the outside of the bag! His mouth was taped up with Band-Aids that Mark must have taken from the medical tent.
The second thing I spotted was that the plastic bag with Frankie in it was gone!
CHAPTER 10
TO TRACK THE TRACKER
“Marmks moot … Ouch!… Frankie!” Pradeep said as I unstuck the Band-Aids over his mouth. “He headed off into the woods after Sam Savage and Grizzly Cook!”
I untied the rope and Pradeep wriggled free from his sleeping bag. “We have to go after them!” I said.
We both reckoned that Mark would be way easier to track than Grizzly Cook or Sam Savage. They would both move stealthily through the woods. Mark would blunder along, stomping on plants and breaking twigs with every step.
Pradeep grabbed his backpack and I threw my jacket, flashlight and the remaining jar of peanut butter into mine. You never knew when you’d need some peanut-butter energy!
We had to use all our patented Secret Stealth Escape Strategies to get out of the camp without being seen:
* * *
1. Blending into the surroundings …
2. Diversion tactics …
3. Aerial acrobatics (because people never look up).
When we finally made it to the edge of camp, Pradeep led the way into the woods. We were probably walking for at least half an hour before I got out the peanut butter and had a fingerful of “fuel,” as Grizzly would say. Pradeep was up ahead, working out which route to take.
That’s when I heard a very strange sound. It was a low rumbling, like the sound my belly makes before lunch, but as if someone had a microphone up to my belly at the time. I know what that sounds like because I did that once in the music room at school to see what amplified belly rumbling was like. And it was exactly like the sound I heard then.
“Pradeep,” I whispered. “Listen.”
He stopped and turned around. Then I heard a twig snap and rustling in the bushes behind me. I ran over to where Pradeep was standing. “There’s something hiding in the bushes!” I hissed.
“It must be Mark,” Pradeep whispered. “He probably heard us and decided to hide until we went past and then scare us.” Pradeep raised his voice to a shout. “But we aren’t scared of a little rustling in the bushes, are we?”
That’s when I saw a pair of yellow eyes peering out from under the thick bushes.
“Look, Pradeep, it’s the night-vision goggles,” I whispered. “We’re on to you, Mark,” I yelled, raising my voice. “We know that you faked the whole Beast of Burdock Woods thing, so just give up and come out now!”
We heard another growl. “Yeah, great sound effects, Mark,” I went on. “You sound more like Mrs. Roger’s old tabby than a big cat.” I smiled proudly at my awesome insult. “Now cut it out and give us back Frankie before you get into any more trouble.”
I walked back toward the bushes and the growl got louder.
Suddenly Pradeep grabbed my shoulder. “Don’t go any closer.”
“Why? We’ve got him!” I whispered back. “Plus, I’m really liking having one up on Mark for a change.”
Pradeep pointed to the paw-prints on the ground. They were fresh and led over to the bush where the growls had come from. “So, Mark must have used his shoe things again to make the tracks. And?” I said.
Pradeep pulled one of the shoe things out of his backpack at the s
ame time as I remembered that the other was in mine.
“Maybe he has a spare pair,” I said hopefully, just before we shot each other a look that said, “GULP!”
CHAPTER 11
WILL THE REAL BEAST PLEASE STAND UP?
Every cell in my body wanted to run, but Pradeep pointed to the tree just next to us. It had low branches we could reach, and we were both expert tree climbers.
Pradeep counted silently on his fingers: one, two … On “three” we both jumped for the tree.
When we were about three or four branches up we looked down and couldn’t believe our eyes.
Emerging from the undergrowth was a sleek black cat. It looked about the size of a Labrador dog, but definitely didn’t have that “Here, boy, go fetch” look about it. It stared right at us with its yellow eyes and it licked its lips.
“It’s a panther, I think,” Pradeep said.
“Oh, good. I’m glad I’ll at least know what’s eating me,” I said. “What are we going to do?”
The panther sniffed the air and then prowled toward our tree.
“I think it smells something,” Pradeep whispered. “Did you bring any food with you?”
“Just the peanut butter,” I said. Then I remembered something. “Yesterday evening, when we were walking to the campsite, I had peanut-butter sandwiches on me,” I said.
“And you also had one when we were by the stream with Frankie and we saw the yellow eyes,” Pradeep replied.
“But wouldn’t a panther rather eat some child-sized red meat than a sandwich?” I asked.
“My gran’s cat loves peanut butter,” Pradeep said. “She’ll do anything for it. I wonder if this big cat likes it too. Maybe that’s why she’s following us.” He pulled a pinecone off the tree we were in and motioned for me to pass him the peanut butter. Then he dunked the pine-cone into the jar, covering it with delicious peanut goo.
The panther put her paws up on the tree and stretched up to catch the smell.
“Um, Pradeep, hate to worry you, but I’m pretty sure that panthers can climb trees,” I squeaked.
Pradeep tossed the peanut-butter-coated pinecone a little way away and the panther ran over to it and immediately started licking it and batting it around with her paws.
“She looks young to me…” said Pradeep thoughtfully. “Not that I’m an expert on panther age or anything. I guess she’s more like a panther kitten really.”
“Well, that panther kitten could still have us as a main course after her peanut-butter starter!” I said. “We’ve got to get out of here, find Mark, save Frankie and warn Grizzly about the panther!”
Pradeep collected more pinecones and spread them with peanut butter too.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Look.” Pradeep got the cat’s attention by dangling a peanut-butter-flavored pinecone near her so she could smell it. Then he chucked it over into the bushes where she had been hiding before. She raced after it right away.
“Now!” Pradeep whispered, and we quietly climbed down the tree and ran in the opposite direction, following what must have been Mark’s trail into the woods.
Every so often Pradeep would throw one of the peanut-butter-coated pinecones as far back as he could along the trail, so that the panther would stop to lick the peanut butter instead of trying to eat us!
Soon we reached a large clearing and spotted the tiger-painted Savage Safari helicopter camouflaged by branches and leaves. “I guess Sam Savage wants to be able to make a quick getaway,” Pradeep said.
On the other side of the clearing from where we stood was a small canvas tent. As we approached I could hear the distinctive “Mwhaa haaa haa haa” of two Evil Scientists coming from inside.
“Hey, Pradeep, why do you think there’s a rope circle around this unexpectedly large pile of leaves we’re standing in?” I started to say. What actually came out was, “Hey, Pradeep, why do you think … Arrrrrggggghhhh!” as we suddenly both found ourselves swinging by our ankles high above the ground.
CHAPTER 12
THE OLD ROPE-BOOBY-TRAP-IN-A-PILE-OF-LEAVES TRICK
The sound of our “Arrrrrggggghhhh!” and the whoosh of ropes must have grabbed the attention of Sam Savage and Mark pretty quickly.
Sam appeared first, dragging Grizzly Cook with him. Grizzly’s arms were tied to his sides and there was a rope around his wrists too.
“I told you they would show up eventually,” sneered Sam to Grizzly. Then to us he said, “So nice of you to swing by!” He wheezed out another evil laugh as we swung upside down, staring at them. Then he pushed Grizzly roughly to the ground.
“I should never have trusted you, Sam.” Grizzly shook his head. “You must have been faking your TV show for years. You couldn’t track a lion in your living room!” Looking up at our upside-down faces he whispered, “I’m sorry you got dragged into this, guppies.” Then he pulled on the ropes around his hands and gave us a knowing wink and a nod. From above I could see that he had picked up a piece of flint from the ground where Sam had thrown him, and had started to saw away at his rope ties.
“I don’t need to track animals anymore,” spat Sam Savage. “The challenge has gone out of it. I’ve caught and stuffed pretty much every dangerous animal on the planet, or at least my staff has! But to capture this particular rare creature, I needed some kind of fake dangerous animal as a distraction, and the so-called Beast of Burdock Woods was the perfect ruse!” He smirked.
Then Mark came out of the tent carrying a jar with Frankie in it. Frankie was green-eyed with rage. He thrashed against the sides and pushed at the lid on the jar. “Hey, morons, nice of you to swing by!” Mark guffawed at his own joke.
“We’ve already done that joke!” snapped Sam. “But at least you have been useful for one thing. You have brought me my prize catch. In all my years of tracking deadly animals, I’ve never caught and stuffed a zombie goldfish. As soon as you told me of its existence in your Evil Assistant application letter, I knew I had to have it.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his white coat pocket and held it up. It was a drawing of Frankie with zombie eyes.
Pradeep and I struggled to free our feet from the ropes. “You can’t keep Frankie!” Pradeep shouted.
“And you can’t stuff him either,” I yelled. “We won’t let you!”
Mark and Sam both laughed again.
“And how, exactly, are you going to stop us?” asked Sam with a raised eyebrow.
“Frankie, zombify him now!” I shouted. “Before it’s too late!”
“You foolish children,” said Sam, adjusting his monocle. “My Evil Assistant warned me of the fish’s power, so I brought a hypno-proof jar to hold him in. I am the great Sam Savage, after all. I didn’t get this far by not being prepared.”
“You’re gonna be prepared … as a panther snack,” I yelled, still struggling to free my foot.
“Good insult,” said Pradeep, then turned to Sam. “Look, you’ve got to let us down. The Beast of Burdock Woods isn’t a fake, it’s real. And it’s following us. It could be here at any second!”
“And I really don’t want to be hanging around on a rope like a giant cat toy when it does turn up,” I added.
“Nice try, moron. Like we’re gonna fall for that.” Mark laughed. “I was the Beast of Burdock Woods. And I totally rocked at it too.”
“Now you get to see your precious zombie goldfish get stuffed,” Sam Savage snarled. “Evil Assistant, get the video camera. I want this moment recorded.”
Mark handed the jar with Frankie in it to Sam and went back into the tent for the camera.
Grizzly took the opportunity to pounce.
In less than a second he had kicked Sam’s legs out from under him, sending both Sam and the hypno-proof jar to the ground. The jar shattered and Frankie leaped onto Sam’s face and tail-slapped him, while Grizzly ran over to the booby trap and got me and Pradeep down. We landed with a thud in the pile of dried leaves below.
As Grizzly helped us to our fe
et he said, “Good distraction technique, talking about the Beast of Burdock Woods. That gave me the time I needed to cut through my ropes.”
“We weren’t joking about the beast,” I said to Grizzly.
At that moment we heard a loud growl behind us.
CHAPTER 13
THE RETURN OF THE BEAST
The Beast of Burdock Woods appeared from the trees with a pinecone in her mouth. She padded toward Frankie and Sam, dropping the pinecone as she slunk through the grass, ready to pounce. She had a new scent in her nostrils. Fish!
Frankie leaped off Sam’s face and jumped into a nearby puddle. His zombie senses must have alerted him to the danger. Sam sat up and found himself face-to-face with the big cat in full hunting mode!
“Jitterbugging jackrabbits!” Grizzly cried. “It is real!” He rubbed his eyes. “OK, boys, stay still. Don’t do anything that might spook her.”
Just then Mark came out of the tent. As soon as he saw the big cat though, he dropped the camera and ran.
“Arghhhhhhhhhh!” he cried as he disappeared into the trees.
“No! Don’t run!” Grizzly shouted, but it was too late. The cat gave chase and soon she was right on Mark’s heels.
“We’ve got to save him!” I shouted, scooping Frankie up from the puddle. Pradeep and I ran after Mark, and Grizzly ran after us, leaving Sam sitting alone in the mud.
We caught up with Mark and the panther a few minutes later. Mark was up a tree that leaned out at an angle over a stream, and the panther was pawing at him.
“Argggghhhh! Get it away! Get it away!” Mark was shouting.
“We’ve got to find a way to catch the cat,” Grizzly whispered to Pradeep, looking around for anything he could use to make a trap.
I looked down at Frankie. He was gasping for breath and needed water. Gently I slipped him into the burbling water upstream of the tree where the big cat was stalking Mark.
“Frankie,” I whispered, “I know you don’t exactly like Mark…” Frankie spat a glob of water in Mark’s direction. “OK, I know you really don’t like Mark, but he’s my brother and I don’t really want him to be eaten by a panther. Can you help?”
