The Dragonfly Defense by Jack Patton

Author:Jack Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2016-08-23T04:00:00+00:00

Max wriggled and tugged for all he was worth, fighting to pull his leg out from under the rock.

The crocodile slid its gigantic bulk toward him. It was in no hurry. Its clawed feet gouged deep trenches in the mud as it went. There was no doubting what had made those tracks now.

“Stuck, are you?” The crocodile smirked. “I wouldn’t worry about it. Struggling isn’t going to do you any good.”

“I guess the volcano missed a few of you reptiles,” Max snapped back bravely.

He hoped talking tough would make him feel tough, because right now he was so terrified he could hardly think. The crocodile was the length of an express train to him, and its head the size of a bus. He’d never seen a monster like it.

The crocodile gave a throaty laugh. “I’d heard you were a gutsy one! Tell you what, I’ll finish you off really fast.” It snapped its jaws and slid a little closer. Max saw a jagged scar across its nose, where something must have hurt it badly long ago.

“You don’t scare me!” Max shouted, and tugged at his leg again.

Fresh hope gripped him as his ankle slid a little way out from under the rock.

“Why, I’m forgetting my manners,” leered the crocodile. “I haven’t introduced myself. I’m General Longtooth. I believe you ran into my troop up at the lagoon.”

“Those common lizards?” Max scoffed. “They didn’t give us any trouble.”

General Longtooth’s head loomed over him, blocking out the sky. Max heaved himself backward and dragged his foot out a little farther. Only the rubber sole of his sneaker was catching now.

“You’ll have plenty of trouble soon enough!” roared General Longtooth. “Once the crocodile fleet makes it over from Reptile Island, your bug friends will be antenna-deep in trouble! The reptiles are coming back, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop us!”

Max put two and two together in his mind, and suddenly he understood everything. Crocodiles were aquatic. And they were big enough to carry other reptiles. A lizard armada was coming, attacking by water this time, not by land. The crafty reptiles had found a way to reach Bug Island even without the lava bridge!

“We already stopped you. General Komodo and his troops were destroyed by the tsunami. The war is over and your side lost.” Max’s leg was almost free now. Just one more heave ought to do it …

Longtooth peered down the length of his scaly snout at Max. “Really, I should thank you. With Komodo gone, I finally get to be in charge!”

The massive jaws gaped wide. Longtooth lunged at Max.

Max scrabbled backward as far as he could. His foot was still stuck. Thinking quickly, he grabbed a stone. As the monstrous head plunged down to devour him, Max flung the stone squarely at Longtooth’s glaring eye.

The stone hit home. Longtooth reared up and cried out in pain. So, it was true—the crocodile’s eye really was its most vulnerable spot!

While the enormous reptile thrashed in agony, Max gave a final desperate heave and wrestled his trapped foot out from under the rock.

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