Alien Summer #1 by James S. Murray & Carsen Smith

Author:James S. Murray & Carsen Smith [Murray, James S. & Smith, Carsen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2022-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

A wave of heat and humidity engulfed Viv as she took her first step out of the VERT Train and onto the jungle floor. She could feel the sweat forming on her forehead already.

She craned her head back. Enormous trees towered above, their canopies covering where the sky should be. Vines swayed in complicated loops around each massive wooden trunk. Birds cawed from the treetops and the low hum of insects made Viv’s skin crawl. The air reeked of wet soil with the tiniest hint of sweetness.

She marveled at the technological wonder of it all. The dome of the terrarium sat high above them. But Viv felt like she was outside on a different planet, in a completely different era.

Wow. And to think just a few hours ago, I thought space coconuts would be the coolest thing I’d see all day.

Viv held her arm cannon at the ready. Elijah followed close behind, the engine of his flight suit rumbling on his lower back.

CLANG!

Viv whipped around. The doors of the VERT Train slammed shut. The bright lights shining from the train’s interior moments ago had blended into the bark of a tall tree, leaving them stranded in the darkness of the dim jungle floor. Like everything else in Area 51, the train was able to cloak itself in high-tech camouflage.

There’s no turning back now.

Viv swiveled around to find Charlotte had already dashed ahead.

“Guys!” Charlotte’s voice echoed through the trees. “Check this out!”

Charlotte stood below the biggest banana Viv had ever seen. It was twice the size of her body, and she was the tallest one of their group.

Elijah walked up to investigate the monster fruit. “I don’t wanna see the monkey who eats that!”

“Imagine slipping on this peel!” Charlotte added. “You’d be falling forever!”

“I don’t think that’s how it works.” Viv laughed.

“If this is what a banana looks like, I don’t wanna see a watermelon.”

“We better keep moving,” Elijah cautioned, shifting his eyes across the treetops, searching for any signs of danger.

The trio trekked through the thick brush. They tiptoed on top of the leafy floor below them, careful not to crunch any twigs or trip over rocks. A mistake now could give them away to the Roswellians . . . or to whatever else was lurking in this jungle.

Just then, Charlotte’s ears perked up. “Listen.” She hushed the others.

The sound of a nearby waterfall thundered in Viv’s eardrums.

“It sounds close. We should stop for a drink,” Charlotte said. “I’m dying of thirst.”

“Didn’t you just have a drink on the train?” Viv asked.

“Yeah, and I’m wearing it! Remember?”

Viv smacked the dry roof of her mouth with her tongue. She tried to think back to when she last had a sip of water. Pure adrenaline had been pushing her through the entire day, and it seemed like the exhaustion in her body had finally caught up to her.

“Okay,” Viv said. “We can stop for a quick second, but then we need to keep moving.”

The trio followed the sound of the water through another mile of jungle.

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