Gigantopus from Planet X! (2 page)

“Huh?” Holly looked at her shoulder. “Oh, no, this is from Clawgantua, the Clawed Avenger.”

The woman eyed Holly's shoulder. Then she said, “I'd like to meet this Clawed Avenger.”

“He's one of my dad's movie props,” Holly said.

“Oh,” said the woman. She seemed disappointed. “Never mind, then.” She looked around and smiled sweetly at everyone. “I am Mary Smith! I will show you how to control your excellent new Slither-Matic Deluxe Octo-Prop. Here is the remote control unit.”

She took a black box from a little pouch on her belt. “These eight buttons control the eight tentacles, and this red one stops the prop.”

Mike and Jeff helped Mr. Vickers and the Acme men slide the giant octopus to the ground.

The woman named Mary Smith then gave Mr. Vickers the box. “If you run into any problems, I'll be staying at the lake.” She pointed to the north end of Grover's Mill.

“Lake Lake?” said Liz. “But there's no place to stay at Lake Lake.”

“You should stay at the Baits Motel,” said Jeff. “It's really neat. It's shaped like a fish.”

“A fish!” The woman smacked her lips. “Mmm!” Then she turned to the delivery men. “Take me to the fish place, will you, boys?”

“Aye-aye, Miss Jones,” said the man with the clipboard. “Me and my partner would love to!”

Holly's eyebrows went up. “Excuse me,” she said to the woman with red hair. “But I thought you said your name was Mary
Smith.”

The woman turned and looked deep into Holly's eyes. “Did I?” Then without another word, she climbed into the truck, and it roared off toward Grover's Mill, leaving a cloud of dust behind it.

“Did anybody notice how totally weird that was?” asked Holly.

“Weird?” said Liz. “Compared to what?” She picked another bit of crab shell from Holly's shirt.

Mike bent to sniff the Octo-Prop. Sean and Jeff poked its leathery skin and smiled.

Holly rolled her eyes. “Never mind.”

“I shall name you—Gigantopus!” Mr. Vickers said with glee to the Octo-Prop. “Warm up those tentacles, because I'm going to make you a star!”

The enormous octopus prop sat spread out on the sandy ground. The dome was large enough to fit a whole house inside it. Each of the octopus's eight long tentacles stretched thirty feet out from the center.

“He sure is a big guy!” said Mike, gently touching the rubbery green skin. He sniffed it again. “He smells like my mom's fish sticks!”

Mr. Vickers's eyes beamed with excitement as he lifted the camera to his shoulder. “We start filming immediately. Watch closely!” He aimed his camera. “Act one, scene one of
Clawgantua vs. Gigantopus!
And …
action!”
He pressed the remote control at the same time.

KEEE—RUNNNNNNNCH!

The Slither-Matic Deluxe Octo-Prop jerked its tentacles out, ripped the giant back door off the Humongous hangar, and hurled it up in the air.

“Great shot!” Mr. Vickers hooted. Then he frowned. “But … wait a minute … he's not supposed to do that!”

Everyone watched as the giant door flew up into the clouds and hung there for a moment.

“Wow,” gasped Holly, looking straight up.

Then—
whoosh!
—the door dropped right back down to Grover's Mill.

Right back down at Holly.

3

Sourbuss

W
HAM!
—the hangar door, now a crumpled, twisted piece of metal, slammed to the ground three inches away from Holly's feet.

“My goodness, that was unexpected!” said Mr. Vickers, smiling as he fumbled with the control box. “I'm sure we can get Gigantopus under control.” He pushed the stop button firmly.

Sproing!
The box burst apart in his hands.

“Ooops!” Mr. Vickers grinned nervously at the kids. “Everybody in the car!”

But before they could run to safety—

Thhhwupp! Thhhwupp!
Two giant tentacles slammed down on the Vickers' old dented station wagon, coiled around it, and hoisted it off the ground.

“Careful, it's a classic!” shouted Mr. Vickers.

CRUNCH!
The octopus threw the car down, and the bumpers, doors, and tires blasted off.

“Classic wreck, now!” Mike gasped, diving away as one of the beast's leathery arms snapped like a whip inches from his head.

“Zone alert!” cried Liz. “One out-of-control movie prop, tentacled and dangerous!”

As Mr. Vickers tried desperately to piece the remote back together—
KA-THOONG!
Another long, slithery tentacle slapped down at the top of the Humongous hangar and put a twenty-foot dent in it.

“So maybe it
is
a real octopus?” said Sean.

Two more tentacles snapped swiftly at the kids. The big suction pads running up and down each arm moved like hundreds of gooey mouths.

“Whatever it is, it's gross!” said Holly.

“And mad!” Liz cried. “And hungry!”

“Run for your lives!” yelled Mike, leaping to safety with Holly and Liz.

Sean made a dash away from the hangar just as one long tentacle slithered out with the oversized fork from the Humongous hit
Attack of the Very Large Kitchen Utensils.

Gigantopus hurled the big fork at Sean.

THWANG!
It missed his head by inches.

“Oooh, bad table manners!” cried Sean.

With another tentacle, Gigantopus shot the large eyeball from
Mysterious Eye Land
at Jeff.

It rolled at him like a supersized bowling ball.

“Help! It's gonna strike!” yelped Jeff.

“Spare him!” cried Liz, who jumped over and pushed Jeff out of the way.

“Everybody this way!” Holly shouted. “Head for the desert!” She pointed to the wasteland to the west. “He won't follow us. He'll head for town!”

The kids ran full speed across the dusty ground, and tumbled behind a sand dune. Sean climbed up on the dune and looked back at the studio.

“Gigantopus is still attacking,” said Sean. The tentacles were snapping at the mountain range from
Snowmonster.

“There's nowhere to hide around here,” said Mike, crouching behind a tiny cactus plant. “Are you guys sure Gigantopus will attack the town?”

Holly shot a look at Sean. Her brother put his hand on Mike's shoulder. “It's the first law of Humongous movies, Mike. Giant Monsters Always Attack Towns.”

CRUNCH!
The giant octopus hoisted itself across the roof of the hangar.

“Back! Back!” cried Mr. Vickers, still filming as he ran around to the front of the hangar. “Into the background with you!”

“Dad!” yelled Holly from the top of the sand dune. “Get out of there!”

Gigantopus's domed head towered over the hangar, making the building seem like a model.

THWIRP!
The eight long tentacles whipped down with incredible speed. They lunged at Mr. Vickers.

“I've got to save Dad!” Holly shrieked, starting back across the sand to the hangar.

Sean grabbed her arm. “No, it's too dangerous! Dad's a Zoner. He'll do okay.”

“Keep down,” said Liz. “If Gigantopus sees us, he'll come for us, too!”

KEEE—RUNNNNNNNCH!
The roof of the studio nearly collapsed under the huge weight.

Just then they saw a low swirl of dust escaping up the road in front of the studio. It was Mr. Vickers, pedaling away on a very small bicycle, his camera still on his shoulder.

“My bike!” called Mike, jumping up and down. “It's way too small for him!”

“Shhhh!” urged Liz, ducking behind the dune.

YEEEOOOWWW!
Gigantopus uttered a sudden unearthly roar. He turned. His large red eyes flashed and his suction cups twitched as he spotted the five kids. He snapped his tentacles angrily at them.

“Sorry,” said Mike. “I guess I yelled too loud.”

WHAM! WHAM!
The ground shuddered under Gigantopus's thumping tentacles.

“Maybe now would be a good time for us to escape!” Jeff added quickly.

Mike scrambled across the sand. “Hey, I thought you said he wouldn't come here. The first law of Humongous movies and all that!”

“I guess Gigantopus didn't read the script,” said Sean.

The beast, who didn't read the script, suddenly flexed his eight powerful thirty-foot tentacles. He was a blur of oozy suction pads, green leathery skin, and razor-sharp teeth as he slithered across the ground toward the kids.

“The sand!” yelled Jeff. “I can't run that fast!”

Within seconds the beast was there.

“We're octopus food!” cried Mike. “Doomed!”

Then, just as the beast was within striking distance of the five friends, its giant-domed head turned. The creature stopped, twirled its tentacles, and pushed off into the open desert.

“Yahoo!” said Sean. “He's going away! Roll the credits. Turn up the lights. Clear the theater. Shut off the popcorn machine. Get the—”

“Whaaa-ungh!” Holly suddenly went down like a sack of heavy fish.

“Holly?” said Sean. “You don't have to hide. The octopus is gone now.”

“I'm not hiding!” she said. “I slipped.” She found herself eye level with a pool of shiny stuff. “Whoa, what is this gunk?” Holly stared at the ground. “That creepy octopus left something slimy!”

Sean stooped. “Gloop,” he said helpfully.

“Smells pretty fishy,” said Mike, stooping, too.

Holly looked back across the sand. “Yeah, well, whatever it is, Gigantopus is leaving a trail of the fishy gloop. And it starts at the studio.”

“Uh-oh!” cried Sean, pointing to a swirl of dust in the desert. “He's turning around again!”

Gigantopus whirled in the sand, his powerful tentacles still dripping gloop, and he headed north.

Toward town.

Toward the center of Grover's Mill!

“Hurry!” yelled Holly. “We have to warn everyone!”

4

Grabbing a Bite!

W
hen the five friends hit the bottom of Main Street, Grover's Mill was quiet. Very quiet.

Streets were deserted. Cars were abandoned with their engines running. House doors and shop doors were wide open. Bicycles were left on the sidewalk, their wheels spinning slowly.

“Uh-oh, everyone's dead,” whispered Mike.

“Mike,” said Liz. “Have a little hope, okay?”

Mike was quiet for a second. “Okay, I
hope
everyone's not dead. But I think they are.”

Bong!
The sound of the Double Dunk Donut Den chimed its hour. The chime echoed eerily up and down the empty streets of Grover's Mill.

Sssss!
The oversize pancake clock high atop Usher's House of Pancakes hissed the hour.

“Gigantopus has scared everyone,” mumbled Holly as they tiptoed up the wide main road. “What's the deal with this octopus?”

“Well, if this were a movie,” said Jeff, “the title would probably tell you what's going on.”

“Huh?” said Holly, peering up and down the street for signs of life. Or signs of tentacles.

“You know,” Jeff went on. “Like when a movie starts with kids playing around, and it's all jokey and funny, but the title of the movie is
The Giant Squid Beast from Planet Ten.
You just know that a giant squid beast is going to come pretty soon.”

Holly looked at Jeff. She wasn't sure if all that was helpful, but she gave him a smile anyway. “Thanks, Jeff,” she said.

Suddenly, out of the distance, came a sound. A motor scooter puttered down the road. In the seat was a very wide, round man. Sitting behind him was another very wide, round man.

“The Double Dunk twins!” shouted Mike.

Yes, and they were singing.

Double Dunk twins is our name,
Twins we are, but not the same.

People love us, that's no shame.
'Cause our donuts bring us fame!

Holly dashed into the street. “Stop! A giant octopus is attacking Grover's Mill!”

Rob Dunk frowned. “We can't stop delivering.”

His brother Bob, arms full of brown and white boxes, nodded. “Our donuts must keep rolling!”

Putt-putt!
In a second, the twins were gone.

A dusty wind blew up the empty street.

“This is creeping me out,” said Liz. “I'm going to go and check my mom's diner. I've got to see if she's okay. Anybody coming with me?”

Mike looked over at Jeff. “Could be our last chance to get some food before the end.”

“Egg salad would be cool,” said Jeff. He joined Mike and Liz as they headed to Duffey's Diner.

Holly sat down on the sidewalk. “Sean, this is too weird for words. Even for The Weird Zone.”

Sean watched their friends go into the diner, come out again, then cross the street to School Road. “Sometimes I think the only way we'll ever get out of here is if Grover's Mill moves.”

Holly smiled. “It could be on the other side of the galaxy, and it would still be weird.” She looked up at him. “Do you think Gigantopus will be the thing that really gets us?”

“Maybe,” said Sean. “But maybe we can stop it. In fact, I think we have to.”

Holly knew what he meant. It meant he would do what had to be done. It also meant Sean was scared. Maybe as scared as she was.

“Guys!” Liz came trotting back nearly out of breath. “Everyone is hiding at school. In the secret teachers' shelter deep in the basement.”

“Yeah,” said Mike, huffing behind her. “Can you believe it?”

Holly shook her head. “So it's just up to us.”

Jeff trotted back from across the street. “The Acme truck! It's over there!” He pointed to the Baits Motel's parking lot.

Instantly, something clicked in Holly's brain. “Of course!” she cried. “The lady! She's behind all this. She dropped off the Slither-Matic for Dad. I knew there was something strange about her. If we find her, we find our answers!”