Rescue Island by Stone Marshall Read Free Book Online

anger rise up inside me. I know what I must do!
    My plan is complex. I need lots of glass blocks. I need a bunch of pickaxes, they wear out so fast. And I need daylight. My attention will be on executing my plan. I won't be able to defend myself at the same time. It's a crazy idea. I was planning to collect sugarcane, and now I'm developing an elaborate spider-killing plan.
    I start by building an underwater tunnel between Rescue Island and Spider Sands. I use glass blocks so the tunnel is transparent. Something about dark tunnels unnerves me. Building a glass underwater tunnel sounds awesome. I want the tunnel to be completely submerged underwater. If I build a boat in the future I don't want to be zooming across the bay and crash into my difficult to see transparent tunnel. A high-speed crash would destroy the boat, tossing me into the cold bay.
    There are two problems with building underwater. First, water is cold and swimming while building is slow. No big deal. But the second problem is a big deal. The completed tunnel will be full of water! But I have a plan for drying it out.
    I connect my glass underwater tube to each bank. Around the glass tube entrance on Rescue Island I build a simple shelter with a door. That should keep creatures from entering on that side. The shelter steps down into the tube. No ladders, much easier when I'm in a hurry. With the tube connecting to dry land on both sides I have to test my theory about how to empty the water from inside of it. This is kind of dangerous. I hold my breath, swim into the tunnel and fill it with sand. It takes me a dozen entries, but I eventually finish. Now it's easy, dig out the sand and a dry, transparent, tube is left. Perfect!  
    The connection to Spider Sands is different from the enclosed shelter on Rescue Island. I don't actually want a large door over here. Instead I tunnel into the beach, stepping up until I am two blocks deep and open to the sky. I keep the tunnel one block wide and two blocks deep below the surface of the sand and continue this narrow tunnel into the dark shadows of the jungle. I place a ladder at the end of the tunnel. The ladder leads out of the tunnel and into the darkness of the jungle. I hope I never need to use that ladder.
    Being in the tunnel, just a few blocks below where I was first attacked in this world, feels freaky. I hope this works. I'm pretty sure spiders are too big to enter a tunnel one block wide. If this works, it's a brilliant plan.
    I get out safely onto the beach and collect plenty of sugarcane. This is the main reason for leaving Rescue Island, and ironically I could have done this in no time, but I've spent nearly the entire day on this elaborate spider trap and underwater tube. The tube is awesome though. It's like walking through an aquarium. I'm completely surrounded by water, and every so often a squid swims up to the glass. It's amazing! I think of other, future uses for the tunnel. How cool will it be to herd animals from the mainland through this tunnel to Rescue Island?
    I've mostly avoided going into the jungle. I'm still freaked out by it. I've killed plenty of spiders since the last time I was here, but the spider that lives here represents the original danger of this place. It's the reason I've been freaked out so much since entering this game world. Deep inside me, where the anger and fury reside toward the original spider, I hope to find and kill it, and I hope its death will take away the fear I have of this place.
    I walk through the tunnel to the beach of Spider Sands, just at the edge of the jungle shade and wait. Nothing happens. It's getting dark but I'm not satisfied yet. I need to see the red of the spider's eyes! Maybe I need to go hunting?
    I walk to the end of the tunnel, the part that enters the jungle, climb the ladder, and start looking around. It's dark here—darker than shadows in daylight. I'm not sure this is a good idea . . .
    Slurp, hiss "OUCH!"
    The pain is nearly too much to