The Verruca Bazooka by Jonny Moon Read Free Book Online

trans-dimensional weirdness that existed, impossibly, inside the bin, Bob the GUNGE agent walked along a dark corridor of glass-walled cells. One was lit up. Inside, the unconscious form of the Squillibloat lay on a bed. At the end of the corridor was a free-standing shelving unit with four individually lit platforms.
    Bob placed the necklace that Jack had taken from the Squillibloat onto the first of the platforms. For a moment the necklace glowed with a spooky green light and then faded.
    One down, thought Bob to himself with satisfaction. And three to go.
    The Squillibloat had been fairly easy. They were not a race known for their intelligence. The boy and his friends had conducted themselves well, but the next mission would be far more of a test…
    Bob walked back along the corridor. Soon, with Jack’s help, all these cells would be occupied and the four bits of the Blower would be his. And then…well, then Earth would be safe and everything would be OK…
    Wouldn’t it?

The first part of the plan was the easiest. Getting into the actual elephant enclosure wasn’t too difficult. Oscar’s lock-picking soon had them through a gate which gave them access. As Jack had predicted, the crowds had hurried off to see feeding time with the penguins and, with no one around to watch them, most of the elephants had trudged inside.
    The giant elephant that was of most interest to Jack and his friends was standing in one of the hay-filled bays, relaxing – exactly how they wanted him. Jack smiled at Ruby.
    Oscar opened the bag of elephant treats and approached the giant pachyderm. “Here you are, Jumbo, just for you…” he said, holding the bag out. The elephant reached out with his trunk and took something from the bag. It was an apple. The elephant bent his trunk back and popped the apple into his mouth.
    “Plenty more where that came from,” offered Oscar, stroking the elephant’s trunk with his other hand.
    “Are you sure you’re up for this?” Jack asked Ruby.
    “Absolutely,” she said with a grin. While Oscar kept the elephant occupied she quickly used her climbing skills to shimmy up the trunk and onto his head. From there she gotherself into position on the elephant’s shoulders. Now she could begin to reach down towards the ear where the mysterious earring was glowing.
    Suddenly there was a horrified cry.
    “Oy!” It was the elephant keeper, and he was standing in the doorway. With the terrifying sound of a plum splitting, but amplified about a thousand times, the alien abandoned its disguise, shedding and shredding his ‘human’ skin to reveal his true form. It was even worse in the flesh than it had been in Snivel’s hologram projection. It was like looking at a giant insect, a bit like a cross between a house fly and a mosquito. Despite losing its human disguise it was still capable of speech.
    “Get away from there, human half-grown!” it screeched in a high-pitched tone. “Or I will suck your friend dry.”
    Without warning it pounced on Oscar, pulling him to the ground.
    Petrified, Oscar broke wind. The alien roared with delight. “Let the harvest begin!” it cried and thrust its head directly towards poor Oscar’s bum.
    While Jack looked on in horror, the alien took a deep breath and began to expand. Before his very eyes the Burrapong was getting bigger.
    Oscar’s cheeks were sucked in and his eyes bulged. A horrible squeal came from his mouth.
    “It’s vacuuming up his farts!” said Snivel. “All of them. We have to stop him before he pulls Oscar inside out!”

Collect all the books in the GUNK Aliens series!
    The Verruca Bazooka The Elephant’s Trump
    The Dogs Dinner
    The Sewer Crisis

Copyright
    First published in paperback in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2009 HarperCollins Children’s Books is a division of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 77-85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB
    The HarperCollins website address is:
    www.harpercollins.co.uk
    FIRST