“Fascinating place!”

Penny slammed on the brake, but the garbage truck had too much momentum. With tremendous force, it burrowed into a loose pile of trash.

Stinky garbage filled the cab, the odor causing Spencer to choke. The truck rocked back, finally coming to a halt.

“Is everyone all right?” Walter asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

“I’ve never been better,” Bernard said. His head was barely visible above the trash heap. “I think I’ve died and gone to trash heaven.”

With the passenger door missing, everyone climbed out that way. Slithering over smelly piles of old plastic sacks and decomposing gunk, the Rebels soon stood next to the truck.

Bernard rubbed a hand along his vehicle. “Poor beauty.” He shook his head. “Remind me why we let the teenager drive?”

Penny scowled at him. “I got us here, didn’t I? Besides, I’m actually twenty.”

Alan and Walter were standing at the edge of the gorge surveying the damage far below. Spencer didn’t need to look to know that the BEM vans were demolished, with no chance of survivors.

“Look at this place,” Spencer said, staring off into the heaps of garbage. They stretched far beyond his sight, like rolling hills of trash.

“Never been to the dump?” Bernard asked.

“It’s a landfill,” Penny corrected.

Bernard, ignoring the comment, bent down and picked up a scrap of plastic. “Fascinating place! Think about it, garbage from far and wide gathers here, forgotten and undisturbed.”

Penny chuckled. “The way you talk makes it sound like the trash has a mind of its own.”

All at once, without any warning, a pile of garbage exploded next to Spencer. The trash plowed forward, bowling Spencer into Daisy and sending both kids sprawling on the ground.

The attacking trash loomed above them, stretching to a height of nearly seven feet. It took Spencer a moment to decipher what he was seeing.

It was garbage, no doubt about that. But the trash was fused together, forming a crude humanoid shape. Stout legs supported a dense torso made of rotting groceries and dented cans. Long arms dangled apelike, with springs and scrap wires jutting akimbo. The head, if it could be called such, was formed of an old cereal box.

The garbage figure roared, a crunching, grating sound that was unlike anything Spencer had heard before. Then it leaned forward, dropping onto its knuckles like a gorilla, as its head seemed to examine Spencer and Daisy.

The trash creature lifted one arm, pieces of old soda cans jutting out of its hand. It remained poised above Spencer, like a cat that wanted to toy with a mouse. Spencer was petrified, Daisy whimpering at his side.

The other Rebels were already moving to attack, but help suddenly came from an unexpected source.

“Back off, you worthless lump of garbage!”

The Rebels whirled around, scanning the heaps of trash for whoever had spoken. Spencer saw a figure crouched at the top of a garbage pile. It was a girl, silhouetted in a halo of sunlight so he couldn’t make out her features. Her hair was silvery white, its shimmer enhanced by the lighting around her.

She skipped down the trash pile with agility and precision, sliding and jumping until she reached the Rebel garbage truck.

“I said, back off!” the girl shouted at the trash figure. “I could take you down with one blow, you weak, pitiful little trash heap!”

At this, the garbage figure righted itself again, roaring at the girl as she strode past Spencer and Daisy. She stood face-to-face with the creature and shouted once more.

“Get out of here, you lazy pile of junk!” She stomped forward for intimidation. “I’ve seen moldy leftovers that looked scarier than you! Begone!” The girl flung her hand in a dismissive gesture.

The big garbage figure crawled backward, still growling but unwilling to stick around. The thing slunk away, falling into pieces of junk as it reached the pile and melted into the garbage.

“Sorry about that,” the girl said. “Not the best way to welcome you to the landfill.”

“Who are you?” Alan asked.

But as the girl finally stepped into plain view, Spencer went rigid. A petrifying chill started in his toes and rapidly worked its way up his spine. It was as though his mind refused to register the face he was seeing. But then she smiled, and Spencer knew for sure who it was.

“Jenna?”