“Maybe not!” replied Sid. “First, they would have shot Gertrude with a dart to send her to sleep, before Gnarl gives her that lethal injection!”
Eric looked down out of the truck window. He spotted that Miss Gnarl had a needle in her hand. She was tapping the liquid in the tube, before leaning down to give the gorilla the poison.
Eric leaned out and shouted, “STOP!”
The three on the ground looked up. The sight of a truck dangling in the air from a balloon caused something of a shock. Immediately, Batter sprang into action.
“ENEMY AIRCRAFT OVERHEAD, SIR!” he shouted. “WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!”
Wasting no time at all, he hoisted his rifle into the air and fired.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The bullets blasted straight through the truck, shattering the windscreen.
SHATTER!
“BATTER!” cursed Sid. “Let’s go down, down, down!”
The pair angled the cylinders and twisted the nozzles open again.
WHOOSH!
The truck descended sharply.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
More rifle shots rang out, startling the whole zoo.
“HOO!” “SNORT!”
“SNARL!” “MURR!”
“WHOOP!”
The noise was like fireworks.
“I don’t believe it!” spluttered Frown.
“It’s Sidney Pwatt with that blasted boy!”
“GRRRR!” growled Gnarl.
“Let me shoot the gorilla, sir!”
“Go ahead, Batter!”
“GRRRR!” Gnarl was not happy.
The man cocked his rifle.
CLICK!
“MORE AIR!” said the boy.
He and Sid turned the cylinders to full blast.
WHOOSH!
The truck was now coming down sharply. It bashed the roof off the cage…
CLUNK!
…sending it falling.
“NOOOO!” shouted Frown as the top of the cage clonked the three on their heads.
DOINK!
DOINK! DOINK!
“OUCH!”
“OOF!”
“AWGH!”
They were all knocked to the ground.
DOOF! DOOF! DOOF!
Out cold.
The boy then opened his door and leaped out. Sid kept the truck floating a short distance from the ground. Eric stepped over Frown, Batter and Gnarl.
“Sorry about that, gentlemen and lady,” he said, before he reached his friend.
Gertrude was lying on the ground motionless, her eyes closed.
“How is the old girl?” called Sid from the truck.
“Sleeping, I think… I don’t know,” replied Eric, before turning his attention to the gorilla.
“GERTRUDE! GERTRUDE! WAKE UP!” he said, shaking her.
But there were no signs of life.
The boy sank to his knees and hugged the gorilla tight. “Oh, Gertrude, please wake up! We’re here to rescue you!”
Eric held on to the big furry beast, rocking her gently. He felt something sharp poking out of her body. Just as Sid had predicted, it was a dart – the one to send to her to sleep, before she would be sent to sleep forever – and it was sticking out of her back. The boy wrapped his fingers round it and yanked it out.
PUTT!
The shock of the dart being pulled out must have woken Gertrude up, because immediately her eyes opened wide.
“GERTRUDE!” exclaimed Eric.
“HEE!” slurred the sleepy gorilla and pulled the boy close to her for a cuddle.
“You’re alive!
You’re alive!
YOU’RE ALIVE!”
“Cuddles are all well and good!” shouted Sid from the truck. “But this is a rescue mission!”
“I know! I know! I know!” called Eric. “But I just love her so much.”
“Let’s get her on board before these three wake up!”
“More cuddles later, Gertrude. I promise!” said Eric, before he wriggled out of her embrace, and scrambled to his feet. He leaned down, taking her huge hairy hand in his and tried to get her to stand up.
“HUH!” exclaimed the boy in effort, but the sleepy gorilla just wouldn’t budge off the ground. Instead, she let out a giant yawn.
“YUH!”
“Uncle Sid!” called Eric. “I can’t lift her!”
“Then tie this round her ankle!” said Sid, throwing down the rope they’d taken from the bomber.
Eric tied his best knot round Gertrude’s ankle, who didn’t seem the least bit bothered about it. Next, the boy clambered back into the truck, which was still floating at head height next to him.
With the extra weight of the gorilla, the truck needed big blasts of air from the cylinders to ascend.
WHOOSH!
As Gertrude was lifted into the air, her big, heavy body slid over the three lying on the ground. One by one, they all came to.
“WHAT’S GOING ON?” exclaimed Frown.
“MY HEAD HURTS!” added Batter.
“GRRRR!” growled Gnarl.
Batter was the first to scrabble to his feet.
“THEY’RE STEALING YOUR GORILLA, SIR!”
“STOP THEM!” ordered Frown.
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
As Gertrude was swept up into the sky, dangling upside down from the rope, Batter just managed to grab hold of the gorilla’s arm.
“GOTCHA!”
As he was lifted into the air, Frown grabbed hold of Batter’s ankle.
“I CAN’T LET THOSE TWO GET AWAY WITH THIS!”
In turn, Gnarl held on to Frown’s ankle.
“GRRRRRR!” she growled, still brandishing her needle.
Together, they all soared up into the sky.
