“No! No! NO!”
The screams tore from my throat until I couldn’t yell anymore.
I could see gobs of yellow drool on the insect’s pointed teeth. The jaw moved back and forth above my head.
It pulled me closer to its grinding teeth. Its head loomed like a gigantic parade balloon.
I thrashed my hands. I kicked my feet.
But the slender front legs gripped me tightly. And raised me higher.
“NOOOOOOO!” Another scream ripped from my mouth and made my throat ache.
The mantis’s jaws opened wide.
I tried to squirm. I tried to kick the front of its trunk.
But it held me helpless. And then …
To my surprise, it didn’t shove me into its grinding mouth. Instead, it turned. And carried me away from the circle of giant insects.
I saw Peter being carried by another insect. The big bug had my brother cradled under one bent leg, pressed against its smooth body.
Peter screamed in protest. But the insect gripped him tightly. He couldn’t move.
The two insects carried us side by side. They walked stiffly, their bodies bobbing on their thin legs.
They both stopped suddenly. I glanced down. I saw a line of leafy shrubs.
The insect holding me leaned forward and began to lower me onto a shrub.
I let out a sigh of relief. Did this mean it wasn’t going to eat me?
The spindly legs lowered me onto my back. I gazed down. The bush was only a few feet tall. Maybe I could drop to my feet and run.
I took a deep breath. I started to move. Slowly, I lowered myself …
“YOWWWWW!”
I wailed in pain as the insect jabbed its pointed pincer into my chest. It leaned over me, bringing its head down close to my face. It chomped its jaws.
It kept me pinned down with the sharp pincer pressed against the front of my gymnastics T-shirt. I was trapped on top of the bush. I couldn’t move.
“Peter — are you okay?” I called. “Peter?”
I heard him shout from somewhere nearby. I struggled to turn. But the big mantis had me pinned too tightly to the bush.
I gazed down toward my feet and saw something that filled me with horror.
“No! Oh, please — NO!” I screamed.
The insect was using its other pincer to pull thread from its belly.
Working quickly, it pulled a long line of sticky white thread from its body. And to my horror, it was wrapping the thread around my legs.
Like a spider’s webbing. The thread slid out silently, an endless line of it.
The insect worked feverishly, wrapping my knees together tightly now.
“Peter?” I called.
Again, Peter uttered a cry. But he was too far away. I couldn’t hear what he was saying.
The insect worked faster. Circling my waist now. Pulling more sticky white string from its belly. Tightening it.
I tried to kick and break through the string, but it was too strong.
The insect held me in place with its sharp pincer and kept spinning the thread, tighter and tighter.
The giant mantis was wrapping me inside a thick cocoon.
“No! Please!” My cries came out shrill and hoarse.
I swung my arms, but I couldn’t reach the big insect. I tried to twist my body. Twist myself free.
But the ugly bug had me pinned down. And now it was wrapping its thread around my neck. Round and around.
Working so fast. Spinning. Wrapping me like a caterpillar in a cocoon.
The thread whipped around my neck. And now the insect was starting on the mask that covered my face. It was going to wrap the mask tight to my face in the thick webbing.
The thread swung tightly around the bottom of the mask. In a few seconds, my mouth would be covered.
One last scream.
“Peter!” I cried. “Peter — are you here? DO something!”