mutations that happen over millions of years. It’s all random and can come out differently every time. Some single cell creatures develop into multiple cell creatures. Then while they’re all multiplying and having kids, one or two of their kids have a different gene in their DNA that makes them stronger or more able to survive than the others. So those plants and creatures live while the other ones die and the stronger ones multiply again.
“Eventually, they or their kids or their kids’ kids have some kids who have a mutated gene that makes
them
stronger and more able to survive. So those become the new creatures and on and on for millions of years until suddenly everything looks either the way it does here or in that stupid town we used to live in.”
“What do you mean ‘used to’?” I said, probably sounding way more scared and whiny than I wanted to in front of her.
“I mean that if you know some way for us to get back there, I’d love to hear it. Because I can tell you from a year’s worth of experience that we are majorly trapped in this frequency.”
“Can’t we just make another explosion and get back?”
“You think I haven’t tried that? How do you think I got all of Arthur’s whack pack after me?”
“Whack pack? What’s Arthur’s whack pack?” I really hate when I don’t know stuff and so I end up saying “What?” and “Huh?” and “What are you talking about?” during a whole conversation. Usually I’ll just pretend that I know what people are referring to and then go home and check on the Internet to figure out what it was I was pretending to understand. But at this moment, I couldn’t understand anything Karen was talking about and I didn’t have any Internet to run home to because I didn’t
have
a home anymore.
“Trust me, kid,” she said with a serious look. “You’ll find out.”
And that was when the wall on the other side of the room exploded.
14
I AM OF ABSOLUTELY NO HELP AT ALL
Karen screamed and I screamed even louder as a cloud of dust blew all over us and rocks and all kinds of other junk rained down from the explosion. I had so much dust in my eyes that I couldn’t see what was going on at first.
But then I could. And suddenly I wished I couldn’t.
Through all the dust and smoke I saw really bright light pouring through the hole in the wall that the explosion had made. And through the hole I suddenly saw about five or six big creatures walk into the room. The first one through was one of the mole guys, which meant he was walking really slowly. But he wasn’t dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts like the ones at Artbucks had been. This one was wearing some kind of army uniform. And he looked really mean.
His body was bigger and bulkier than the Artbucks mole guys, and when he looked at Karen and me with his long pointy nose, I saw that his face had what seemed to be a really nasty expression on it. (Though it was hard to tell with the mole creatures, since their faces weren’t really like faces that you and I are used to seeing.) He was carrying a huge sword/ax weapon that immediately became even scarier to me than he was. He stopped when he saw Karen and me and said in a really deep and hard-to-understand voice, “I knew I smelled them!”
As the other creatures came into the room, all dressed in their army uniforms, I quickly realized that as big as the huge mole guy was, he was small compared to the rest of them. I recognized another creature as one of the huge five-armed purple babies. But this one looked like the meanest baby in the world. And since it was holding a huge spear with the most deadly-looking pitchfork thing on the end, you can see I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the nastiest-looking infant ever.
Next to the baby was one of the praying mantis creatures, like the one that had been making coffee at the Artbucks. But where that bug creature was skinny like a stick, this bug was as big as the huge hundred-year-old log
“Eventually, they or their kids or their kids’ kids have some kids who have a mutated gene that makes
them
stronger and more able to survive. So those become the new creatures and on and on for millions of years until suddenly everything looks either the way it does here or in that stupid town we used to live in.”
“What do you mean ‘used to’?” I said, probably sounding way more scared and whiny than I wanted to in front of her.
“I mean that if you know some way for us to get back there, I’d love to hear it. Because I can tell you from a year’s worth of experience that we are majorly trapped in this frequency.”
“Can’t we just make another explosion and get back?”
“You think I haven’t tried that? How do you think I got all of Arthur’s whack pack after me?”
“Whack pack? What’s Arthur’s whack pack?” I really hate when I don’t know stuff and so I end up saying “What?” and “Huh?” and “What are you talking about?” during a whole conversation. Usually I’ll just pretend that I know what people are referring to and then go home and check on the Internet to figure out what it was I was pretending to understand. But at this moment, I couldn’t understand anything Karen was talking about and I didn’t have any Internet to run home to because I didn’t
have
a home anymore.
“Trust me, kid,” she said with a serious look. “You’ll find out.”
And that was when the wall on the other side of the room exploded.
14
I AM OF ABSOLUTELY NO HELP AT ALL
Karen screamed and I screamed even louder as a cloud of dust blew all over us and rocks and all kinds of other junk rained down from the explosion. I had so much dust in my eyes that I couldn’t see what was going on at first.
But then I could. And suddenly I wished I couldn’t.
Through all the dust and smoke I saw really bright light pouring through the hole in the wall that the explosion had made. And through the hole I suddenly saw about five or six big creatures walk into the room. The first one through was one of the mole guys, which meant he was walking really slowly. But he wasn’t dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts like the ones at Artbucks had been. This one was wearing some kind of army uniform. And he looked really mean.
His body was bigger and bulkier than the Artbucks mole guys, and when he looked at Karen and me with his long pointy nose, I saw that his face had what seemed to be a really nasty expression on it. (Though it was hard to tell with the mole creatures, since their faces weren’t really like faces that you and I are used to seeing.) He was carrying a huge sword/ax weapon that immediately became even scarier to me than he was. He stopped when he saw Karen and me and said in a really deep and hard-to-understand voice, “I knew I smelled them!”
As the other creatures came into the room, all dressed in their army uniforms, I quickly realized that as big as the huge mole guy was, he was small compared to the rest of them. I recognized another creature as one of the huge five-armed purple babies. But this one looked like the meanest baby in the world. And since it was holding a huge spear with the most deadly-looking pitchfork thing on the end, you can see I’m not exaggerating when I say it was the nastiest-looking infant ever.
Next to the baby was one of the praying mantis creatures, like the one that had been making coffee at the Artbucks. But where that bug creature was skinny like a stick, this bug was as big as the huge hundred-year-old log
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