my eyes open.
The morning came and it was clear there had been another earthquake.This one was a 6.0.The walls of my bedroom were slightly cracked and my dresser had toppled over.
âThe townâs in an uproar, Schnoz,â Mumps said when the guys arrived at my house. âThereâs damage to a lot of houses. People are really angry.â
âWe have to get you out of town,â Jimmy said. âItâs for your own safety.â
While I got dressed, TJ downloaded the new video from the camera to his laptop, and then to the flash drive.
âLetâs watch it,â Mumps suggested.
âNo time,â TJ said. âWe have to meet Vivian and then get to Dr.Wackjöbâs compound ASAP.â
Vivian was waiting for us when we got to the Nostril. She was holding up a brand new Super Schnoz costume.
âWhereâd you get that?â I asked.
âI made it for you last night,â Jimmy said. âYour old one was way too smelly so I threw it in the garbage.â
I ran inside the Nostril and slipped on my new suit. It was the exact same color as my old oneâblack tights, black shirt, blue cape, and blue Super Schnoz emblem. Jimmy had added a utility belt with hidden pouches to hold jars of cayenne pepper, spray bottles of saline solution, and an electric nose hair trimmer.
âItâs a bird, itâs a plane, itâs Super Schnoz!â I cried, jumping around the corner.
âLetâs get a move on,â TJ said. âWe need to see this Dr. Wackjöb.â
âHow are we going to get there?â Mumps wondered. âItâll take hours to ride our bikes way out there.â
Vivian dragged out the harness I had used to fly everybody onto the school rooftop during my battle with ECU. The stitchwork Jimmy had done on the fabric was still perfect, right down to the feathers that made it look like a pregnant turkey buzzard.
âWeâre not riding our bikes,â Vivian said. âSchnoz is going to strap on the harness and fly us all there.â She slipped five jars of cayenne pepper and two spray bottles of saline solution into my new utility belt.
âWhatâs this stuff for?â I asked her.
âJust in case,â she said. âYou never know what weâll run into way out there.â
âLike Bigfoot!â Mumps screeched.
Vivian rolled her eyes as she and the Not-Right Brothers crawled into the harness. I secured the belts to my back, slipped on my Mardi Gras mask, and was ready to fly. The wind wasnât very brisk, so we had to wait for me to get enough air inside my nostrils for takeoff. When my nose finally inflated to its full glory we were off, sailing into the sky toward Dr. Wackjöbâs compound deep in the WMNF.
The smell of the rotting meat guided my way. After thirty minutes of flying, I made a perfect landing on the path leading to the UFO Center.
âSee the sign,â I said, pointing. âItâs over there, stuck in the ground.â
â The Center for UFOs, Earthquakes, and Alien AbductionâDr. Aðalbjörn Wackjöb, Director ,â Jimmy read. âIf this guy canât help us, then no one can.â
I pulled off the harness and hid it in the bushes. âLike I told you,â I said, âthe old guy is kind of loony. He asked me if I was from the government.â
âSounds paranoid to me,â Mumps said. âAnd a littleââ
âI donât blame him,â Vivian interjected. âAfter getting fired from his job, the man has trust issues.â
Jimmy laughed. âYou sound like a therapist. Maybe you should make him lie on a couch.â
Just as Vivian opened her mouth to fire a volley back at Jimmy, we all heard a loud crack in the nearby woods.
âWhat was that?â Mumps cried out.
I pressed a finger to my lips, hushing everyone up.We all grew as silent as dandelions and listened for more sounds.
There was nothing.
âMaybe
Tabatha Vargo, Melissa Andrea
Steven Booth, Harry Shannon