Into the Dorkness Read online

  DEDICATION

  To Jordan, a good man and a better friend —J. K.

  For Rosie —N. E.

  CONTENTS

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Acknowledgments

  Excerpt from The Zombie Chasers

  Back Ads

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  The sky over Northwest Horizons Science Camp flashed and blinked with the lights from four massive UFOs hovering overhead. Standing next to the planetarium, Kevin Brewer and his friends stared slack-jawed at the extraterrestrial invasion swirling above them.

  “What the heck is going on?” Kevin turned to face his friends Warner, Tara, and TJ as if any of them would have an answer. None of them did.

  “I don’t know,” Tara said. “But I don’t think we should stick around to find out.”

  Kevin glanced down at their miniaturized alien buddy, a cyborg space cop named Klyk, who Kevin had mistakenly blasted with a shrink ray the night before. Their alien friend ignored Kevin, unable to tear his eyes away from the UFOs headed their way.

  Looking at their broken galactascope, Kevin couldn’t believe how much trouble their science camp invention had caused. He and his team—the Extraordinary Terrestrials—had built the galactascope by following a diagram in one of Warner’s sci-fi comic books. They had no idea the interstellar text messenger would actually work. Over the course of a few days, they had summoned the galaxy’s most wanted alien, a purple furry creature named Mim with an appetite for destruction, fought off a giant arachnopod—a humongous half octopus, half tarantula—and saved the world from annihilation.

  But right after sending Mim back to space prison, they discovered the purple planet-eater had managed to call his fellow space thugs for backup. Now Mim’s alien associates had arrived on Earth, and Kevin didn’t have the slightest clue about what to do next.

  About a hundred yards away from Kevin and his friends, the rest of the Northwest Horizons campers were huddled together outside the mess hall. A prolonged hush fell over the adolescent mob as they all took in the sight of the alien spaceships roiling overhead.

  The otherworldly fleet spread out high above the treetops to the four corners of the science camp. With a mechanical crank, the starships opened their doors, and each alien vessel then released half a dozen much smaller alien space cruisers.

  A moment later, the clouds began to churn violently as a huge alien mother ship emerged from the atmosphere. The immense spacecraft blotted out the sun and cast a shadow over the camp below.

  “Whoa,” said Warner, his eyes lighting up with fear and excitement at the sight of the extraterrestrial invasion.

  A hair-raising shriek pierced the awestruck silence. Kevin whipped his head around and gazed across the grounds of the science camp. Over by the dining hall, the throng of campers had erupted into a frenzy.

  Kevin could hear Head Counselor Dimpus yelling instructions to his staff, trying to maintain control of his campers. “Start up the vans! Everybody stick together! Single-file lines!”

  Dimpus then turned toward the planetarium and hollered at the Extraordinary Terrestrials. “Kevin! Warner! TJ! Tara! Get back here!”

  But Kevin didn’t twitch a muscle, frozen next to his dumbfounded friends. A huge loading hatch had just started to open underneath the gargantuan alien mother ship.

  “There’s something coming out. . . .” TJ squinted through his thick-lensed glasses and tilted his head back. A few seconds later, a shimmering metallic sphere floated out of the hatch.

  “What is that thing?” Tara asked.

  Klyk gasped at the sight of the hovering metal sphere. “That thing is a freeze-ray bomb,” he said. “And it means we need to run!”

  “Wait,” said Tara. “We have to warn the others!”

  The sphere flew smoothly over the center of camp and stopped in midair directly above the hubbub of scrambling campers and counselors.

  The giant alien sphere glowed a fluorescent orange.

  “No time for that!” Klyk’s tiny voice bellowed. The kids sprang into action, racing for the woods. “Run!”

  Behind them, the freeze-ray bomb unleashed a bright bluish-white beam of plasma that spiraled straight to the ground like a tornado whirling down from the clouds.

  Kevin scooped Klyk off the ground and put him on his shoulder.

  “Pick it up, slowpoke!” Klyk shouted in Kevin’s ear as they booked toward the Oregon pine forest. He hung on to Kevin’s backpack strap as if he were riding a racehorse.

  Kevin looked over his shoulder and back at the camp behind him.

  VYRGHZ! The freeze-ray bomb let off a strange electrostatic noise as it detonated. A shock wave rippled out from the spot where the plasma beam struck the earth. The ground rumbled in response. The campers and counselors all halted in frozen poses of suspended animation as the freeze-ray bomb blast reverberated underfoot. It looked like someone hit the pause button on a raucous game of tag or capture the flag.

  “Don’t look back, Kevin!” Klyk shouted. “You’re going to get us both zapped!”

  Kevin’s chest burned as he ran into the thicket of trees. But there was no time to catch his breath—and anyway, if he had, it would have been his last. He could feel the blue-white glow blazing hot on his trail as the pulse rushed up behind him.

  Tara, Warner, TJ, and Kevin shuffle-stepped between a pair of pine trees and kept running headlong into the forest. A frantic squirrel skittered down the tree beside Kevin. The blast radius of the freeze-ray bomb struck the base of the tree, and the squirrel paused midstride halfway up the trunk.

  “Oh no!” Kevin gasped, huffing and puffing.

  “Faster, Kevin, faster!” Klyk shouted.

  Kevin pumped his arms and flung his feet forward, running with every ounce of energy he possessed. Ahead of them, Tara and Warner raced out of the woods and bolted across the soccer field that belonged to the all-girls soccer camp on the other side of the lake. Kevin looked to his right. He and TJ were neck and neck. The two slowpokes kept on chugging, trying to outrun the blue-white blast wave.

  “Come on, Teej!” Kevin shouted, wheezing as the two of them raced out of the fast-freezing forest and high-stepped onto the soccer field.

  “Oooph!” TJ grunted loudly, and Kevin heard a thud.

  Kevin swiveled his head to the side and out of the corner of his eye saw TJ stumble on a bump in the grassy turf. TJ tripped, flailing his arms. The freeze-ray bomb surged like a tide chasing up the backs of his legs.

  Kevin thrust out his hand and grabbed TJ by the wrist. He planted his foot and heaved TJ ahead of the oncoming pulse.

  TJ stumbled for a moment, then regained his balance and kept running. Kevin wasn’t so lucky. He could feel the electromagnetic chill nip at his heels as he tripped and plunged face-first into the ground. “OOMPH!”

  Klyk flew off Kevin’s backpack and hit the turf, landing on both feet with perfect balance. The little alien bounded away from the freeze-ray swath gaining on them. Kevin tried to scramble to his feet, but he didn’t have time to stand up. The freeze-ray bomb was moving too fast. As the bomb’s pulse rippled toward his feet, Kevin sucked in one last breath and squeezed his eyes shut, ready to be frozen.

  A few seconds passed and Kevin opened his eyes gingerly. He wiggled his fingers and toes—ev
erything still worked. The circumference of the blast wave had stopped just shy of his sneaker, leaving him about a millimeter out of range.

  Kevin breathed a sigh of relief and tapped the stiff blades of grass with the tips of his cross-trainers.

  “One of these days,” he said to himself, and then collapsed back onto a bed of unfrozen green grass. “I’m going to have to get in better shape.”

  Lying on his back, Kevin thanked his lucky stars—Betelgeuse, Castor, Pollux, and Polaris. He sucked in a puff from his inhaler as Klyk and TJ raced to his side. Kevin turned his head to look at the miniaturized alien standing in front of his face. “We made it,” he said.

  “Barely,” said Klyk, glancing at the borderline of rigid grass marking the outer reaches of the freeze-ray bomb blast. “You’re one lucky earthling.”

  “Thanks for saving me, Kev,” TJ said. He reached out his hand and lifted Kevin to his feet.

  “No sweat, man,” Kevin said, a drop of perspiration trickling down his face. “We all gotta stick together, right?”

  He brushed himself off and caught his breath. Tara and Warner jogged back to the group and stopped in front of their team captain.

  “Are you all right, Kevin?” Tara asked.

  “Yup.” Kevin bent his elbow and twisted at the waist. “Everything seems to be working okay.”

  “Good,” she said. “Now can we get out of here, please?”

  “The field house for the soccer camp’s not too far away,” Warner said, pointing toward another stretch of pinewoods on the other side of the field. “We can’t just stay out in the open like this. We need to get away from those alien freaks before they catch up with us!”

  “Wait,” Klyk said. “We have to go back.”

  “What?” Tara asked. “Why?”

  “For starters, we have no clue who we’re dealing with,” Klyk said. “And I can guarantee you they didn’t come here to take over just your little science camp. If they were working with Mim, then they’re not going to stop until they have control of the entire planet!”

  Klyk was right. Whoever these aliens were, they didn’t seem to be fooling around. This alien invasion was the kids’ mess and they had to clean it up. After all, they had taken down the galaxy’s most wanted alien earlier that morning and now they were about to face off against his angry allies. That didn’t make Kevin feel any more excited to go back after them. But they didn’t have any other options. Whether they liked it or not, the choice had been made for them the moment they decided to try to contact alien life.

  “You want us to go back and spy on those freeze-ray-bomb-toting alien maniacs?” Warner said. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “I don’t think so,” Klyk said. “But I’ll have to check the updates on my neuro-chip. There’s no time for that right now, though.” The mini alien cyborg started to walk back toward the frozen forest.

  “There’s no way I’m going back there,” Tara said.

  “Me neither,” Warner said.

  “Suit yourselves,” Klyk said. “But I’m getting to the bottom of this with you guys or without.”

  Kevin stepped across the line from the lush green grass to the blue-tinted blades where the freeze-ray blast had petered out.

  “Dude, what are you doing?” Warner asked.

  “I’m going with him,” Kevin said. “It’s our fault Mim came here in the first place. And now it’s our responsibility to take down these alien jerkfaces who are trying to mess up our summer!”

  Kevin turned away from his friends to catch up with Klyk.

  “What are you gonna do?” TJ looked at Tara and Warner. “When he’s right, he’s right,” he said, and followed quickly after Kevin.

  Warner groaned and glanced at Tara, who shrugged at him and hurried after TJ. Warner shook his head in disapproval and then broke into a jog to catch up with his friends.

  The Extraordinary Terrestrials moved back toward the tree line of the frozen pinewoods. The dirt felt hard as cement under their feet from the effects of the freeze-ray bomb.

  Kevin waved to his friends, gesturing for them to follow him. They quickly fell in line and pushed deeper through the forest single file, crouching low to the ground. They strayed off the trail slightly, using the stiff frozen leafy bracken for cover.

  “Come on, you guys,” Kevin said. “I have an idea. If we keep heading along the path, it will lead us right to the robotics trailer on the other side of camp.”

  “So,” Warner whispered behind Kevin. “What’s the plan, man?”

  “We’re going to use the drone car from the robotics lab to spy on the aliens,” Kevin said.

  “But we never finished it,” said Warner. “Remember? The receiver was broken.”

  “Yeah, I know, dude,” Kevin said. “I was there. But if we put our heads together, I bet we can get it to work.”

  “Great idea, Kev!” said TJ. “This is gonna be sweet!”

  “Yeah, except for the whole part about spying on a bunch of psychotic aliens,” Tara said, rolling her eyes. “Oh wait, that’s the entire reason we’re doing this.”

  “Tara,” said Klyk earnestly. “If we don’t find out what we’re up against, whatever it may be, we’ll be powerless to stop it.”

  Klyk climbed up Kevin’s back and perched on his shoulder like a pet parrot. Staying low to the ground, Kevin crept back up to the walking path weaving through the woods.

  “Hup . . .” Tara gasped, squinting through the foliage. “Kevin, wait! Don’t . . .”

  But it was too late.

  About twenty yards off, a tall, lean figure lurked beyond the pines. The alien had the shape of a human-sized lizard. Some kind of alien weapon was slung over its shoulder.

  Kevin froze in place while Klyk unzipped the backpack and dove into the pocket. Tara, Warner, and TJ all disappeared out of sight behind three different tree trunks.

  Kevin stared straight ahead, stiff as a statue, as the alien strode toward him. Kevin’s lungs tightened as he held his breath. The six-foot-six reptilian strolled silently down the path. The alien henchman stopped in its tracks and paused, flicking its gaze toward Kevin. Its head slinked to the side like a serpent gauging its prey before a strike.

  Kevin held still, trying desperately not to shake or breathe or blink. He let his eyes go blank, avoiding eye contact. He had to look just as frozen as the camp around him.

  The man-sized lizard alien took a few steps forward and stopped directly in front of Kevin. Its nostrils flared as it sized up Kevin’s motionless form.

  The reptilian grunted, and two puffs of hot breath shot out of its nostrils. The stinking air hit Kevin’s face and stung his eyes, making them water.

  The immense alien reptile gave Kevin one more glance before continuing on with its patrol through the forest.

  “What the heck was that thing?” Kevin whispered once the alien was out of earshot.

  “That, my friend, was a Kamilion,” Klyk said. “Part of a warrior race of reptilians with skin that can blend in with any background. I’m surprised there was only one of them—they usually travel in packs.”

  “You mean there could be more of those things?”

  “There usually are,” Klyk whispered in Kevin’s ear. “But we’re in the clear now. Let’s keep moving. Before it’s too late.”

  Kevin stopped at the brink of the forest and peered out past the lab trailers, scanning the campgrounds. In the distance, the campers and counselors looked like an outdoor gallery of wax figures trapped in awkward poses of shock, fear, and panic.

  The lab trailer was only a short dash away. Kevin and the others had to be quick. At any second they could be spotted by one of the Kamilions.

  “Okay, let’s go!” Kevin ordered in a firm whisper. The five of them took off in a full sprint and skidded to a halt behind the mess hall, which was still covered in arachnopod silk.

  Kevin touched the silk and remembered earlier in the day when Mim’s pet arachnopod—a half tarantula, half octopus named Poobah—
had swallowed their shrink ray. They had reversed the shrink ray so it would actually enlarge anyone it zapped, in the hope that they could return Klyk back to his regular size. But when Poobah swallowed the alien technology, he suddenly grew to five times his normal size and began wreaking havoc on the camp. Kevin and his friends eventually defeated the gigantic alien beast—and retrieved their shrink ray—but not before it had cocooned everyone inside the mess hall.

  It was only a few hours ago that they were fighting off Poobah, but it seemed like an eternity had passed. Events were occurring so quickly it felt as though time had become compressed, as though the seconds were ticking off the clock at the speed of light.

  They had everything to lose and no time to spare.

  Quietly they snuck past the extraterrestrial cocoon around the mess hall and hustled behind the trailers until they reached the entrance to the robotics lab. With Klyk on his shoulder, Kevin opened the door to the trailer and hurried in, followed by his three friends.

  “Wait a sec,” TJ said as he swung the door shut behind them. “Why isn’t all this stuff freeze-rayed, too?”

  “The freeze-ray bomb is unique because it only affects certain kinds of matter,” Klyk explained. “People, animals, plant life, but not man-made objects like a regular freeze-ray would.”

  Kevin surveyed the room for the remote-controlled drone car they had begun a few weeks earlier at camp. “Perfect,” he said, spotting it on a shelf across the lab. “It’s right where we left it.”

  The five of them gathered around the storage rack. Their unfinished drone car was made from a regular remote-controlled truck that could be bought at any toy store. They had fashioned it with a microphone and wireless camera feed that in theory would transmit sound and video back to a monitor located in the lab. But they could never get a signal to transmit.

  “Come on, let’s take a look at this thing.” Kevin lifted it off the shelf and carried it to the video monitor sitting on the worktable.

  Warner, Tara, and TJ gathered around their project. TJ touched his forehead to Tara’s temple and held it there.