I actually got another chapter out so quickly! I'm so happy! You readers were all my inspiration, you know.
CHAPTER NINE
I gulped. But...there was still no way, right? That couldn't have been Ratmeat...right?
"Ooof!"
I banged into Uncle Donald, who must have stopped when I wasn't looking. Quickly, I hid behind one of the twins, but luckily Uncle Donald wasn't paying any attention.
Whew! Looks like I wasn't going to be punished today for not paying attention. Although, come to think of it, I haven't seen either Uncle punish the twins for banging into them.
"Well, here we are." Uncle Donald said slowly, gesturing with his arm.
No way...
What kind of animal is that?!
It was HUGE and looked dangerous! And...was that a saddle on the back? Can people even ride that thing?!
"Neat! A camel!" Dewey shouted, while Louie started jumping up and down on his toes a little. I noticed that he does that when he's excited.
"Don't get too excited." Uncle Donald said slowly, "We're just taking it part of the way."
"Donald, y'da expect us all ta fit on just one camel?" Uncle Scrooge asked.
Uncle Donald pointed to the right, and we could see two more of those things ready with saddles.
"Right," Uncle Scrooge said, "You boys take that one over there. Donald, you're riding this one. I've got the lead."
"Got it Uncle Scrooge," Uncle Donald said, and before I knew it they had somehow managed to get me onto one of the giant things with the twins.
"Ready?" Uncle Scrooge said, "Off we go!"
The three animals started moving, although they were surprisingly slow. The animal we were on followed the ones that Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald were on, but I think Louie was technically steering.
I sat really, really still the whole time. I didn't know if the horse-like thing would kick us off or bite if I moved the wrong way.
"Looks like it's going to be hot today," Dewey said, passing me his water bottle. Guess he wants me to hold it for him.
"Come on Huey, have a drink and pass it on." Louie said, "Don't hog it all for yourself!"
Oh. So they'll let me share their water. How weird!
I took a huge sip, and passed it up to Louie.
"Let us know if you need more," Dewey said, "It gets pretty hot in the desert."
Right as he said that, we turned a corner past a building and suddenly found ourselves in front of a field of sand.
"Whoa." I said.
I had never seen a real desert before. And how weird was it, that suddenly the city ended and the desert started!
"The Lost Civilization of the Drakes used to own this whole land, back when it was green and flourishing." Uncle Scrooge said.
I was surprised we could hear him, even though he was ahead of us.
"When the Drakes were at their peak, their civilization had accomplished feats of mathematics and science that are unparalleled to this day. This lead to the creation of their robots." Uncle Scrooge continued, "However, after they were conquered by the Romans their technology was forgotten."
"How come, Uncle Scrooge?" Louie asked.
"No one knows, lad." Uncle Scrooge said, "But some say that in the war, the Drakes hid their most valuable knowledge so that it would not be destroyed. The scroll I uncovered hints that their treasure was hidden under what was once an important outpost on the border of their country."
"And that's where we're heading?" Dewey asked.
"Precisely, lad." Uncle Scrooge said, "Donald, why don't ya steer properly?" Uncle Donald was kind of...going in zig-zags.
"Can't help it, Unc." Uncle Donald said, "I keep feeling like there's something behind us."
Uncle Scrooge took a look back, and then scowled.
"If there was, we could all see it. Stop looking back and control yer camel already!"
Uncle Donald groaned, but he did start going in a straight line again.
After he said that, it was mostly quiet. The animals kept stepping one foot in front of the other, and it seemed that no matter how many times I looked back the city behind us never changed size. It was like we weren't going anywhere.
It seemed to take a very long time before something changed, and suddenly a giant crack appeared in the ground in front of us.
"Well, this is where we turn in the camels." Uncle Scrooge said, leading his animal down a path into the crack. Up close, it was more like a giant canyon. Uncle Scrooge headed for a shack below that had been out of sight until then.
"Alright, everyone off!" Uncle Donald said, and somehow the animals sat down on the ground. Uncle Scrooge helped me and the twins down while Uncle Donald talked to some guy who walked out of the shack. It looked like he was supposed to take the animals?
"Now for the hard part," Uncle Scrooge said, shouldering his backpack, "Be sure to keep drinking yer water, lads!"
It was really cool how much they liked water. If this was Ratmeat and Crazyhair, all the water bottles would be filled with soda.
And suddenly, we were going down the crack on foot. At least there was shade down here.
"You okay lads?" Uncle Scrooge asked.
"Yes Uncle Donald." The twins said at the same time.
"Huey? What about you, are ya doing alright?" Uncle Scrooge asked.
"Yes." I answered.
We kept on walking. Uncle Scrooge and Uncle Donald ended up ahead of us. The path was down into the giant crack, so we were walking on a steep ledge the whole time. Of course it didn't go straight down; it zig-zagged.
"Hey Huey," Dewey said slowly, walking next to me, "There's something I've been meaning to ask you."
"Ok." I said.
"Um, well," Dewey said, "Why do you like Uncle Scrooge so much?"
"Huh?" I asked.
"Well," Dewey said, "He's really cranky."
"And mean!" Louie added. Since when was Louie listening?
"But he's really nice." I said.
"But Uncle Donald is nicer!"
"Yeah!" Louie said, "Uncle Donald is the nicest person ever. "
"Sure, sometimes he gets a little cranky, but you'll get used to it." Dewey said.
"So, why did you hide from Uncle Donald that time?" Louie asked.
"Well," I said, "He was scary. But not anymore, not really."
"How can he be scary?" Louie asked.
"Yeah." Dewey said, "He's just cranky sometimes. That's not the same thing as being scary."
Of course they'd think he wasn't scary. They were used to him.
"Does he hit you hard?" I asked. If he didn't, that would explain why they weren't afraid.
"What?" Dewey asked.
"Um, he never hits us. Why would you think that?" Louie said.
I didn't answer, because I thought I heard something else...
"Huey?" Louie said, "Did you hear me?"
Of course I heard him. But-
"Look out!" I shouted, and I grabbed the small shovel hanging off of Dewey's backpack.
Armed with the shovel, I stabbed it into the ground by Louie's feet.
Without a sound, the snake at Louie's feet crumpled to the ground. Quickly, I picked the snake up by the head and held it up. It couldn't escape this way.
"U-Uncle Donald!" Dewey shouted, his voice quivering, and suddenly both Uncles who had gone on ahead ran up to us despite their heavy backpacks.
"Kids! Are you all right?" Uncle Scrooge asked.
Uncle Donald asked something too, but as usual I couldn't understand him.
"Louie almost-!" Dewey said, pointing at the snake in my hand.
"Louie, are you ok?" Uncle Donald said.
"Yes, Huey got it."
"It's poisonous. Good job, Huey." Uncle Scrooge said, patting my head. That...felt really good.
"Here, hand it over."
I gave him the snake, and Uncle Scrooge yanked its two front teeth before dropping it into some bushes a little ways behind us.
"Donald, I'll take the lead and you take the rear. Kids, stay between us." Uncle Scrooge said. "We'll make sure this doesn't happen again, Louie. Don'tcha worry, lad."
We continued walking for a while. It wasn't even 8am yet, judging by the sun, but it felt like we had been walking for hours. After a while, Uncle Scrooge and Louie ended up walking a little ways in front, I was in the middle, and Uncle Donald was behind me a ways with Dewey. The twins hadn't really talked to me since earlier, but that was alright.
"Keep walking Uncle Donald," I heard Dewey say, "I'm going to tie my shoe."
"Ok, but hurry up." Uncle Donald said.
I took about five more steps. Then suddenly, I heard a familiar yell.
"GOTCHA!"
It was a horrible voice that I used to hear every single day.
I froze, and against every bone in my body I forced myself to turn around.
And there, standing behind us was Ratmeat. He was rushing forward, arms outstretched, for the only person he had his eyes on.
But it wasn't me. He wasn't even looking at me, because this was even more horrifying than my nightmares.
He was reaching for Dewey, the last one in line, still bending over to tie his shoe.
And Dewey was too surprised to do anything.