Danger Guys on Ice (5 page)

This is impossible, I thought. It'll never work.

Slowly Chill pushed a giant lever forward and the red coils started to glow. “Live again, my giant Neanderthals!”

KA-ZAP!

A powerful red blast flashed at the cavemen. They sizzled all over. They began to drip.

But what if it did work? I looked over at Zeek, all frosty and still. Maybe Chill
could
do it. I could see it all now. “Monster Cavemen Destroy Peaceful City!”

I imagined Uggo and his pals marching down Main Street with their giant clubs. I shuddered.

KA-ZAAAP!
The second blast hit the Neanderthals. Small pools of water spread out on the floor. The cavemen were starting to slide a little on the icy floor.

“Yes!” Chill laughed. “Even now they begin to live! One more blast, and it's Byebye, Mayville!”

It was only a matter of seconds now. The Melt-O-Ray was rumbling. In fact, the whole laboratory was rumbling. The computers were sizzling and sputtering. The lab was heating up.

“This whole place is going to blow!” I cried. Then it hit me. The avalanche that nearly killed us had been caused by Dr. Chill and his stupid ray gun! One more avalanche like that and—the lodge would be destroyed! Zeek's family!

No way! Chill had already frozen my best friend. I couldn't let him get Zeek's family, too!

It came to me in an instant.
Dr. Chill must be stopped.
I didn't know how I would ever pull it off, but I had to try. I was the only one left.

I had to do it. For Zeek.

The Melt-O-Ray got louder and hotter. The final blast was coming. It had to be now.

I scanned Zeek's face. Even though I knew he couldn't see me, I gave him a thumbs-up.

That's when I noticed something strange about Zeek. Something about his face. It was different.

It was one of those funny little smile things at the corners of his mouth. The kind he does from across the room in Mr. Strunk's class. The kind that always makes me laugh.

But—how? I thought. He's frozen solid!

Then, so slowly that only I could see it, Zeek lifted his thumb up.

He was alive!

I didn't know how—but it didn't matter.

Zeek was alive! Ya-hoo! The boys were back!

Meanwhile, Chill laughed louder and louder as the Melt-O-Ray turned white-hot. The heat was incredible.

If it didn't cool down soon, it would—

Cool down? Wait a second.

I looked up. All the way up. To the ceiling. To the skylight. To the icy snow swirling outside.

Yes! In a fraction of a second I had it all worked out. An incredible total action plan! Well, almost total. I still had to figure out a couple of tiny details.

I nodded a small nod at Zeek and motioned with my eyes over to the Melt-O-Ray, then up to the skylight, then to Uggo, then to the main control panel on the wall.

Zeek knew exactly what I meant. He was reading my mind. Yeah, we were a team all right! The best team in the world.

ZZZZZ!
The Melt-O-Ray was glowing white-hot. Dr. Chill was going for the firing lever.

I remembered what Zeek had said about saving the surprises for the bad guys. Well, this was one bad dude. And we had one big surprise for him!

I nodded at Zeek. He was ready.

So was I.

“Party time!” I cried out.

TEN

Our timing was incredible. Zeek and I blasted into action as if we were one person.

Dr. Chill wasn't expecting us, especially Zeek, to move at all. So when we exploded into motion, old Chillface was totally surprised.

“B—b—back to your seats!” he screamed.

Ha! As Zeek dashed for the main control panel, I breathed out, got skinny, and—
slurp!
—I slipped through the fingers of the ugly claw and hit the floor running.

Well, sliding, actually. The floor was pretty slippery. I skidded, did a weird leap like an out-of-control figure skater, and landed with both feet on the back of the Amazing Melt-O-Ray!

FWWAAPP-O!
The third and most powerful blast shot out, just as the white-hot barrel swung up to the ceiling—

CRASH!
The ray hit the skylight. Glass tinkled to the floor.

Suddenly—
WHOOOMP!
—about a ton of heavy white snow dumped into the lab. The red-hot Melt-O-Ray hissed and sputtered and froze up! Icicles formed all over it. The rumbling stopped.

“Yahoo!” I shouted. “My plan actually worked!”

Huge drifts of snow buried the cavemen and—
Errch!
—stopped them cold.

“No!” screamed Dr. Chill. “Awake, my mighty cavemen!”

“Sorry, Doc,” cried Zeek, diving in midair for the control panel. “They're taking a nap! They're on ice! Forever!”

Yeah, that was Zeek, some kind of superhero! Except that on his way down he caught Uggo in the shoulder, just as the snow was covering the other cavemen.
Umph!

Uggo slid forward in a pool of water and started to glide across the lab.

Zeek slammed against the control panel buttons and—
zip-zip-zip!
—a huge door on the far side of the lab slid open.

Chill went nuts! He whipped out his Freez-Beamer pistol and started firing at Zeek and me.

“Take that! And that!” he cried, as he blasted at us again and again. But we were moving too fast to get iced.

Finally, Zeek took a running leap, dropped to his knees, and slid across to me.

“Glad to have you back!” I said, with a smile.

“Glad to be back,” said Zeek. “What's our escape plan?”

KA-ZAP!
A blast zinged near our heads.

My smile faded as I ducked. “Bad news. I never really got to the escape part.”

“Oh,” said Zeek.

Suddenly—
Thwank! Thwank!
Two brown chewed-up boards dropped from the skylight and bounced across the floor.

I looked at Zeek. He looked at me.

“My skis!” I shouted.

“I think they're trying to tell us something!”

“Like, here's our ride?”

We jumped on the skis to make our escape.

They didn't budge.

“We're doomed!” cried Zeek.

ZAAAP!
Chill's freeze shot missed us but hit a pool of water. The whole floor froze instantly into a sheet of ice.

Zeek smiled. “Should we thank him now?”

“Later!” I cried. We pushed on the skis.

Umph!
Something knocked us down.

I looked up, expecting to see Dr. Chill standing over us with his ugly silver ray gun. I expected him to sneeze a couple of times, then zap us stiff.

I expected wrong.

It was Uggo! His big frozen shape slid slowly by us and right onto my dad's skis! They stuck to his icy feet. Then he started gliding toward the door on the far side of the lab.

“Grab him!” I shouted to Zeek.

Zeek's eyes bugged. “Uggo? No way!”

Zzzwap!
Chill blasted the air near Zeek's head.

Zeek didn't think twice. He pushed me onto the skis behind Uggo. Then he jumped on behind me. We slid through the door and down a dark tunnel. We picked up speed. Then we
really
picked up speed. We were flying.

Rrrrrr!
We heard a growl behind us. It was Dr. Chill on his snowmobile.

“Hurry, Noodle!” shouted Zeek.

“Hurry, Uggo!” I shouted, as a blue blast whizzed past my ear.

Dr. Chill's snowmobile closed in. He was gaining on us with every second.

The tunnel was ending. There was nothing but darkness ahead. I closed my eyes as Chill pulled the trigger.

ELEVEN

ZAAAAAAAP!

There was a bright light.

I felt cold all over.

For the third time that day, my whole life flashed before me.

Three strikes, you're out. I'm dead!

“Noodle!” yelled Zeek. “Open your eyes!”

“Wha—?” I opened my eyes.

Sunlight and snow!

Cold mountain air!

We were outside!

I shot a look behind me. Zeekie was right there. “Hot dog!” I shouted. “We're not dead!”

We zoomed down the mountain—two kids and a frozen caveman on one set of skis! We were incredible!

But—
thwaaaaap-o!
—Chill was still hot on our heels, firing away, and gaining.

Suddenly, there was a big bump ahead of us.

And I mean a BIG BUMP!

“Uggo, turn!”

But Uggo didn't turn. He was dead, after all. We headed right for the bump.

FLOOO-OOMP!
We hit the bump, and Zeek and I went flying off the skis.

Uggo kept going.

It was amazing to see a frozen dead guy on skis. He raced down the mountain like an Olympic champion. Snow was spraying out behind each ski. He shot down the slopes faster and faster. My dad would have been proud.

“He's going for the gold,” I said.

“Yeah,” said Zeek, “amazing at his age.”

“Plus, he's dead,” I said.

Then Uggo flew high over a ridge and disappeared down the other side.

Crunch!
We heard ice shattering. Then the skis popped up and landed—
Flunk! Flunk!
—in the snow at the top of the ridge.

Suddenly, we heard a roar off to the side. It was Dr. Chill! He was coming in for the kill!

Zeek instantly bent down and gathered up a handful of snow. “Stand back, Noodle. This is what I'm famous for, remember?”

How could I forget? The Pilinsky fastball. Zeek packed the snow until it turned to ice.

“Let him have it, Zeekie!” I cried.

Zeek powered up, pulled back, and fired.

The snowball shot across the mountain.

FWAMP!

Direct hit! Right into Chill's controls. The snowmobile lurched into a deep snowdrift and stopped. Dr. Chill was buried up to his nose.

He yelled out something, then fell back into the snow.

I turned to Zeek. “Did he say something about a surprise quiz?”

Zeek smiled and shrugged. “I think we just had it, Noodle, and the teacher failed!”

I looked down the mountain and saw my dad's skis sticking up over the ridge. “Let's check out Uggo!”

When we got to where our favorite caveman had crashed, Zeek and I stared into the snow.

Our mouths dropped wide open.

We just stared and stared. We didn't breathe.

We were still like that when the rescue team came for us and Dr. Chill. We didn't even say hello. We couldn't. Our mouths were still hanging open.

They didn't close until an hour later, around some delicious double-chocolate birthday cake.

Zeek and I wolfed down most of it while everyone stared.

After a while, we began to talk. We told them about everything—especially our discovery at the very end.

“Footprints,” said Zeek quietly.

“Giant footprints,” I said. “In the snow. Heading away from the empty hole.”

Zeek's mom and dad just stared at us, as if they were in shock.

Emily made a strange face. “You mean, Uggo is walking around out there?”

I nodded. “‘Ancient Caveman Lives!'”

It was incredible to think about.

No one said anything for a long time.

Finally I turned to Zeek. “But one thing I don't get. Why didn't you really get frozen when Chill blasted you? I thought you were iced for sure.”

Zeek smiled. “Almost,” he said. “But you saved me.”

“Me?” I said.

He dug into his jacket pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of gold foil. “My Olympic medal, remember?”

He handed the medal over to me with a smile. It was the foil from my ice cream bar. There was a black mark right in the center where Dr. Chill's Freez-Beamer had blasted it.

“I did feel weird,” Zeek went on. “But mostly I was faking it. It's like we said, we save the surprises for the bad guys.”

I nodded slowly. “It's that danger thing, I guess. It's in our blood.”

Zeek gave me one of those tiny smiles. Then he said, “You know, Noodle, it
was
pretty dangerous today. It will probably be dangerous tomorrow, too. That's the good news.”