“But they scare me.”
“That is true, too,” Toto said.
“Yeah, I could have guessed that,” Sam yelled as they dodged another lumbering creature.
They could keep dodging the bugs, maybe forever, but when Sam tapped the gas gauge it showed just an eighth of a tank.
There was a hand pump built into the dock’s gas tank. But it wasn’t as if Drake would let them pull in and refuel.
“We need gas,” Sam said.
He headed the boat away from the marina, keeping close to the shore, hoping Drake’s creepy army would follow. They were faster on land than in the air so they zoomed in their crazy bumblebee way back to land on shore.
He looked back and saw Drake urging the creatures on. They were quick, skittering on their insect legs. But not quite as fast as the boat. At top speed he could pull away.
“Are we running away?” Toto wondered.
“Yes,” Sam snapped.
“That’s not true.”
“Is there any way to shut you off?” Sam demanded. “We’re faster than they are. So we’re going to draw them off, double back, and beat them back to the marina.”
“Then what?” Dekka asked.
“We gas up and drive around out here forever,” Sam said.
“Great plan,” Dekka said.
“Sooner or later Drake gives way to Brittney. We might have a shot then.”
It didn’t take long at full speed to reach the end of the lake. The huge roaches swarmed along the shore, rushing eagerly to catch up. None were airborne now.
“Where’s Drake?” Jack asked.
Sam scanned the insect army. No sign of Drake. Sam killed the engine, saving gas for the mad dash back to the marina. In the sudden quiet he heard a different engine.
A sleek boat with two big outboards was throwing up a cloud of spray and whump-whumping toward them. There could be no doubt as to who was driving the boat.
The bugs on the shore. Drake on the water.
“If he has a gun, we’re in trouble,” Dekka said.
“He doesn’t need a gun,” Sam said grimly. “He can ram us. He’s unkillable, we’re not.”
“What do we do?” Jack asked. Then, more panicked, “What do we do?”
Dekka put a calming hand on his shoulder. “Take it easy.”
Sam measured the shoreline, checked the gas supply, glanced at his two friends, and finally appraised Toto.
“Dude, do you think you can pump gas?”
Toto looked away and passed the question along to the imaginary Spidey head. “Can I pump gas?” Then, apparently hearing an answer, he said, “Yes.”
Sam fired the engine up. He turned the wheel, waited, waited, as Drake’s bow wave grew large.