10 The Cannibals Are Coming!

Chapter 10 THE CANNIBALS ARE COMING! "Eeek!" squeaked Thudd. "Centipede! Centipede is meat-eater. Drewd and Oody gotta hide! Flip spoon!" Judy leapt off the spoon. She and Andrew flipped it over and hid under the bowl. They peered out from under the edge. The centipede's long antennas were wagging. Fang-like claws under its mouth opened like scissors. Its spiky legs moved as smoothly as a wave. "Look!" said Andrew. "There's another one chasing it!" meep… "Centipede is cannibal," said Thudd. "Try to eat other centipede."

Suddenly legs started falling off the first centipede. And those legs kept moving all by themselves! "Wowzers schnauzers!" said Andrew. "Legs on the loose!" meep… "When centipede chased by predator, centipede toss legs," said Thudd. "Try to confuse predator. Can grow legs back." The second centipede came so close to the spoon that Andrew saw the sharp claws at the tips of its legs. The centipede's last long legs whipped by—and knocked the spoon off Andrew and Judy. Both centipedes disappeared behind a watermelon rind.

"Wowzers schnauzers!" sighed Andrew. "I'm glad that's over!" "Okay, Bug-Brain," said Judy. "The sun is going down. We've got to get out of this dump before dark. That's when really awful things come out—skunks, foxes, even bats! Eeeeuw!" Judy shivered. "We have to find a high place," said Andrew, looking around. "If we can see Hugo's building, then we can figure out how to get there."

The craggy ground around them was buzzing with flies. There was a teacup, watermelon rinds, a broken eggbeater, and a birthday card smeared with mustard. "I can climb the—" Andrew began, when suddenly he felt the ground below him coming up!