Attack of the Killer Frogs (2 page)

Missy stayed behind. She hadn't left the cottage all day.

Lily ate one Jaffa cake and tossed the other two into the open suitcase. Then she set the trap, hid behind a bush, and waited.

From her hiding place, Lily could see the Blue Harvest lab. The fields around Blue Harvest were very bright green. They seemed too green to be real.

Everything was too quiet. No birds sang. The only noise she could hear was the low rumble of a farm machine on the Blue Harvest fields.

The machine came closer. Lily heard a soft hissing.

It sounded like something being sprayed through a high pressure hose.

A strong chemical smell filled the air. It stung Lily's eyes.

She put a hand over her mouth.

Lily didn't want to breathe the spray. She thought it might make her sick.

Lily didn't notice the reeds on the far side of the pond start to move…

A huge, flat head forced its way through the reeds. Yellow eyes fixed Lily with an evil glare. Slimy snot bubbled as the frog sniffed the air.

The giant frog peered over the side of the suitcase.

Then it jumped inside – and knocked the stick that held the trap open.

Lily jumped up as the suitcase slammed shut. She put a big rock on top of the case to stop the frog from getting out.

Then she raced back to the cottage.

“Come and look, quick. I've caught the mutant frog!” Lily cried. She pulled Mum through the door. Dad followed with a big grin on his face.

“There,” said Lily when they reached the pond. She pointed to the case. “I've trapped it.”

Dad moved the rock and lifted the lid. “Argh!”

Lily jumped with fright. But Mum and Dad were laughing. Dad held up the empty case.

“If you are going to hunt giant killer frogs,” said Dad, “make sure there are no holes in your traps.”

He showed her a big hole in the suitcase.

“That wasn't there before,” Lily said. “The frog chewed its way out!”

The worst bit was that Lily's parents thought it was all a joke.

Hidden from sight, hungry yellow eyes gazed at Lily's pink toes. Two giant frogs licked their lips.

At tea-time, Dad put his arm around Lily.

“Sorry I laughed at you,” he said. “Maybe it was a ferret you trapped. Or a rat.”

“It was a frog!” Lily yelled. She stormed out of the room.

Rose Cottage only had one bedroom. Lily slept downstairs on a sofa bed. Normally, she thought it was cool. But tonight she was scared.

Lily pulled a chair across the cat flap in the back door.

Then she fell asleep – until an awful scream woke her.

Lily sat bolt upright.

The chair in front of the door had fallen over. The cat flap was hanging open. Missy was gone.

“What the heck was that?” Dad clomped down the stairs.

Clumps of Missy's fur were stuck to the cat flap frame. There was blood. And a slimy wet frog footprint –
inside
the house.

“A fox, maybe,” said Dad. “Missy must have chased it off.” He grabbed a torch and headed outside.

Lily saw another slimy frog footprint. Then another. And another.

She followed the prints to her sofa bed and found a big green puddle that smelled a bit like cat's pee.