Up In Flames

Chapter 3

"A python?" I ask. The same memory began to lure me in, but I stop it in time.

"Not just any python..." Uncle Bombo mutters.

"Who?" I wonder. Before my question is answered, a voice pipes up.

"Helllooooo little ones." We all freeze. I feel sick in the stomach. First the fire, and now this?

"Come and be my dinner" the snake purrs. "I bet you are all so tasty." his tongue flickers.

"Who-who are you?" I need to know. He seems so familiar.

"I am Pato, and this is my home, which, may I add, you are intruding on." the snake, now introduced as Pato, slithers closer.

"D-don't h-hurt us!" Pookie begs, tears shining in her sparkly brown eyes.

"Give me one reason why. You animals don't move into my part of the forest and get away with it!" the python hisses loudly, his voice raspy. His thick body slides over the slick ground. We, the prey, sit like statues, with the fear paralyzing our muscles. Pato coils, ready to strike, but I am suddenly scooped off of the ground. Bombo saved us once again.

"Thanks, Bombo. Frumble and I will never be able to repay you." Pookie admits sheepishly.

"No problem. I care for you guys, and I don't want to see you get hurt." Bombo smiles at us.

We rest on yet another tree. It looks so much like our old one, making me feel homesick.

"Time for some shut-eye." Bombo suggests, perching on a limb. "Just make a nest anywhere."

Pookie settles across the limb, and I watch her until I fall asleep. Only to make sure she's safe, of course.

I woke up to the sound of a roar. No, not a jaguar roar. A roar of a machine. It causes the tree to vibrate and shudder, and I shake with fear.

"Bombo, Pookie, wake up! Something's happening!" I shake them until they jerk awake.

"Humans." Bombo says with his eyes wide.

A large tree suddenly crashes to the ground, creating the loudest noise I have ever heard.

"Come on, we have to move," Uncle Bombo says urgently.

Once again, we hop onto his back, and we ride for about forty minutes. A lot of other animals are running or flying, too. We stop once the chainsaw noise had ceased.

"Let's camp here tonight," Uncle Bombo says.

We stop at a tall, sturdy tree, just as the rain begins to fall. I am so worn out from the week's events, but sleep doesn't come to me. I think about how Kembi was dead because of irresponsible humans. A python almost killed us. Humans chopped down trees, almost killing us. It's like the whole world is out to get us.

"What are you thinking about, Frumble?" Bombo asks.

"I didn't know you were awake," I say. "And I was thinking about Kembi, Pato, and the humans. Why does it seem that everyone is out to get us?"

"It's just nature." Uncle Bombo suggests.

Pookie stirs in her sleep. We look over at her. She is so pretty when she's sleeping...

"Go to sleep, Frumble," my uncle says. "It's late. We'll find food in the morning."

"I miss Kembi," I say suddenly.

"Me too, little one," Uncle Bombo smiles at me sadly. He falls asleep moment later, as do I.