Excerpt from Space Bugs

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Zach Bergman strapped on the life suit and zipped himself in. What had he been thinking? He had been looking forward to a totally boring month at space camp. Well, not exactly looking forward. This was the same space camp he and his friends had been coming to every summer since forever. He was fifteen now, for crying out loud, and camp was for babies. It was always the same: sissy hikes down the moon crater, making stupid keychains out of pseudo-leather, nasty mystery meat meals from the syntho-cooker. He had seen it all and done it all. Or so he’d thought.

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Now here he was, watching smoke curl up through what was left of the bay door seal. He glanced nervously over his shoulder. The hot smell of burning plastic and wire hit his nostrils. As soon as the wires burned through, the door would slide open. And chances were the Gregarians would be on the other side, ready to swarm back in.

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He glanced across the launching pad as Trudy Jackson helped another boy get his huge feet into his suit the right way. What a dork! Zach checked the breathing vent on his suit to make sure it was working right. One week. They had been at camp one week and all hell was breaking loose.

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Zach turned back to the other two teenagers and said, “Time’s up. We gotta move out now!” Trudy grabbed her helmet and headed towards the lifepod. It was their only way out of the campground. Brian Walsh was still struggling into his suit. Zach picked up Brian’s helmet and slammed it into his chest, hard. “Now, loser,” he repeated.

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Hurrying, Brian tripped over his own feet and stumbled. Zach grabbed him by the front of his survival suit and pushed him roughly towards the lifepod. With a sneer, Zach taunted, “You know what I’ll do to you if you don’t get that helmet on before we take off?” Brian turned pale and shook his head. Zach laughed and said, “Nothing. You’ll be dead already!”