Monkey Puzzler , livre ebook

Troubador Publishing Ltd - Phil Tomlinson

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76 pages

English

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Monkey Puzzler is the second book in a trilogy. It follows young heroine, Zoe Marshall, as she challenges the strange occurrences in her hometown, Cristelee. In this sequel to The Soul Snatcher, Zoe is trying to write an essay when she comes across a strange story in the local newspaper. She is certain she has seen the article before... Meanwhile, Bob Waterhouse - following a traumatic encounter with monkeys and a lion in the local safari park - is offered a job as sales representative by a mysterious but charming stranger, Zak Araz, who seems to know all about Bob's life. Bob begins his door-to-door selling with a special offer courtesy of Mr. Araz, a free computer game. When Zoe's family plays the game, she notices a change in their behaviour as if they were being controlled. After a night out with a friend Zoe realises that a spell has been cast on the town. Puzzled by her brainwashed community, she sets out to find answers from Zak Araz and soon afterwards is paralysed by a venomous spider bite. As Zoe recovers in hospital, she notices that something weird is happening to the clocks and calendars. She believes that Zak is somehow responsible for all of the strange events and when astrophysicist Professor Tompkins reveals evidence of alien activity in the safari park Zoe realises that the future of the World and the Universe is under threat. With the help of the professor and promoted officer DI Benson, Zoe attempts to save her town and the planet from mass destruction. The story climaxes inside the monkey compound in the safari park with a battle between animals and humans, resulting in a terrifying conclusion. This adventurous novel will be enjoyed by children aged 10-16 who relish fantasy fiction. Readers of sci-fi will find this story out-of-this-world with excitement as heroine Zoe tries to save Cristelee.

Informations

Publié par	Troubador Publishing Ltd
Date de parution	28 juillet 2014
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781783066575
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

MONKEY PUZZLER
PHIL TOMLINSON

Copyright © 2014 Phil Tomlinson
Cover idea by author
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study,
or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in
any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the
publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with
the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Enquiries
concerning reproduction outside those terms should be sent to the publishers.
Matador ®
9 Priory Business Park
Kibworth Beauchamp
Leicestershire LE8 0RX, UK
Tel: (+44) 116 279 2299
Fax: (+44) 116 279 2277
Email: books@troubador.co.uk
Web: www.troubador.co.uk/matador
All characters appearing in this work are fictitious.
Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
ISBN 978 1783066 575
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Matador ® is an imprint of Troubador Publishing Ltd

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To my family and friends
Contents

Cover

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty One
Chapter One
Saturday 4 th April 2015 dawned brightly in Cristelee as the townsfolk went about their daily business, unaware that by sunset Cristelee would change and a chain of events would begin – a chain that would expand until it threatened the existence of not only the town, but planet Earth and the whole of the Universe too.
In Cristelee Safari Park, Sam and Holly Waterhouse squealed with laughter as they watched the monkeys running all over the cars and making off with anything that was loose. Both children were out to enjoy themselves, completely oblivious to the part that their family was about to play in sparking the aforementioned events into life.
“Aren’t they cute?” asked Holly. “Especially that little one. He’s trying to do what the others are doing, but he’s too small to carry anything.”
“I bet the family in the car in front don’t think they’re cute,” said Mr Waterhouse, “and neither will I if they climb all over my car and take bits off it!”
“Oh Dad, you are a spoilsport,” Holly complained. “I hope they do get on our car and then we can see them really close up.”
Mr and Mrs Waterhouse had taken their two children to the safari park for a special treat. The family didn’t go out much together these days as they didn’t have a lot of money. Mr Waterhouse had recently lost his job, so things had changed quite a bit financially. He had also lost the use of his new company car – however, he had managed to buy a much older, and well used, model with part of the money he had received when he left work. He needed a car so he could look for other jobs and besides, his family weren’t that keen on using buses.
He knew it would be hard to find work in the current climate. He was also aware that money would get even tighter with every day he was out of work. So when a friend offered him a free family ticket for a day out in the safari park, Mr Waterhouse had jumped at the chance – and now here they all were driving around the park and enjoying themselves as they looked at all of the animals that roamed wild. Well, as wild as was possible in the various enclosures that had been designed to try to replicate their natural habitat.
To be honest, Mr Waterhouse was quite worried by the monkey’s antics as he watched the thieving creatures taking bits from the vehicles in front. A roll of coiled electrical cable and a box of tools quickly disappeared from the back of an open pickup truck, taken away swiftly by four large primates.
Serves him right for leaving them in there when he’s driving through here , Mr Waterhouse thought, rather uncharitably.
As he continued to watch the monkeys, he saw wheel hubcaps, windscreen wipers and anything that could be prised loose, wrenched away from the car ahead. Mr Waterhouse sighed inwardly as his mind quickly began to imagine the damage the marauding beasts could feasibly inflict on his outdated vehicle. Gingerly he put the car into first gear as he inched forward in the queue, already dreading what might be about to unfold during the next few minutes.
“It’s hot in here,” said a voice alongside him as Mrs Waterhouse began her complaint. “At least we had air conditioning in your company car. We’ve got nothing in this one.”
“I’ll open the window, Mum,” said Sam helpfully, winding down the old-fashioned handle as he spoke.
“NO! Don’t do that, you’ll… ” Mr Waterhouse’s half-shouted warning tailed off rapidly as a monkey leapt onto his shoulder. Within seconds, the car was full of small furry creatures, climbing over seats and pulling at the steering wheel and dashboard.
“Close the window!” He yelled. Sam did as he was told, but it was far too late. Outside, monkeys were swarming all over the car, pulling at anything that looked as if it would come loose.
Inside the vehicle, there was panic as the humans tried to evade the leaping, scrambling and shrieking primates. Holly and her mother covered their faces and heads with their hands as they cowered down in their seats. Sam and Mr Waterhouse flailed their arms wildly in an effort to disperse the hopping, vaulting and clambering animals – who certainly weren’t averse to giving the odd bite if someone happened to get in the way. Most of them were now seemingly focused and fixated on the buttons and fittings on the dashboard facia.
“Shall I open the window to let them out, Dad?” asked Sam.
“No!” snapped his father. “You’ll let even more in. You should have had more sense than to open it in the first place.”
He thought for a moment then added, “Listen, I’m going to open the door in a minute and go outside. So when I give the word, I want you all to try and shove the monkeys towards the door while I try to stop the others from coming in.” Mr Waterhouse’s voice was cracked and shaky as he spoke. He stopped the car and opened the door, and soon found out that his idea was most definitely not among the best he’d ever had.
The quartet watched helplessly as the monkeys ran riot inside and outside of their car. The roof rack was removed, as was the radio aerial – one of the creatures had even managed to locate and somehow press the button that opened the car bonnet, which now rose into the air like a miniature suspension bridge.
Mr Waterhouse groaned and shook his head, quickly becoming animated as he grabbed at two monkeys that were trying to pull his car radio from its fittings in the dashboard cavity. The monkeys dodged his grasping hands and with a couple of twists and tugs succeeded in removing their desired and treasured object from its secure setting.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, two of the larger apes had somehow managed to disconnect the car battery and haul it from its cradle, along with a handful of wiring and one of the headlights. They were now hightailing it towards a small copse of trees on the far side of their enclosure, triumphantly dragging their booty behind them.
Mr Waterhouse, seeing the creatures depart with the most precious and essential parts for ensuring his vehicle’s mobility, was furious. He leapt from the car without warning and began to chase after the fleeing animals, yelling loudly for them to bring the vital components back.
With the car door now fully open and no other unsecured items left for them to take, the monkeys inside the vehicle seized the chance to escape and quickly followed their fellow simians in the direction of the trees, each one hauling their own bits of contraband as they scampered away.
Mr Waterhouse was still chasing the monkeys and by now was some way from the car. His wife called out to him, “Bob, Bob, come back! There are wild animals out there.”
As Mrs Waterhouse yelled at him, she realised that all of the other vehicles had gone from the compound. She and her children were now all alone in the open safari park and her husband was running around outside, where heaven only knows which creatures might be lurking in the undergrowth and wooded sectors.
Even as the thought struck her, she saw a movement from the corner of her eye. Focusing her full gaze on the area where she’d seen the motion, her heart sank as she caught sight of a large tawny beast complete with a huge mane of dark hair. It was a lion and it was heading straight for her husband!
Bob Waterhouse saw the lion at about the same time as his wife did. He stopped dead in his tracks, scared to breathe, as he surreptitiously surveyed the scene around him. The lion had slowed now, and it seemed to be circling and stalking him. Bob glanced back at the car, where he could see his spouse frantically waving at him. In his head, he was trying to calculate the distance between them and work out whether he could get back to the vehicle before the lion got to him.
Bob desperately searched his memory bank in an attempt to recall the wildlife programmes he had watched on TV, as he sought to remember how lions caught their prey. He knew that if he ran, then the beast would outrun him and would probably tear him from limb to limb. His mind suddenly threw up a picture from a programme he had seen recently in which a lion had been stalking a wildebeest. The large antelope had slowed to a walk unaware that it was on the big cat’s dinner menu. The lion had been very patient, flattening itself to the ground and inc