...........................................The Sewage Scavenger by Elle Mair

"And he ...SCORES!" yelled Jake whooping as he paraded round the football pitch completing his lap of honour

"Doh" said Rob, Jakes best bud, "I'm rubbish in goals and you know it. Time to change over!" he moaned whilst booting the mud covered football across the pitch, into a marshy patch of grass."Okay dokay." answered Jake. "Just wait till I get this ball!" He pulled down his T shirt [which he had up over his head while he'd been celebrating] and ran over to the rusty brown drain that the ball had landed on. He picked it up and bounced it up and down, up and down on the old drain."Got it!" he shouted proudly turning round to show Rob. But he was nowhere to be seen.#The colour drained from Jake's face quickly, where was he. what was going on?!

Suddenly the ma\rshy ground started bouncing and wobbling like Jelly, throwing Jake to the ground. he screamed and yelled, his brain spinning out of control with confusion. Then everything happened in a flash. The brown drain flew with a pop into the air, water started sailing up like a great fountain, soaking the now terrified Jake. Then, suddenly, with a wallop and a smash a great, muscly, giant of a monster landed beside him...

It was greyish brown in appearance, sleek and shiny like silk. Its head was like a huge boulder, bumpy and lumpy with big bulging eyes blazing like balls of fire. I t opened its mouth and let out a roar, showing the sharpest and scariest canines you can ever imagine. It slammed down a colossal paw beside Jake's face, making him want to throw up.It was bristley and webbed with three thick nails that were four inches long and could kill a man with one swipe. It swished a great rubber tail at Jake and before the little boy could scream he was knocked into a deep, deep darkness...#

"Aaaagh !!!" Jake had awoken with a jolt. He looked around him and tried to figure out what happened to him.He closed his eyes. No! he thought, none of this can be happening.Its only a dream, he told himself, in 5 seconds I will pinch myself and I'll be back on the muddy football pitch playing with Rob. "1, 2, 3, 4, ...5! Oww!" Jake yelled then opened his eyes again slowly. No luck. He was still in this smelly room in the middle of nowhere.

He moaned and tried to sit up but had no luck as pain went shooting up his side. He rolled over crying loudly and reached out to a huge bumpy boulder, pushed down on it and used all the strength he could muster to pull himself up on to his feet.As soon as he got up though his head began to spin and he coiuldn't focus properly so he sat down on the boulder and looked around him trying to figure exactly where he was. Jake heard water rushing past the cylinder shaped room.Then something else exploded into his memory. Just before he had been knocked out the drain had shot into the air and a monster had jumped out of it, then it had knocked himout. Jake now guessed that it had been the monster that had taken him here, back down the drain into... the SEWERS!

He squinted round the shadowed room again, it must be part of a pipe that wasn't included in the sewage system or it would be full of water. Jake then thought of what he would be doing back home. Eating his Mum's delicious homemade macaroni cheese, watching T.v and snuggling down deep into his warm snug bed. "Doh!" he yelled out "Why did I have to be abducted by a sewage scavenger!" Helifted his foot and gave the boulder a big kick. Wrong move! A mouth opened on what had looked like a boulder gave a roar then two blazing red eyes appeared angry and startled. Jake screamed, the monster! It gave a heave and rose from the darkness, creeping towards him like they do in movies. The Sewage Scavenger lifted a paw, Jake closed his eyes...

"Aaagh!" Jake screamed though he wasn't dying, he wasn't even hurt or injured, in fact, the 4 inch nails were only used to tear through Jake's lucky football strip to hold him as the monster bounced and bounded along the pipes. Jake didn't even struggle he was exhausted and couldn't care less if he was eaten or survived.

But one person who did care and who desperately wanted Jake to be saved was his Mum. His mum had been worried sick ever since Rob had come running into her house and told her the bad news. He told her that they had been playing football when the ball landed on a drain, "Thats when I hid behind the goals." Rob continued "I seen it all, the drain opened, a monster jumped out and took Jake down into the sewers!"

Straight after she knew what had happened she phoned the police, the fire brigade, an ambulance and even a man who called himself a 'Monster Hunter' Within 15 minutes all of them were waiting by the drain for anything to happen.They were armed with guns, axes,swords and tranqulizer darts and were told by Jake's Mum to shoot whenever they saw it appear. But so far after 1 hour and 45 minutes nothing had happened.

Underneath the ground in the pipes the monster was still thundering along carrying Jake by his strip, hooked on by a tooth. Frozen with fear Jake had had enough trauma and was about to give up when the monster started going upwards. Up means one thing, LAND! Jake thought and a spark of hopeflickered into life and by the time Jake saw the same drain they had come down it had grown into a raging fire.

Up on the ground the people there to save Jake sensed that they were coming as soon as the ground started to wobble. Then as they were told to expect the drain popped and flew into the air, the water exploded like a fountain again and... nothing came out. Confused they looked at each other letting their guard down only until they heard a roar and out flew the terrific monster. The Monster hunter reached down grabbed an axe and swung it down hard on the sewage scavengers neck. Its head head flopped and rolled oozing out blood. A fireman ran over to where Jake had landed, hauled him up and hugged him tight, "I've got you Sonny, you're going to be fine now!" The police phoned Jake's mum and told her he was saved. She arrived shortly and took them all home for a celebration,a party for the heroes she had called it.

After they had gone the headless monster, still alive slipped back down in to the darkness of the sewers ready to grow back a new head and repeat some adventures!