The Mosquito Pire

By Zeaton Rooks

Felix G. Mosquito and his friends must fight their way across the treacherous swamp to the meadow, where they hope to find safety, but not everything works out as planned. Along the way, they meet deadly characters and learn valuable lessons about life.

Pires tales are fun adventure stories for children ages 7-13 and adults with a sense of humor.
Over thirty years ago, Zeaton Rooks created the first of the Pires character Felix the Mosquito Pire in a middle-school art class. Since that time, he has developed hundreds of Pires. Follow the adventures of Pires as they come to life in stories.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zeaton Rooks
• Release date: May 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310782008

Zeaton Rooks

Zeaton Rooks was born in 1964 in Roy, Utah. He now lives and works in Richardson Texas. Zeaton is a writer, graphic artist and a big fan of Dachshunds. Felix the mosquito Pire was the first Pires character created over thirty years ago in a middle-school art class. Now after development of over a hundred Pires and other characters, tales on their adventures are just beginning.Join the fun by following all the Pires characters on Facebook and at the official Pires website.

Book preview

The Mosquito Pire

A tale by Zeaton Rooks

Published by Zeaton Rooks

Smashwords Edition Copyright 2014 Zeaton Rooks

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book and all Pires characters remain the copyrighted property of Zeaton Rooks, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer.

Thank you for your support.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Swamp life

Chapter 2: Cattail alley

Chapter 3: Outpost 51

Chapter 4: Deamos Wog

Chapter 5: Nadine the wise

Chapter 6: Web for rent

Chapter 7: Vacas flacas (thin cows)

Chapter 8: Sweet poison

Chapter 9: The reunion

Chapter 10: A single drop of blood

Epilogue

About Zeaton Rooks

Connect with Pires

Chapter 1--SWAMP LIFE

Away from the big city, across a bright green field filled with black and white cows, there was a swamp. Not long ago, a few months maybe during a long hot summer, an egg bubbled to the surface of the murky water. This was no ordinary egg, mind you. This egg had an unusually small size and inside, a larva named Felix G. Mosquito, wriggled to life. Unlike Felix’s brothers, sisters, and friends who had surfaced a few days earlier amongst the reeds, he was late to hatch.

The swamp can be a dangerous place for an egg on its own. Fish, eels and dreaded frogs loved to dine on young mosquitoes. Like all hungry things, Lenny the Leech wanted desperately to drain little Felix of his blood.

When Lenny found Felix, he began to poke at his clear shell with his snout.

Felix clung to a cattail stalk for protection as Lenny tried and tried but the Leech could not get through the protective covering.

One day your bubble will burst and then I’ll have a nice lunch, Lenny said. He tried again to break the egg but his snout was round and his mouth too small to do any damage.

Stuck inside the egg, Felix missed his family and began to feel scared. He was alone and knew more things would come by nightfall, dark things, with eyes that glowed under the moon. Swamp monsters with teeth bigger than Lenny the Leech had.

Leave him alone, a voice said. A horse shaped shadow blotted out the green sun and then Delilah, the seahorse, appeared.

I’m not afraid of you, Lenny said.

Leave him alone or I’ll call my friend the water snake, Delilah said.

Just speaking of snakes was enough to send Lenny swimming out of the cattails. Snakes did not bother Felix though. He was too small for their tastes. Like many things he had learned in his short life, large creatures liked to eat smaller creatures, unless you were his size. He was too small to consider as snack-sized for most, but that did not stop them. Like the human world, sometimes creatures eat, just to eat.

Honey, you okay? Delilah asked.

Felix looked at her bright orange lips, red hair and green skin and smiled. The way she swished her horsetail, stirring algae to the surface, made him giggle. I think so, he said. He imagined she was his godmother and his little heart began to pound.

Delilah ate a mouth full of the blue-green algae and then swam close. You need to grow some legs and crawl out of this fish bowl if you’re going to survive, Delilah said. It won’t be long before summer is over and ice covers the swamp.

The end of summer Felix feared more than any eel, snake or frog. Even the spitting fish were less terrifying than what happens to a young mosquito when the frost comes. He wanted nothing more than to live forever. It was his most secret desire. Right now, stuck in the egg, he had yet to start living. Time was already running out.

A mosquito cannot live through the winter and with all the critters out to eat them, few lasted more than a several weeks. For the time being, little Felix felt safe in the water with Delilah watching nearby. When the sun began to set, the seahorse disappeared and he worried that she had gone home.

In the shadows, something dark lurked, possibly Lenny had returned.

No…no, this can’t be happening, Felix cried. His shell began to crack but his legs had not yet developed. He knew if the bubble burst now, the dreaded Leech would have him for dinner.

In the distance, he saw red eyes blink shut and then something swam behind a cattail stalk. Through the water, he felt vibrations, created by things swimming about him but he could not see them.

Suddenly the big red eyes returned with a set of giant shiny teeth that gleamed in front of his shell.

Aaarrrggg! the creature yelled.

The egg shattered and murky water surrounded Felix. His heart began to pound.

I don’t want to die…not like this, Felix begged as the thing with the red eyes swam even closer.

ARGGGG, it roared again, but it was still too dark to see what had made the sound.

With tiny little hands, he crawled on top of the last piece of shell and then around the cattail stalk to hide.

Soon, a full mood began to rise and the water began to squirm with more shadows.

Nightlife in the pond had begun and now more hunters would be out searching for meals.

Boo! A voice shouted and Felix screamed. He scratched and clawed for the surface but slipped on the algae. With no legs to help climb, he was stuck. His heart raced like never before and then something miraculous happened. He sprouted a set of legs.

The red eyes returned. Under the moon light, he now saw that it was Delilah circling around him all this time.

Why did you scare me like that? Felix cried.

I only did it to help you…its time to crawl out from the swamp, Delilah explained.

Behind Delilah, Lenny the Leech had returned. A pack of hungry, hungry friends appeared too and they had their eyes fixed on Felix and Delilah.

I’m warning you, Delilah said.

Lenny gave a deep hiss and his friends began to flex their muscular shoulders. Although they had no legs or arms, they had long slippery bodies and Felix knew they could out swim him.

By the time your water snake friend gets here, it will be too late, Lenny shouted. We’re going to feast like kings tonight.

The gang of Leeches began cheering.

Crawl Felix, crawl out of the water and away from danger, Delilah yelled. With a swish of her tail, blue algae clouded the water. Before she completely disappeared, Felix saw her draw-up her hooves and prepare to strike the Leeches swarming toward them.

Felix sunk his feet deep into the stalk and headed for the surface. Behind him,