Shortly after the 4th of July, Nick and his friend Jason had some left-over fireworks and were setting them off in Jason's back yard. They didn't have much of an assortment, mostly just firecrackers, but anything involving fire and explosions was a good time. Jake was also hanging out with the older boys, mostly minding his own business and roaming around the yard. But then he suddenly stopped, began swatting at the air around him, and then ran and hid behind his older brother.

"Woah, what's wrong with you?" Nick asked as Jake crouched down behind him.

"Bees!" Jake pointed over to the clothes line. A few bees were buzzing around it.

"Really dude?" Nick sighed and rolled his eyes, "Jake, if you leave them alone, they'll leave you alone."

"Uh, actually..." Jason chimed in, "My mom got stung a few days ago when she was hanging up some clothes. We think they built a nest in the pole or something."

"Oh really?" Nick asked. "Don't you guys have anything that can kill them?"

"Well, we haven't really tried anything yet." Jason replied. "It just happened a few days ago."

"Oh, okay then." Nick decided to shrug off the topic. Pest control was boring, blowing stuff up was more fun. But when he picked up a pack of firecrackers, he stopped and thought for a moment. An evil grin spread across his face as he came up with an idea. "Dude, why don't we just blow them up?"

"What, with the fireworks?" Jason responded.

"Yeah man." Nick explained his plan, "Just stick some firecrackers in the pole, light them up, and blow up their nest. Problem solved."

"Hmm, that does sound kind of fun." Jason liked the idea, but he had one concern, "Are you sure we can do it without getting stung?"

"Yeah, we'll just run inside after we light the firecrackers." Nick had it all figured out. "By the time they go off, we'll already be half-way to the house."

Jason gave it some thought, then smiled back at his friend. "Alright, I'm game."

"Wait, don't!" Jake cried out, "You're just going to make them mad!"

"They'll be dead, how are they going to get mad?" Nick replied with a dismissive attitude.

"But what if you don't kill them all?" Jake was still worried.

"That's why we're going to run in the house, so they can't get to us." Nick reassured his brother. "It'll be fine, trust me."

Jake cut his eyes away and whimpered.

Nick sighed, "Dude, if you're that scared, why don't you go inside and let me and Jason handle it? You can hold the door open for us."

Jake was still uneasy about this plan, but didn't want to look like too much of a wimp in front of his brother. "Okay, I can do that."

"Alright, good." Nick turned around and grinned at Jason. "Grab some firecrackers. Let's do this."

Jake went inside and watched from behind the screen door as the two older boys approached the clothes line. The bees were buzzing around, but they weren't attacking yet. Jason handed Nick some firecrackers and he began stuffing them into the pole. After the entire pack was in place, Nick reached in his pocket and pulled out a matchbook. After he struck a match, A tiny flame danced on top of it as he held it up to his face. Nick and Jason were both giddy with excitement as Nick moved it towards the fuse. They heard the familiar hiss of a lit fuse as small sparks began flying back out of the pole. Nick quickly pulled the match back and waved it out, then turned to his friend and blurted out "Okay, go!" The boys turned and ran back towards the house, laughing as they heard the pops and bangs behind them. As soon as the explosions stopped, Nick yelled to his brother, "Jake, open the door!"

But Jake stood motionless. His face had turned pale and the fur on his back was standing straight up. He could see what the older boys couldn't: A swarm of bees were forming around the pole, and they didn't look too happy. Fear took over Jake's body as he began to back away. "No..." he muttered to himself. The bees were coming and he was starting to panic. "Aaah! NOOOO!" he screamed as he grabbed the back door and slammed it shut.

"What the- JAKE!" Nick jumped on to the back porch with Jason following right behind him. He flung open the screen door and tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn't budge. "JAKE! Open the door!" Both of them of them started pounding against it trying to get his attention, but the door stayed shut. Nick yelled once again, "JAKE! What the hell are you doing!? Open the fucking door!"

"JAKE!" Jason shouted as he banged on the door. It didn't look like Jake was going to let them in. He looked over his shoulder to try and come up with another plan, but instead he yelled, "Oh crap dude! RUN!" He jumped off of the porch and started running around the side of the house.

Nick turned around just in time to see the swarm coming for him. "Oh SHIT!" He tried to run, but they were already upon him. "AHHH! FUCK!" He tried swatting at the bees, but a few of them were still managing to sting him. Nick tumbled off the side of the porch into the grass, writhing and swatting as he continued to scream. He managed to roll over and get back on his feet, then continued running to the front yard.

"Nick, over here!" Jason yelled out as Nick turned the corner. He was holding the front door open and waving Nick in. Nick turned and bolted straight for it, almost tripping as he scrambled up the front porch steps. As soon as they both made it inside, Jason slammed the door shut behind them. Nick collapsed onto the floor as Jason leaned back against the door. Both of them were panting and trying to catch their breath; they could finally relax now that they were safe. But it didn't take long before Nick remembered that they had some unfinished business.

"WHERE IS HE!?" He growled. "JAKE! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?" Nick grabbed on to the couch and pulled himself to his feet. Then he muttered to Jason, "I swear to god I'm going to kill him." Nick stumbled into the kitchen and looked around. Jake must have run away and hid somewhere, because he was nowhere to be found.

"He's in here!" Jason called out from his room. "He's under my bed!"

Nick came running into the room and shouted "Jake! Get out here!" He didn't get a response, so he knelt down and looked under the bed. "Jake, I can see you, so get your ass out here!"

Jake tried to crawl further under the bed, but Nick reached in and grabbed him by the ankle. "No! Stop!" Jake yelled.

Nick dragged him out, then stood back up and clenched his fist. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kick your ass! What the hell were you thinking!?"

"I-I'm sorry! I got scared!" Jake was terrified and holding his hands up in front of himself.

"So you locked the fucking door on us!?" Nick shouted back at him.

"I was scared the bees were going to get in!" Tears were running down his face as he cowered from his brother's wrath. "Please, I'm sorry!"

Nick was gritting his teeth. He wanted so badly to beat his brother to a pulp, but in the back of his mind he knew he couldn't without getting in trouble with his parents. He didn't know what else to do, so finally he let out a frustrated growl. "Do you know how many times I got stung thanks to you? You're going to make this up to me somehow. I don't know how yet, but I'm going to think of something."

"O-okay..." Jake wiped the tears from his eyes and tried to calm down.

"Now get up and get me an ice pack. I need to go take these stingers out." Nick was still pretty angry, but was beginning to calm down as well.

Jake ran to the kitchen to get some ice for his brother, while Jason helped Nick remove the stingers that were stuck all over his body. Everyone was tired and just wanted to relax after all of this was over, which actually worked out pretty well given their new situation. With the swarm of angry bees outside the house, they had no choice but to remain inside for a while.