Chomp is a common phrase in this book: It is what happens to each main character when they meet up with the reality of their situations. For example, Wahoo gets chomped by Alice when he is showing off and accidentally puts his thumb in the wrong place. Mickey gets chomped by Beulah when he visits her and realizes pretty quickly that she hasn't eaten in a while. And, of course, Derek gets chomped many, many times because of his very poor decisions about how to treat animals. One of those chomps spins the book's action into high gear after a bat bites Derek. Ultimately, the high action of the book ends with a chomp: Derek sinking his big teeth into Jared's greasy neck.