Everworld 06 - Fear the Fantastic by K. A. Applegate

Author:K. A. Applegate
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 1999-01-02T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter

XVI

I dreamed of April. She was floating above me, loose robe flowing on a breeze. I smiled. Her robe stif ened, extended, buzzed, she dropped.

"Ahh!"

The Hetwan landed on me. Mouth parts chewed the air in front of my face.

I shoved, a panic shove, but enough. The Hetwan didn't weigh much. Like throwing off a ten-year-old.

I rolled, yelled, "Hetwan!"

But everyone was already awake, all yelling, all flailing and punching and kicking. David was hacking through the aliens, working Galahad's reborn sword.

Twenty of them. They had attacked from the air. April's hair tangled a Hetwan's mouth parts. Ganymede landed a nice kick that crumpled one of the creatures. Dionysus was swatting with his big beefy hands, no concept of fighting.

I kicked my way free. Saw one of the horses rearing, whinnying in terror, saw his rope snap, and he was just haunches thundering away.

Weapons. We needed weapons.

Two Hetwan jump-flew at me. They hit me from opposite sides, knocked the air from my chest, I fell to my knees, staggered, sucking, unable to draw breath.

They were chewing at me, chewing, I felt flesh tear, saw my own blood, sucked a quart of oxygen, slammed a shoulder into the mouth, slammed the other direction, tripped. On me. More now. On me. Face in the dirt, fingers grabbing grass, pulling myself along, a stick!

A branch. Crooked, too heavy, but better than fingernails. I swung the branch back in an awkward jerk that grazed one of the bugs.

Suddenly I broke free. I couldn't make it to my feet, ran squatted down, felt a burn, a terrible burn, just a graze along my shoulder, but the pain was electric.

Fury boiled up. I turned, whipped the branch around. It had two side branches, kept me from using it very well.

He was close by. He had his knife out. Saw what I wanted. He whipped the blade down, sliced off one branch, whipped it up, removed the other, and something I hadn't thought about, chopped the top of the main stick off at an angle.

Now I had a four-foot staff, a bit crooked, but with a dull point.

I didn't waste any time. I stabbed a Hetwan in his belly. The point didn't go in, but the alien went down. I clubbed another of them, and suddenly the Hetwan withdrew.

I heard the trees moaning. Wood chippers? Some other horror?

The Hetwan backed off, disappeared in the darkness.

"Are they giving up?" April panted.

David said, "No. Something they have to deal with. I don't know what's going on, but they'll be back. That way. Run!"

"We are very near to Ka Anor's city," Dionysus said, and if I'd had a clear head, I'd probably have heard the warning in his voice.

But I was too busy running. All of us, thundering along, no food bags, no horses, no nothing but sheer adrenaline.

I ran. Stopped. Stopped very suddenly blame the earth just ended.

But momentum had carried me, a second too long, a second earlier, if only I'd seen and now, now I was waving my aims, windmilling, trying to step back but overbalanced.

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