• [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
    //-->C H A PT E R 1Whummph!BAAAM!I slammed the Hork-Bajir into the concrete.Pinned him against the subbasement wall withtwo massive tiger paws.His red eyes burned with hatred. His face wasa twisted horror as he pushed back, desperate tofree his tail blade from behind his body.I strained to reach the scarred, saddle-leatherflesh of his neck. To rip out the throat.By the way, I'm Jake.Can't tell you much more than that. Like mylast name or where I live. I can't even tell youwhere I go to school. Here's what I can tell you:Earth is being invaded by parasitic slugs callediYeerks. Still with me? Pretty hard to believe,huh? See, humans seem to be their latest prefer-ence in host bodies. They take thousands a day.Make them into slaves. They just squeeze intoyour ear canal. Wrap themselves around yourbrain. Tap into your memories and dreams. Andthen they tpke over. You can't even decide whento blink. No control at all. It's like your skull be-comes a prison. And you're trapped in your ownhead. No way out.My friends Marco, Rachel, Cassie, Tobias, analien kid we call Ax, and I are the only active resis-tance. So now you're asking yourself, "How aresix kids preventing the total takeover of Earth?"Well, we were given the power to turn into any ani-mal we touch. To actually acquire the animal'sDNA. To morph. The Andalite technology was a giftto us from Ax's older brother, Elfangor. After hecrash-landed, and before he was murdered.So anyway, we're the only ones fighting back.We managed to slow the Yeerks down a little. Butit was getting harder to keep up the fight. Harderto keep it together."Hhhhhrrroooowwwwrrrr!" I roared.He faltered and I lunged forward. Missed! Histail broke free and he slashed!And carved a hole in my underbelly!I watched, stunned and helpless. Those weremyguts, spilling frommybody! I froze up for one2instant too long. He pushed me down onto pipesthat. . .Tsssssssssss!<AHHHHHH!>My fur was smoking, my flesh scalded!Adrenaline cracked through my chest like awhip. I was up again, face-to-face with a Yeerk-infested Hork-Bajir.I had one more chance with this guy. Thiswas it. And suddenly the vividness of the sceneseemed to recede.Don't get me wrong. My guts were still spillingout of my belly. Exhaustion still pressed on myshoulders like a granite slab. But I was in a newzone. It was him or me.Claws bared, teeth flashing, I leaped.WHAM!Heaved him into the wall.WHAM!Plowed him into the concrete. His skull hithard.WHAM!His tail dropped. His eyes went lazy, thenrolled up into his head. He groaned weakly andslid down the wall.We were three floors underground, in thedark, dank subbasement of a downtown high-rise. Pipes and ducts ran close overhead. Youcould hear cries and growls from floor to ceiling3and wall to wall. I wheeled around. And only thendid I see how insanely bad things were.We were completely outnumbered.Cassie was one against two. Marco one onfour.I had to help them!But I'd drawn a living barrier. Five battle-hardened Hork-Bajir, holding their blades likecocky gunslingers, were closing in on me like thewalls of a collapsing room.Just beyond the Hork-Bajir was what lookedlike — what Ihopedwas an exit. A steel accor-dion door thirty feet away, opposite the stairs.<Everybody out, now! Get to the door!> Iyelled, but the other screams and cries andcrashes drowned out my words.<More on the stairs! And Taxxons. I can smellthem!> My best friend, Marco. Every quaking syl-lable told me he was at the end of his strength.I caught a glimpse of Rachel, hobbling towardthe sound of shock troops pouring down thestairs. <Come on!> Her voice cracked. Bloodgushed from gashes around her eyes, blindingher. <Where are they?!> She slashed her grizzlybear paws wildly.<Rachel, no!>Three Hork-Bajir struck. Ran her across theroom like a football-tackling dummy."TSEEER!"4Tobias swooped and plunged, talons first. OneHork-Bajir fell off, clutching his eyes. Cassieclamped on to another's heel and yanked hersteel-trap jaws from side to side.Rachel was still helpless.I backed up nervously. I was surrounded,closed off from the others by the approachingHork-Bajir barricade. My butt hit the concretewall.I reared up and roared. Seven hundred poundsof ripping claws and slicing teeth. Fluid strength.Mercurial speed. The male Siberian tiger. Thebiggest cat in the world.But my roar echoed back unmasked. I heardfalse confidence. I detected despair."Ghafrash nyut!"said a voice like gravel."Die!"The nearest Hork-Bajir lunged, blades flash-ing.Mouth open, I leaped. My fangs sank in deep,past the armor of skin. Into the meat.He jerked back and fell under my weight. Irolled off and slammed to the floor. My right ear!Still stuck to his wrist blade! Sliced off!Two more were on me. I'd forgotten anythought of victory. Now it was simply a mindlessstruggle. A blade embedded in my left hindleg . . .Focus, Jake. Survive.FWAAP!5A tail blade cleaved the air above me. Bluefur.It was Ax.Fwaap, fwaap, fwaap!Two assailants slumped and crumpled to thefloor. A third screamed and cradled his knees.<Prince Jake, if we do not leave now, we neverwill.>Movement.<Ax!> I cried. <Hit the floor!>Ax ducked. The bladed body of a Hork-Bajirwhistled through the air.Then there was a fierce metallic crash andhiss.Psssssssssh h h h htttttt!A cracked steam pipe! An explosion of steam!Pressurized fog billowed across the floor. It en-veloped the room, everyone and everything. Con-fusion took over.Now or never.<Now!> I ordered. <Bail!> It was impossibleto see more than an inch ahead. The scaldingcloud burned my skin and eyes and throat. Chok-ing on steam, bodychecking Hork-Bajir, I ran forthe parking garage door and slammed my bloodymass on the weight-sensitive panel. The door be-gan to creak open, inching up at first, then risingrapidly. Six inches, twelve inches, eighteen.Cassie squeezed out through the opening.Then Ax. Tobias.<l'll kill them!> It was Rachel's voice. Ravinglike someone possessed. <Get your hands offme, Marco! I'll kill them! I'll kill them!><Shut the door, Jake!> Marco roared. <Thereare more on the stairs!><Marco, Rachel, get out of here now!><We can't. Rachel's . . . can't leave her. Youcut the Yeerks off or it'll be too late!> He wasbreathless, but insistent. <We'll find some otherway out.>A Hork-Bajir emerged from the steam cloud,saw me, and broke into a run. Time was definitelynot on my side today.Lose everyone, or lose two?I dropped and rolled under the door, sprangup and broke the glass box that housed the emer-gency close switch. Engaged the switch.What alternative did I have? What choice?The door ground to a halt, hesitated, thenchanged directions, descending like a slow butcertain guillotine. Cassie's wolf eyes fixed on me.<What are you doing? You can't trap them inthere. You can't leave them!>67 [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

  • zanotowane.pl
  • doc.pisz.pl
  • pdf.pisz.pl
  • wzory-tatuazy.htw.pl