Advertisement
Not a member of Pastebin yet?
Sign Up,
it unlocks many cool features!
- Chapter Twenty-Two
- You run.
- Boom! Boom! Boom!
- Jake is right in front of you. Ax in front of him.
- The others are behind you somewhere. I’m glad my legs aren’t as short as Marco’s, you
- think.
- You can hear the dinosaurs closing in.
- Boom! Boom! Boom! A sound like rolling thunder. Like a train bearing down on you.
- BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
- Here and there, you catch a fleeting glimpse of the herd. Long necks. Huge tails. Big and
- heavy enough to smash you like a steamroller.
- Your leg muscles burn. Your lungs ache. But you push yourself harder. Fueled by fear.
- <A T-rex!> Tobias yells. <Heading this way!>
- BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOMBOOMBOOM!
- Closer, closer. The thunder grows louder. Surrounds you. The herd is all around you.
- You try to run with it. But the long-necked dinosaurs are faster. And they’re also fueled by
- panic.
- WHAMMMM!
- The ground bounces, stumbling you to your knees.
- “ScreeeeeEEEEEE!” a long-necked dinosaur squeals in panic.
- A shadow that blots out the moon and stars. Trembling, you turn and look. Then—
- CHOMP!
- “Agggghhhh!” you scream.
- Darkness. Hot breath. A slimy, rough surface beneath you. A tongue!
- You’re in T-rex’s mouth!
- GULP!
- Pressure on all sides. Squeezing you down and down some nightmare tunnel.
- You’re being swallowed!
- A bigger opening. Liquid all around. Water. No, no, no. Too hot to be water. Digestive acid.
- You’re being digested.
- You are blind. Deaf, except for a sound of churning. And the steady bass drum of a heart
- beating.
- You grin up against warm flesh, up against something that feels like bones. T-rex’s last
- snack?
- You’re holding your breath. You don’t want to breathe in the battery acid T-rex has in its
- stomach.
- What can you do?
- With a desperate burst of energy, you try to claw your way out. But it’s hopeless. You can’t
- grab onto the smooth flesh lining the dinosaur’s belly.
- What can you do?
- The Ellimist has given you only one morph: roach.
- You begin to morph.
- Almost immediately your oxygen-deprived brain calms down. Your thinking grows clearer.
- Roach bodies can live longer than humans without much air.
- You’re growing smaller. Now the churning of the stomach isn’t so painful.
- You’re alive. But for how long?
- You pass out. Wake up. Pass out.
- When you wake up the second time you notice the stomach has stopped churning. Your
- roach senses can smell fresh air.
- You force the roach toward the air.
- Run!
- Up a tube the size of a water pipe.
- Run!
- Out into a cavern lined with sparking teeth.
- Run!
- Across a plain of pink flesh.
Advertisement
Add Comment
Please, Sign In to add comment
Advertisement