MN - 15 - Catches Reptile Scene

“Gotcha!” Liu said. He grasped the neck of a struggling creature nearly his own size. A moment before, the creature had been perfectly camouflaged against the nearby wall.

“This is the thing that spit acid in my face, down in the tunnels,” Liu said. He jerked the creature’s head aside just as a cloud of stinging vapor shot forth from its mouth.

But the creature wasn’t finished. It twisted and spun, trying to pull away from Liu. The two of them thrashed in the dust. Johnny couldn’t get near to give his friend a hand as they rolled over and over. The creature Liu had caught changed shape again and again, and shifted in color from the black of the stones to the green of jungle leaves, until finally it turned the dead white of moonlight. Its eyes were large and staring red.

The creature’s tail whipped out, taking Liu’s legs and pulling them from beneath him. Liu fell down heavily and lost his grip. In the same instant Johnny leapt into the white thing, grabbing the shape-shifter from behind, pulling it up and holding it away from his companion.

Liu scrambled to his feet.