Animorphs 19 The Departure

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paradise, and you hate me for wanting to live there, too."
"I don't hate you."
She ignored me. She was talking for herself now. "What choice do we
have? Back to the Yeerk pools? Back to our home planet, with Andalite
Dome ships in orbit above us, waiting for one of us to try and rise from
the sludge, then blow us apart? Leave the universe to the almighty
Andalites and the species they happen to like?"
Karen gave me a bleak, hard look. "There are those of us who wish it
could be another way. That there was some middle choice between being
slugs beneath the Andalite hooves, and being ... and being . . ."
"Slave masters?" I suggested.
I expected her to yell at me. Instead she put her face close to mine.
Her voice was low. Her green eyes so enormous I almost felt I could see
through them to the Yeerk inside. "What would you do, Cassie? What would
you do, if you were one of us? Would you live your life as a blind,
helpless slug?"
I didn't have an answer. Instead I looked away.
A chance look.
Tan and black! Moving fast!
"Aaaahhh!" I screamed.
The leopard took two liquid, silent steps and with the third step,
opened its killing jaws, aiming for Karen's throat.
The leopard flew.
Karen never even had time to react. Neither did I.
But someone did.
It happened almost too fast to see. A blur of gray hurtled down from the
sky. It hit the blur of tan and black.
A flash of talons, bright red blood welling around the leopard's eyes.
"Rrrooowwwrr!" the leopard snarled.
But it hit Karen, just the same. Down she went. I lunged toward the leopard.
Wham! It hit me with the back of one paw, as cool and calm as Jackie
Chan. It was like being slammed by a hammer. I went down hard.
"Aaaahhhh! Help!" Karen screamed.
The osprey fluttered up a few feet, then came down again in a second
attack. It raked the leopard's face, but this time the leopard struck back.
With a crumpling sound, the osprey was knocked down. It lay jerking and
heaving in the dirt.
I had already started morphing, but it was too late. The leopard opened
its jaws. Karen, on her back and screaming, kicked wildly at its face.
The leopard chomped her leg. Its jaws closed right over the splint of
sticks. Karen screamed, in pain this time.
The leopard looked around, coolly surveying the situation. It could
smell the dangerous wolf smell already coming from me. It decided maybe
this was not the place to eat its prey.
The leopard began to drag Karen away. It still held her ankle and
dragged her along backward across the dirt and leaves and pine needles.
"Help me! Help me, Cassie! I'll let you go, I swear! Help me!"
I staggered after her on bandy, half-wolf legs, lumbering clumsily and
slowly, half-human, half-wolf.
"Help me! Help me! Aarrggghh!"
I looked at Marco. Because, of course, he was the osprey. He was
fluttering weakly and starting to stand up. He was also starting to demorph.
He'd be okay. But Karen would not be okay. As soon as the leopard
felt safe it would apply the killing bite: to the throat, to the back of
the neck, or even to the head itself.
I was mostly wolf now. But would the leopard back down? The last time,
I'd scared it away before it got to Karen. Now it would be defending its
"kill."
And I had a bad feeling about fighting a leopard one-on-one.
I bound forward, letting out a threatening growl.
The leopard turned, keeping Karen's leg twisted in its mouth. It stared
at me with curious ye I low eyes.
We were each about a hundred and fifty pounds. We each had powerful
jaws. Each of us was fast. I had an armor of thick fur around my neck to
ward off bites. But the leopard's teeth were much longer than mine. And
it had four deadly paws, each armed with hooked, ripping, razor-sharp
claws.
I felt a terrible sinking sensation. One-on-one, in a fight to the
death, I would lose.
We stood staring at each other, just a dozen feet apart.
Karen lay on her side, shaking in terror, her face contorted by pain.
"Help me," she moaned pitifully. "Don't let him eat me."
I was shocked. I knew right then: The person begging for help was the
real Karen. Not the Yeerk in her head.
At least if I charged, the leopard would have to let her go to fight me.
I advanced a few steps. The leopard opened his mouth and spit out
Karen's leg. It bared its teeth, drawing its lips back in a hideous snarl.
It screamed a threat: "Hhhheeerrrooowwwrr!"
It wasn't going to just walk away this time. It had tasted the blood of
its prey. It wasn't going to walk away without a fight.
Karen began to crawl slowly away, sobbing.
The leopard watched me. With senses so alert they made the air tingle
with electricity, it watched me, waiting, ready.
I said.
I charged.
It was like running into a tornado. I thought the wolf was fast. It [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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