The Predator by K. A. Applegate
Authors: K. A. Applegate
Becoming again. Crying.
It was Ax. He sounded terrified.
Terrified.
They are only parts, like cells. Just pieces. What kind of foul creatures are these?>
Tobias said.
Cassie said, sounding shattered.
Ax is right. Each of us is only a part. Like a single cell within a human body.>
Tobias said.
Jake asked.
Rachel said.
Jake asked.
One by one, we said yes. It was only partly true. Yes, I had gained control over the ant mind. But it was still there. It was powerful in a totally new way. It was the simplicity that made it hard. The ant was a piece of a computer. Just a tiny switch, a part of a much bigger creature—the colony.
Cassie’s “voice” in my head.
She was right. I could kind of see. But nothing I saw made any sense, anyway. I could recognize blades of grass. But a long, sloped wall that seemed about six feet high was a mystery to me.
Tobias said.
The wall. Tobias’s talon.
Tobias said.
If there was a fence, you couldn’t prove it by me. I saw nothing. The bottom of the fence was seven or eight body lengths above me. Irrelevant.
Tobias said.
We did. I barreled through a forest of grass. Then, very suddenly, it ended. We were out of the grass and racing across a moonscape of boulders, each the size of my head.
In my ant brain the alarm bells were still ringing. Enemies! Enemies! Their scent was everywhere.
But it was not fear I felt from the ant brain. It was not capable of emotion, or anything like emotion. It simply knew that there were enemies close by.
And it knew that it would come down, sooner or later, to kill or be killed.
CHAPTER 13
W e hit the wall. I knew it was the concrete wall of the foundation. I knew, logically, that just a foot or so over my head, the wall became wood siding. But I could not see that kind of distance.
What I saw and felt and “smelled” was that the horizontal world had simply stopped. Reality had a corner. The entire world, as far as I was concerned, was a corner between concrete and sand, one vertical, one horizontal. The concrete was full of cracks and pits big enough for me to climb inside of.
Jake reminded us.
Rachel said.
She was right. I found the tunnel, too. It was one of
theirs.
It belonged to the enemy.
Ax said.
Jake said grimly.
We headed down the tunnel. The smell of the enemy was powerful. Their stench wrapped around us. We were an invading force. We were going deep, deep into enemy territory.
The tunnel was narrow. Boulders brushed constantly against my abdomen. My legs kicked some away. Others had to be moved aside. I should have felt cramped and
Terrified.
They are only parts, like cells. Just pieces. What kind of foul creatures are these?>
Ax is right. Each of us is only a part. Like a single cell within a human body.>
Rachel said.
One by one, we said yes. It was only partly true. Yes, I had gained control over the ant mind. But it was still there. It was powerful in a totally new way. It was the simplicity that made it hard. The ant was a piece of a computer. Just a tiny switch, a part of a much bigger creature—the colony.
She was right. I could kind of see. But nothing I saw made any sense, anyway. I could recognize blades of grass. But a long, sloped wall that seemed about six feet high was a mystery to me.
The wall. Tobias’s talon.
If there was a fence, you couldn’t prove it by me. I saw nothing. The bottom of the fence was seven or eight body lengths above me. Irrelevant.
Tobias said.
We did. I barreled through a forest of grass. Then, very suddenly, it ended. We were out of the grass and racing across a moonscape of boulders, each the size of my head.
In my ant brain the alarm bells were still ringing. Enemies! Enemies! Their scent was everywhere.
But it was not fear I felt from the ant brain. It was not capable of emotion, or anything like emotion. It simply knew that there were enemies close by.
And it knew that it would come down, sooner or later, to kill or be killed.
CHAPTER 13
W e hit the wall. I knew it was the concrete wall of the foundation. I knew, logically, that just a foot or so over my head, the wall became wood siding. But I could not see that kind of distance.
What I saw and felt and “smelled” was that the horizontal world had simply stopped. Reality had a corner. The entire world, as far as I was concerned, was a corner between concrete and sand, one vertical, one horizontal. The concrete was full of cracks and pits big enough for me to climb inside of.
Jake reminded us.
She was right. I found the tunnel, too. It was one of
theirs.
It belonged to the enemy.
Ax said.
Jake said grimly.
We headed down the tunnel. The smell of the enemy was powerful. Their stench wrapped around us. We were an invading force. We were going deep, deep into enemy territory.
The tunnel was narrow. Boulders brushed constantly against my abdomen. My legs kicked some away. Others had to be moved aside. I should have felt cramped and
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