Chapter 8
Greg
"Oh, God..." I muttered. I shut my eyes and looked away. I couldn't bear watching the creature, this... Well, not really a man in the traditional sense, but you know what mean, but I couldn't bear watching him die for us without doing something.
Of course, if I went in to save him, I'd be Visser Three's dessert. Not the best plan.
No! I heard the Andalite's voice in my head. I looked around, and saw Marco restraining Jake, who was holding a metal pipe. Tobias reached to help Marco, and Rachel and I moved to cover Jake's mouth before he said something stupid- In this case, 'stupid' being anything.
"Shut up, you idiot! You're gonna get us killed!" Marco hissed, as loud as he dared.
"Jake, don't you get it? He doesn't want YOU to die for HIM. He's dying for US!" Cassie whispered. I was relieved as he settled down, but then we looked back at the Andalite, and our relief died.
Visser Three held him high, and then let go of him.
The Andalite fell into the Visser's open mouth.
His cry of pain and despair is still in my head now.
The Hork-Bajir Controllers began to make this huffing sound. Maybe that was their applause. Or laughter. The Taxxon Controllers crowded themselves around the Visser's massive bulk. They stretched themselves up, like a dog begging for a treat, and then I saw why. A piece of the Andalite fell from the Visser's jaws and the nearest Taxxon greedily gobbled it up.
I turned away, not wanting to see any more of this.
Then I heard something strange. Strange because it seemed normal. Human laughter. Human Controllers were laughing like they were at a show.
The Visser slowly regained his Andalite body. Ah, nothing like a good Antarean Bogg morph for... taking a bite out of your enemies.>
The human controllers laughed and the Hork-Bajir huffed.
Marco started to throw up. I don't blame him. I was surprised that the rest of us weren't. But for some reason, the sound caught the attention of the nearest Hork-Bajir.
The head turned. He was perfectly still. So were we.
The Hork-Bajir turned toward us. The near sighted eyes were aimed directly at our little hiding place.
I don't know who bolted first, but in seconds, all six of us were running, getting as far away from the Hork-Bajir as we possibly could. I think that our brains stayed frozen there for a minute, because I didn't even realize I was running until I was about ten feet away from the spot.
"Split up! They can't follow all of us," I heard Jake call.
Marco, Tobias, Cassie, and I all went in different directions. Jake and Rachel are pretty athletic, so it seemed a good idea for them to draw the Hork-Bajir's attention. Rachel agreed, because even as I raced away from the site I could hear her hollering for the Hork-Bajir's attention.
Wow, I didn't know she knew that word.
Tobias and I wound up on the same path. We didn't say anything as we continued running, but instead scrambled out of the construction site and made it back to the mall. It wasn't conscious on our part, but we must have figured that it's safer to head to an area with people. Large groups of people. And also mall cops.
Armed mall cops.
Those Hork-Bajir and Taxxons may be deadly walking weapons, but even they had to get killed by a bullet.
Or, possibly, several.
Dozen.
Tobias and I leaned against a kiosk, gasping for breath. We stood there for a good few minutes, before finally Tobias turned to me.
"Do... Was that real?" he asked. I take a moment to gather my thoughts.
"I have no idea. It certainly wasn't a dream," I said. We stay there for a moment longer, then, together head home. I don't know where Tobias lived, and right now, I just wanted to get home.
If that was a dream, it was the most vivid one I've ever had, and probably ever would have. But since I didn't remember going to sleep, and since the Andalite's last cry was still echoing in my head, I swiftly tossed that idea out.
No, it had to be real.
For some reason, despite the fear of that thought, something else came out of it.
A sense of undeniable... coolness.