[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.He plunged away into theforest, chased by howls and fearsome crunching noises.There were giantporcupines in this forest!Chuck realized he was still muttering his mantra to himself.He stoppedchanting.That should put an end to this dangerous vision.Nothing happened.Or, rather, nothing didn t happen.He was so startled that the forest hadn tfaded into emptiness that he almost stopped running.He was trapped!This reality had become too convincing for him just to be able to drop out ofit.What an irony! He d had so much trouble reaching the meditative state inthe first place; now he couldn t get out of it even when he wanted to.He had no time to think.Arrows thudded into the trees nearest him.Huntershad joined the porcupines in pursuit of him.He ducked and started crawlingover the bracken on elbows and knees, hoping nothing his pursuers wereshooting could penetrate the undergrowth.Behind him, he heard war cries, likethose of angry native villagers in the movies.Then, the screams grew shrillerthan the howling of tornadoes.Overhead, a creature zoomed in on him.It waslike a naked woman, but she had bat s wings, rows of teeth like a shark, andclaws like a wolverine.She screamed, bearing in on him with those clawsoutstretched, aiming for his neck.Chuck flattened himself and rolled under arosebush.He would rather be scratched by thorns than risk worse injuries.Thwarted, the fury shrieked angrily, zoomed upward, and became a human-sizedpropeller plane, like one from World War II.It immediately began strafing theground behind him with fire from mounted twin machine guns.The plane had apainted shark s mouth on the forward fuselage that opened and laughed at himover the engine noise.Chuck flipped over onto his belly and crawled fasterthan he ever thought he could.This was Bergold s changeableness striking allover again.Each new threat was more horrible and dangerous than the next.Could he die of fright? This was a ridiculous situation because of the mutablenature of the Dreamland he might never know what it was that killed him!Out of the corners of his eyes, Chuck saw the shadows gathering again,hurrying to head him off and surround him again.Crawling was too slow a meansof escape.He clambered to his feet and started running.In the distance heheard a solid twang!, followed by a sound like pyeeew!A rock the size of an automobile came hurtling over his head and thudded down,shaking the earth, and crushing a bush like a man might crush an empty canunderfoot.Shards of wood flew up, whipping past his ears.More gigantic rocks hit the ground, hemming him in.Chuck started running thisway and that, but every escape was cut off as he jumped back to avoid beingcrushed.The shadows flitted between thestones, cutting off his meager light, looming in on him.A blanket ofblackness surrounded him.He threw up his hands to ward it off, and a heavypaw in the darkness struck him on the shoulder.Oof.Chuck folded halfway up as his knees wavered.More blows rained down on him.He protected his head with his arms and tried to push his way out.Armsroughly shoved him back into the middle of the circle and continued to poundon him. Who are you? he cried.No one answered.He tried to hit back.His arms feltheavy, lethargic, as if he was swinging through molasses.If he did connect,the force of his punches was absorbed by thick fur, like a bear s.What werethese things?Page 86ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlAs if in answer, the ground started to roll under his feet.A new round ofSleeper influence! Maybe it would put an end to this meditation.Instead, thechange only let him see it better.Lightning split the sky, parting the forest crown.In the flash of gray light,Chuck saw the faces of his assailants, and suddenly wished he couldn t.Theywere eight feet tall, covered with dark brown, shaggy fur.Their hands werehuge paws with eight claws apiece.And their faces! Orange eyes the size ofhis palm with sideways-slitted pupils glowed like search lamps.Their yellowteeth were sharp as broken glass.Through them, a blood-red tongue licked out,almost touching Chuck s face.Their breath was as potent a weapon, smelling ofweek-old sewage.He staggered, his heart pounding with fear.Monsters! Real monsters! He started punching at them blindly, wanting them togo away, wanting to be left alone in peace.But their paws pounded down on hisshoulders, struck him in the ribcage, bruised his head and face.He didn thave his adult muscles to protect him.Chuck was battered over and over untilhis knees gave way.Feet as well as paws began to strike him now.He fell fulllength onto a blanket of leaves.His hands curled into the crunchy mass.Oh, why wasn t this a real blanket!That was what he used to use to protect himself against monsters in his roomat night.His grandfather had always told him that if he pulled his blanketover his head nothing could ever harm him.He must have been thinking hard enough to wake up the influence, because thecushion of leaves softened and melted together into a pale-blue coverlet.Avoiding kicks from the monsters, Chuck rolled underneath the blanket anddesperately clutched it around him.Go away! he thought at the monsters.Scram! Bug off! The monsters shuffledaround, sniffing and growling ferociously.He squeezed his eyes shut.Theroaring got louder as they realized they could no longer see him.His heartpounded so loudly he was sure they could hear it.Where was everyone else? There had been thousands of people in the Gardensbefore.Why did none of them see that he was under attack? He had been leftall alone to face peril.It wasn t fair.No matter what happened to him, itwas all wrong.He heard snarling not inches from his head.He felt like such acoward, but what could he do against beasts with long sharp teeth and claws?He hoped his grandfather had been right.He wished his mother was there to puther calming hand on his shoulder, to rub his back and drive away the demons.Chuck could almost feel her hand on his back, and hear her soft voice.Instead, he heard the monsters snarling, and trembled.He was glad the blanketprevented anyone from seeing him just now.Tears wet his cheeks and seepedinto the pillow suddenly underneath his head.The pounding in his chest turnedinto sobs that wracked his body with spasms.He was afraid.Any moment now they would tear him apart and eat him.When the tears stopped, Chuck felt a sense of utter relief.He didn t have tolook down at himself to know he wasn t a little boy any longer, but that wasall right.He was happy to be a grown man.If there was no one else there, hewould face his demons alone.He could do it.Chuck sat up and pulled the covers off.They vanished into the leaves on theforest floor.He looked around, ready to spring up and do battle, no matterwhat happened to him.But the growling noises had stopped.The hairy beastswere gone.Another bearlike being rose up beside him.Chuck felt a surge ofpanic for a moment, but as soon as reason returned he realized the being was aman-sized Winnie thePooh.Round and golden, it stood rocking on its heels, its tummy stuck outlike a little child s.It cocked its head and its black, shoe-button eyesgazed at him sympathetically [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]