Rapid Fire Read Online Free PDF Page A

were
first. “Come on, we’ve got to get out of there.”
     
    The
airplane noise increased to a ground-shaking roar, only it didn’t sound like an
airplane anymore. It sounded more like…
     
    Hoofbeats,
Maya thought with a clarity born of terror.
     
    The goats
and sheep inside the petting zoo galloped in circles, becoming a bleating,
milling mix of hooves and bodies. The lone bison in the far corner stomped,
shook his head and reared partway up, as though he might jump out of his
enclosure at any moment.
     
    Maya’s
heart rabbited in her chest. “Come on!” She scooped the girl up and ran for the
entrance, staggering beneath the weight of the child.
     
    They were
twenty feet from the door when a splintering crash sounded over the
mind-blowing rumble that went on and on and on. Maya risked a look back, and
nearly tripped and fell at what she saw.
     
    Bison.
Five, maybe ten of them, had broken through the back wall of the livery and
were bearing down on her at a full-out gallop. Their small eyes were wide and
scared, their nostrils flared with deep, sucking breaths, and their stubby
horns cut the air as they charged. The penned animal bellowed and crashed
through his fenced enclosure to join the others.
     
    Maya
turned and ran for her life.
     
    Hannah’s
arms were wrapped around her neck in a chokehold that nearly cut off her
breath, but Maya didn’t care. She had to get the girl to safety. Had to get
herself to safety.
     
    But where
was safe?
     
    She burst
through the petting zoo doors and skidded onto the main road. Thinking that the
bison would follow the path of least resistance, she bolted for the ticketing
area, hoping the buildings and the turnstiles would deflect them. She could
jump over while the bison turned, like some mad reenactment of the running of
the bulls.
     
    She heard
shouts and gunshots, saw figures running along the ridges on either side of the
ranch, and felt the growing hoofbeats in the trembling of the ground.
     
    But the
noise wasn’t coming from behind her anymore. It was in front of her.
     
    Suddenly,
dust gouted from beyond the snack bar, which was the last building in line
before the ticketing area. The noise increased to unbelievable proportions, as
though Maya was caught in a tunnel with trains bearing down on her from either
side.
     
    She ran
for the turnstiles, legs weak, lungs burning, too aware of the dozen bison
bearing down on her from behind.
     
    Then the
dust in front of her thickened to shadows. Legs. Horns. Mad, panicked eyes.
Twenty bison burst around the corner and turned down Main Street. Forty more
followed them. A hundred. A full, panicked stampede of thousand-pound animals
galloping hell-bent—
     
    Directly
at Maya and the little girl.
     
    Chapter
Three
    Heart
pounding a panicked rhythm in her ears, Maya bolted across the street, toward
the snack bar, which had an ice cream booth on the flat-topped roof. She
tightened her grip on Hannah and fixed her eyes on the stairs leading up to the
snack area. Up. If she could just get up, she would be—
     
    A heavy,
hairy weight slammed into her from behind, driving her to her knees. Hooves
struck her in the side and she curled her body around Hannah in a futile effort
to protect the girl.
     
    Then the
pain and the blows were gone. Too quick, Maya thought. That couldn’t have been
the whole herd.
     
    It
wasn’t, she realized moments later when she uncurled and looked around. She’d
been struck by the offshoot group, the dozen animals who had burst through the
livery after her. They had turned and galloped down Main Street.
     
    The
ground shook as the main herd bore down on her, no more than a city block away.
The noise increased by the moment, hoofbeats overlaid with snorts and bellows
and the sound of gunfire.
     
    Maya saw
white-rimmed eyes, red-flared nostrils and pounding, pulverizing hooves coming
closer. Too close.
     
    Knowing
she was too late, that there was no way she was going to make it, Maya