The Beast From the East Read Online Free PDF Page A

the ground all around us.
    Something warm and wet tangled itself around my arm. I yanked free. Another
wet thing grabbed me.
    Vines.
    Thick yellow vines.
    Some draped over the branches of the trees, dangling onto the forest floor.
Others sprouted from the tree trunks. They wrapped around each other, weaving
thick nets from tree to tree.
    Some vines stretched across the path. Nat and I had to jump and twist,
leaping over the vines in our way.
    It was hard work. I could hear Nat breathing hard.
    My side ached. My breath came in short, sharp bursts.
    I longed to rest. But we couldn’t rest. The ground was shaking under our
feet. The woods echoed with thunderous cries.
    The beasts were coming. And they were gaining on us.
    “Watch out!” Nat warned.
    I spotted a tangled web of vines strung across the path.
    Nat jumped the web. He cleared it. I gathered myself and leaped. I jumped
high.
    But not high enough.
    Vines wrapped around my ankles. I fell to the ground.
    More thick yellow vines twisted around my legs. Frantically, I grabbed at
them and tried to pull them off.
    The vines tugged back.
    Hard.
    “Nat!” I shrieked. “Help!”
    “I’m stuck!” he cried. His voice cracked. “Help me, Ginger!”
    I couldn’t help him. I couldn’t move.
    I glanced down at my legs. The vines were tugging tighter and tighter.
    Another vine inched around my waist.
    I gaped down at it.
    What were those shiny things?
    Eyes?
    “Eyes!” I cried out.
    Vines don’t have eyes!
    And then I realized what I was staring at.
    The vines weren’t vines.
    They were snakes.

 
 
12
     
     
    I screamed.
    “Ginger!” Nat cried behind me. “These aren’t vines. They’re—snakes!”
    “Tell me something I don’t know!” I groaned.
    The snake around my waist uncoiled and slithered onto my right arm. It was
covered with thick scales that felt rough against my bare skin.
    I took a deep breath. Then I wrapped my left hand around the snake’s body. It
was warm.
    I yanked hard. Tried to pull it off.
    No way.
    The snake coiled tighter around my arm. Its hard, cold eyes stared up at me.
Its tongue flicked in and out.
    I felt something brush against my thigh. I glanced down.
    Another snake climbed up my body.
    Sweat ran down my forehead.
    “Ginger! Help!” Nat wailed. “They’re climbing all over me.”
    “M-me, too!” I stammered. I glanced at my brother. His eyes bulged in terror.
He twisted and squirmed, trying to free himself.
    The snake around my thigh pulled back its head. And stared at me with those
piercing eyes.
    The snake around my arm wound tighter and tighter—until my fingers turned
numb. It hissed. A long, slow hiss. As if it had all the time in the world.
    “They’re going to attack!” Nat cried in a strangled voice.
    I didn’t answer. I felt a wiry tongue flick against my neck.
    Cold.
    Their tongues were cold.
    And prickly.
    I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.
    Don’t bite. Please don’t bite, I prayed.
    A growl disturbed the bushes around us.
    “ Grrougggh !”
    Fleg jumped out of the bushes. He stared at Nat and me, his mouth open.
    I gasped.
    I saw Fleg’s eyes bulge in surprise as he spotted the snakes. “Double Snake
Eyes!” he called out.
    My entire body trembling, I gaped at him in horror.
    Double Snake Eyes?
    Was that good—or bad?

 
 
13
     
     
    “Congratulations! Double Snake Eyes!” Fleg cried. He shook his head in
wonder. “And you said you never played this game before!”
    The snakes tightened around me.
    I stared at him. “What are you talking about?” I choked out.
    “Twenty points—that’s what I’m talking about.” The Huge beast grunted. “I’d
better play harder. Or you’re going to win!”
    “Who cares about winning!” I screamed. “I can’t breathe! Get these snakes
off!”
    Fleg grinned. “Off!” he screamed with laughter. The folds of skin under his
jaw flapped up and down. “That’s a good one.”
    “We mean it,” Nat pleaded. “Get them off