The Predator Read Online Free PDF Page A

holster.
    “RUN!” I yelled at Ax.
    The Controller stood between Ax and the door. Big mistake. The Andalite tail flashed, faster than my eyes could follow. The cop’s gun went flying through the air. He clutched at a hand that was red with blood.
    Out the door we blew, running for our lives.
    Sirens!
    “Those are real cops coming,” I said. “Not mall rent-a-cops!”
     Ax demanded, reverting to thought-speak.
    “Oh,
now
he wants advice?!” I looked around frantically. The bus was not going to be an option. The mall cops poured from the glass doors. The city police screamed toward us in their black-and-whites.
    All we could do was run. So we ran. Up rows ofparked cars. Two kids and a guy who did not belong on this planet.
    “The grocery store!” Jake yelled.
    “What?” I gasped. I was getting tired.
    “In there!” he pointed. It was the grocery store across the parking lot. It was the only way we could go.
    Police cars screeched to a halt all around us. “Freeze!”
    “I don’t think so,” I said.
    We jetted through the big glass doors of the supermarket at a full, panicked run. I halfway expected to hear guns firing and bullets whizzing.
    “Jake!” I yelled. “Help me here!” I had an idea for slowing down our pursuers. I grabbed a big row of parked grocery carts and shoved them back toward the doors. Jake grabbed on and helped.
    Then we were off and running again, with Ax skittering shakily on the slippery floor and banging into groceries. Cans of olives and tomatoes crashed behind him.
    Customers screamed and crashed their carts into each other.
    “It’s a monster! Mommy, it’s a monster!” some little kid yelled.
    “It’s just a pretend monster,” his mother said. Yeah. A pretend monster. Right.

    Then I saw our way out. It was at the end of the aisle. But I needed some time. I needed to get everyone out of our way. We couldn’t have witnesses.
    “There’s a bomb!” I screamed, at the top of my lungs. “BOMB!”
    “What?” Jake demanded.
    “There’s a bomb! A bomb in the store! Run! Run! Everyone out! A BOMB!”
    “What are you doing?!” Jake yelled.
    “The cops have the place surrounded. There’s only one way out,” I snapped. I pointed.
    I pointed at the live lobster tank at the end of the aisle by the seafood counter.
    “Oh, no,” Jake groaned.
    “Oh, yes.” I grinned.
    The shoppers were running in panic, either from the supposed bomb or just from Ax. But the carts in the doorway and the people shoving to escape slowed the cops down for a precious few moments.
    I had a feeling the Controller cops were making sure that no real cops came in after us. They wanted us for themselves. With no human witnesses.
    “Let’s go for a swim,” I said.
    It was a big lobster tank, fortunately. I hoisted myself up the side and climbed in. Jake was right behind me. We grabbed a lobster each, and threw one to Ax, too.
    It was not easy “acquiring” the lobster. It took concentration. And all I could think was that there were an awful lot of cops outside the store, probably getting ready to rush in. And they would all have guns.
    The lobster went limp and passive, the way animals do when you acquire them.
    I dropped him back in the water. We stripped off our outer clothes and shoes and stuffed them, along with the Radio Shack bag, in a trash can.
    Ax had already begun to morph. Jake and I waited till he had shrunk a little and then hauled him into the tank with us.
    He was already hard, like armor, and his arms had begun to split open and swell.
    Then I began the morph.
    I’ve been afraid a lot since we became Animorphs. But I have not gotten used to it. And I can tell you, I was so scared my bones were rattling.
    At any second they were going to rush in.
    At any moment they were going to catch us half-morphed.
    I looked over at Jake. His eyes were gone, replaced by little black BBs.
    “Ewww.”
    As I watched, eight spindly, blue, insectlike legs erupted from his