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“Shouldn’t we, um … run?” suggested Chong.
“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Benny.
Lilah hissed at them to be quiet, adding, “Running makes you prey. It’s better to fight than be hunted.”
Tom opened his mouth to say something, possibly to counter her absolute viewpoint, but then there was a loud snort and grunt as something gigantic crashed through the wall of shrubs and vines. Creeper vines snapped like spider-webs as it shouldered its way out of the forest and onto the road. It lumbered into the middle of the path not thirty feet from where Benny, Nix, and Chong stood, and it paused, sniffing the air.
It was a monster. Slate gray and black-eyed, standing on four short legs, each with a three-toed foot that was bigger than Benny’s head. Immense, with a massive chest and shoulders that were unlike anything Benny had seen in the flesh. In books, sure, but he had thought that creatures like this belonged to a different age of the world.
“Oh my God!” whispered Nix, then immediately clapped a hand to her mouth as the creature turned its enormous head toward her.
This was easily three times bigger than the largest bull in Mountainside. Benny remembered reading about it. The second largest land mammal in the world after the elephant. The whole thing had to be fourteen feet long and over six feet at the shoulders. Thick humps of muscle stood out on its neck to support the long head with a vast snout, from which sprouted two deadly horns, the longer of which was a thirty-inch spike that could have punched right through Benny’s body.
It stood its ground, ears swiveling independently to catch all sound, nostrils huffing to gather the smells of the five people crouched in the road.
Benny stared, eyes goggled wide, mouth open.
“Is that a … a … a … ?” Nix tried to ask.
“Uh-huh,” said Chong.
The creature turned its head sharply toward them.
“I’m dreaming this, right?” asked Benny.
“Not a dream,” Lilah whispered, but even she looked rattled.
“It’s a white rhinoceros,” declared Chong, a little too loudly. “But how?”
“Shut up!” warned Tom, but it was too late.
The huge animal suddenly gave a loud, wet snort and took a challenging step toward Chong. The massive rhinoceros grunted, a deep sound that was full of meaning and menace. It pawed the ground and blew out its nostrils.
“Okay,” said Tom. “Run.”
There was a beat where they all looked at him.
“NOW!”
The rhino tilted its wicked horns toward them, bunched the gigantic muscles of its back and hindquarters … and charged.
19
“Go! Go … GO!” BELLOWED TOM AS HE GRABBED NIX AND BENNY and Chong and shoved them toward the forest wall. “Into the trees!”
“I’m sorry!” yelled Chong.
“Shut up and run!”
The ground shook as seven thousand pounds of furious muscle rumbled toward them. Despite its size, the animal was incredibly fast. Lilah flung her spear at it, but the blade merely slashed a red groove along its armored shoulder. It did nothing except make the rhino madder.
“Oh,” she said softly, and then she was running too.
Tom lingered a split second longer, sighting along the barrel of his gun at the rhino’s black eye. Then he whipped the gun away, shoved it into its holster, and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. He caught up with the others and yelled at them to cut left so that they were running almost parallel to the road.
The rhino tried to turn sharply to intercept, but the angle was too sharp. Its huge feet skidded on the dried mud of the road. Then, with a roar, it headed straight into the forest. The rhino’s shoulders slammed into a pair of slender pines, snapping them at the base.
“Use the trees,” yelled Tom. “Circle around the big ones.”
