immense. Colossal. Impossible. The trunk at the base must have been thirty yards across. Did you ever see a picture of those trees in California that have a tunnel cut through the base you could drive a car through? Well, if there were a tunnel cut into the base of this tree, you could drive a dozen eighteen-wheelers through, side by side, and still have room for a couple of Hummers. It was like a skyscraper covered with bark. Looking up, the branches didn’t even begin for about fifty yards up. Then the tree spread out into a canopy that could shade Yankee Stadium. I don’t know why, but being next to giant things like that makes my palms sweat, and they were definitely sweating. That’s how awesome it was.
I looked to the base of the tree and saw the small opening that I had crawled out of. It was so small compared to this monster tree that if I hadn’t known it was there, I’d have missed it. Sure enough, carved in the bark just above the opening was the star symbol that marked it as a gate to the flume. Unbelievable. Now the hanging vines in the cavern below made sense. They were the root system of this immense tree. I walked along the base, running my hand across the rough bark. You could live in this tree…with all of your friends and their families, and still have room for a Keebler cookie factory. I took a step back, looked up, and laughed. The impossible kept proving itself to be possible. What was I going to see next?
The answer came quickly, and it wasn’t a good one.
I felt something hit the back of my leg. I looked down and instantly wished I hadn’t, because lying on the ground next to my leg was an arm. A bloody, human arm. I quickly looked up to the direction it came from and felt like the wind was knocked out of me. If the big tree hadn’t been there to catch me, I would have fallen back on my butt. Standing ten yards away from me was a beast. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. The first thing I thought of was…dinosaur. It stood upright on two legs, with a long, thick tail that whipped back and forth angrily. It looked to be around seven feet tall, with powerful arms and hands that were three-finger talons. Same with its feet. Its entire body was bright green, like a lizard, with scales covering it. But what I couldn’t take my eyes off of was its head. It was reptilian with a snoutlike nose. It had bright green hair that swept back from its forehead and fell halfway down its back. But most hideous was its mouth. It looked like a shark mouth, with multiple rows of sharp teeth that were all about tearing flesh.
And that’s exactly what it was doing, because clasped in its jaws was another human arm. Blood ran into the beast’s mouth and down its chin. If I hadn’t been so scared, I would have gotten sick. We held eye contact. I could feel this monster sizing me up. Its eyes were red, and angry. Without looking away, it closed its jaws, crunching the arm like a dry twig. The sound made my stomach turn. The monster flipped out a green tongue and sucked the shattered arm into its mouth. One gulp later, the arm was gone. Swallowed. Bone and all. Gross. It turned back to me as its mouth twisted into a bloody grin.
I was next on the menu.
Welcome to Eelong.
JOURNAL #16
(CONTINUED)
EELONG
Itwas a quig.
It had to be. Every territory had its own quigs that prowled the flumes. They were somehow put there by Saint Dane, but I hadn’t figured out how that worked yet. On Denduron they were prehistoric-looking bears. On Cloral they were killer sharks. Zadaa had snakes, and Second Earth had vicious dogs. Veelox was strangely quig free, but I think that’s because Saint Dane was already done with that territory by the time I showed up. Now it was looking like the quigs on Eelong were mutant, dinosaur-looking reptiles. I knew that’s how it was looking, because I was looking at one. One thing was certain-it was a meat eater. Human meat. The bloody arm at my feet was proof of that. I didn’t want to know where the rest of the body might be.
The beast locked its red eyes on me and drew back its lips, revealing yet another row of pointed teeth. Swell. Its long green hair spiked out, like an angry cat. It hissed, and I got a whiff of something nasty. It was sending out a disgusting scent that smelled like rotten fish. This thing was going to pounce, and it was going to hurt. I was totally defenseless. Worse, the giant tree was behind me. It was like being trapped in a dead end. I took a tentative step to my right. The beast mirrored my move. I took a step back to my left. So did the beast. I felt like I was playing basketball and this monster was playing defense. Only it didn’t want to steal the ball. It wanted to steal my head.
That’s when I saw a flicker of movement to my left. I looked quickly, afraid that another quig might be circling in. But what I saw was my salvation. Poking its head out from the hole at the base of the tree was a person! At least I thought it was a person. The guy had straggly hair and a long beard. I only saw him for an instant, because he popped his head back into the hole like a scared turtle. He must have poked his nose out, saw the quig, and changed his mind about coming out. Good thinking. I wished I had done the same. But seeing him reminded me that I had an escape route. The trick would be to get to the hole before the quig got to me.
The two of us stood facing each other like gunslingers. I hoped he didn’t realize that I didn’t have a gun and wasn’t prepared to sling anything. I knew that if I bolted for the hole, the thing would leap at me and it would be all over except for the chewing. All I needed was a couple of seconds for a head start. But how?
An idea came to me. A hideous idea. If I hadn’t been so desperate, there was no way I would have been able to pull it off. But if there is one thing I’ve learned since becoming a Traveler, self-preservation is a pretty strong motivator. Without taking another second to talk myself out of it, I slowly bent my knees and reached for the ground. I saw the hair on the back of the beast grow higher. It was waiting to see what I was going to do. I cautiously picked up the bloody arm that lay at my feet. I know, how gross can you get? I grabbed it by the elbow trying not to think about what it was. When I touched it, I almost gagged, because it was still warm. Whoever it belonged to had been using it not long before. I had to push that thought away or I’d have lost my lunch…and probably my life along with it. As soon as I picked up the arm, the rotten smell from the beast grew stronger. I think the sight of the bloody arm was getting it psyched, like blood in the water to a shark. That was okay. It meant I had a chance. I slowly stood back up and held the dismembered arm out to my side. The beast’s red eyes followed it like it was some tasty morsel. Gross.
The next few seconds were critical. It was going to mean the difference between buying me the time I’d need to get to safety, and total failure, which meant it would eat me and then get the arm anyway. It all depended on how stupid this quig was. I waved the arm, tantalizing it. The beast stayed focused on it. The horrible smell grew stronger. Oh yeah, it wanted the arm, all right. I reared back and flung it off to my right.
The beast went for it. The instant it moved, I bolted for the hole like a base runner stealing second when the pitcher went into his windup. I could only hope the quig would keep going for the arm and not decide I was more interesting. I didn’t stop to look back because every second counted. I ran for the hole and dove inside headfirst. I hit the ground and scrambled to crawl inside. I thought I had made it, when I heard a bellowing howl from outside and felt a burning sensation on my leg. The beast was back and it had me by the ankle! It was too big to follow me inside, but that wouldn’t matter if it pulled me back out. I kicked for all I was worth and felt its sharp talons rake across my skin. But there was no way I was giving up. He was going to have to work for his supper. With one hard kick, I yanked my leg free of its grip. I was loose! I tried to bend my leg and get it inside, but couldn’t. A quick look back showed me that one of the quig’s talons had caught in the braided twine that held my cloth boot on. It still had me!
I frantically wriggled my foot, trying to pull it out of the boot. I actually cursed myself for doing such a good job tying the twine with half hitches and square knots I learned in Boy Scouts. Why did I have to do such a good job? I expected to feel the pain of the monster’s jaws clamp down on my leg at any second, biting me like some giant Buffalo wing. But that didn’t stop me from squirming to get away. Then suddenly I felt something snap. It wasn’t my leg, I’m glad to say. The beast’s claw must have severed the twine because my foot slipped out of the cloth shoe. I quickly tucked my knees up to my chest to keep my feet out of reach. Looking back, I saw the long, green scaly arm of the monster reaching inside the hole, groping to get at me. His sharp talons whipped back and forth blindly, finding nothing but air and a few dangling vines. He was pretty charged up. The rotten-fish smell got
