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Fast as Six is, she isn’t faster than this thing The centipede draws even with her and then jerks sideways Its back half--the tail--pivots upwards, the bulk of it towering over Six for adown

Six throws herself to the side just in tiround spray out froround Six is quickly back on her feet, driving her sword into the centipede’s body It hardly seeh speed to jerk the sword out of Six’s hands

"How are we supposed to kill that thing?" Five asks, taking a step back

My es do we have over this one-eyed worround

"You can fly, right?" I ask Five

"How’d you know that?" he asks, his eyes locked on the beast "Yeah, I can"

"Pick "

As the centipede rounds on Six again, I see Bernie Kosar leap onto its back He’s back in panther forh the monster’s hide With an annoyed squeal, the centipede rolls through the dirt, forcing BK to jump off or be crushed beneath its bulk The distraction is enough for Six to create some distance between her and the beast She turns invisible

"It’ll be easier if you’re ondown in front of yback style if it wasn’t a life-or-death situation As soon as I’m on, Five shoots into the air It isn’t like the shaky levitation we can allour telekinesis; he’s fast, precise, in control Five gets us about thirty feet in the air, right above the centipede I start bo theenerate the up in the air

"Disgusting,"in on itself Its huge eye sweeps frantically across the battlefield Its tiny brain can’t really register where the pain is co fro

My next fireball flies wide of the beast as Five dips suddenly towards the ground Jostled, I grab onto the back of his shirt until he’s flying straight again His shirt is soaked through with sweat

"You all right?" I ask, shouting to be heard over the rushing wind and the howling centipede

"Not easy carrying around a fla to joke, but his voice sounds strained

"Just anotherin there!"

The centipede’s eye rolls back in its head and up, spotting us It roars again, this tileefully, and then its body lances upwards, all its tiny ar at the air Its hideous face shoots towards us, teeth gnashing Five screa ee in direction throwsa ripped piece of his T-shirt I’round enough withIf not for that, I probably would’ve broken a leg hitting the ground Still, the wind is knocked out of ht in front of the beast

Distantly, I can hear Six and Sarah shouting at me to run It’s too late for that The centipede is just forty yards away, ru towardsfroullet

I bracewants todown As long as I can juht through the thing Getting sed by a Mogadorian centipede isn’t my best plan, adht on top of ets closer, I see a red dot reflected in the centipede’s eye, like the bea frounshot explodes from somewhere behind me

The monster’s eye explodes It’s just a few yards frooop It shrieks and rears up, forgetting all aboutfireballs at the creature’s underbelly as I go The beast starts convulsing, its tail thrashing with enough force to round under my feet shake After one last, ins to slowly disintegrate

Five lands next to me, both of his hands on top of his head "Dude, I am so sorry I dropped you"

"Don’t worry about it," I reply distractedly, pushing hi towards the Monster Mart No one with us was packing a sniper rifle Where did the shot come froed man with a beard as he cli a rifle with a laser scope At first I think iant worhborhood? Then again, there’s so about him that seems really fa next to the car He’s helping the older ets near she al My jaw drops and I immediately break into a run

It’s Sam

CHAPTER FOURTEEN