"Jerry Davis - Down In The Canyon (2)" - читать интересную книгу автора (Davis Jerry)

plant and pull himself to the bank, scrambling out of the water.
Tiny, multi-legged animals skittered away from him, and a couple
odd-looking things with spring-loaded tails launched themselves
into the air. The gooey mud and the plants smelled horrible, but
Jason scrambled through them without a thought. It was all a
desperate tangle until he stumbled into what looked like a pathway
made by something very large. There were thousands of huge claw
marks in the mud at his feet.
Jason called out once again for Stephanie, and followed the
path back toward the place they'd come sliding down the canyon
wall. It was easy enough to find. The plants were all torn up and


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half buried, the path wiped out entirely. Jason searched through
the mud and the plants and looked out across the river, but saw no
sign of her. He turned around and headed downstream, hoping to
find her there.
Every once in a while he called out her name, learning to
ignore the ghostly echoes that followed. The path led up and away
from the river, up into the mist. The mist slowed him down. At one
point the path widened and he stopped, peering through the
swirling white. The path split and lead two ways, one heading down
to the water, one up toward the canyon wall. Jason chose the path
that lead toward the water.
The rush of the water grew particularly loud, but above it
Jason heard something odd. It was a high, hard snorting sound. He
stopped, turning around and staring through the mist. It was
there, a looming shadow in the path, a huge head on a long thin
neck with thick, whisker-like feelers. The body stretched out into
the mists and disappeared, too big to see all at once.
Snorting air through nostrils at the top of its head, it
moved forward, feelers tapping at the ground and waving in the air
in front of it. Jason gave off one startled yell and ran headlong
down the path toward the river. At one point he stumbled and fell
in the mud, and while scrambling to his feet chanced a look behind
him. The creature was following, waving the feelers blindly in
front of itself. Jason had a sudden inspiration and jumped
headlong through the plants, away from the path, and up against a
large rounded boulder. Pressing against the boulder he waited,
hardly daring to breathe. He could see the beast through the
tangle of glistening black branches. It continued on past, waving
its feelers and moving along with a bobbing motion, it's
serpentine body going on and on. The legs were thick but short,
and Jason saw the long, bony claws that had made all the tracks.
Each claw was as big as his arm. By the time the body was past, he
had counted five pairs of legs. The tail was held up in the air,
away from the ground, and had a long ridged fin.