I struggled to keep my nostrils open, but the stench of the beast closed them back up again. Pushing against the mud-encrusted belly of the beast was like trying to lift a subway car. It planted its clawed feet on the ground to either side of me, roaring, as it raised one tightly sinewed leg like a hawk after its prey. Jamming my knees into the beast’s underside, I rolled to the right and dug my teeth into the vromaski’s other leg. It jerked away, its claws ripping a small hank of hair from my head. I tasted blood. My mouth was on fire. I thought my tongue would shrivel up in my mouth. The spot where my hair had been ripped out felt as if someone had sliced it with a knife. The vromaski was jumping around now, letting out a sound between a squeal and a roar, pawing the ground wildly. I sprang away from the slavering creature. It was surrounded now—kids with sharp sticks poking its sides, the curly-haired girl yanking on its neck with a lasso. Cass, Aly, and Number One ran over, grabbing the beast’s collar, pulling it toward the pen.
