Battle for Peruna by Josiah Boss (beach books .TXT) 📖

from sliding. As the floor tilted further, another boom sounded. This one closer than before. Skandar looked up just in time to see the bookcase toppling over, then everything went black.
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Garth and Chance raced across the swaying ground. Trees crashed all around them; some almost hitting them. They could see wild animals running about in a blind panic, not knowing where to go. Suddenly with a roar, a chasm opened up five feet in front of them. They had just enough time to jump before they reached it. Just as they landed, the earth heaved, making their knees buckle as they crashed down. They got up and rounded the corner to the cabin. The sight they saw nearly made their hearts stop.
Several dozen minotaurs were in the clearing. Some weren't moving and appeared to be dead, but the others were bawling in panic, trying to get up, while still others were staggering around like drunks trying to keep their balance. The house looked ready to collapse; the barn had collapsed already. They both rushed up to the house and found it in shambles. Skandar lay, unmoving, underneath the bookcase. Skye was screaming. Fletcher's face was white as paper, but he was managing to stay calm. He had apparently stabbed his knife into the floor which Leigha was now holding onto for dear life.
Garth saw the wall straining under the weight of all the furniture. He knew that if it all gave way, the entire house would collapse. Swiftly, he pulled up the bookcase, while Chance slid Skandar out from under it. Then just as the wall gave way, he knocked Skye and Fletcher off their holds, tripped Chance, and kicked the knife that Leigha was holding on to, out of the floor, then dove out the open space, as the house collapsed. All six of them spilled out of the house, tumbled over the pile of furniture, and finally came to rest, breathing hard, on the grass.
Just then there was a crack. A tree fell on some of the living minotaurs. Skandar and the others jumped up and took off into the woods. Just as they entered the woods the ground opened up right in front of them. They fell, Skye and Leigha screaming, and Garth praying aloud for all he was worth.
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Grunwick came to, a bit confused by all the commotion. He sat up and saw the centaurs making off into the woods, carrying the human. He clenched his teeth and drew his sword, as he took off after them. When he saw them disappear into the chasm, he jumped in after them, figuring it would be better to die now that to have to live through the horrors of the final days.
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Falling, falling, falling...they'd been falling for ages now it seemed. So this was what it was like to die, huh? You just fall and fall, till suddenly Boom! You're either in heaven or hell. Skandar's thoughts were interrupted by a voice from his right. Or was it from his left? No, it came from behind him. Nah, in front of him. Forget it, he told himself, thing is, there's a voice talking to me.
“Say what?” he asked.
“Are we dead?” came Skye's scared voice.
“Not yet.” Oops...uh...maybe I shouldn't have said that, he thought grimacing slightly.
Suddenly he looked down (or was it up?) and saw a light appear. It was rapidly getting bigger. “See that?” he asked. “Yeah,” came a chorus of answers. Next thing he knew was that one minute he felt himself falling; then he heard a splash and felt water close over his head.
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For some reason, Grunwick had never been afraid of jumping into this chasm. He saw the light from the mouth disappear, then heard some conversation beneath him. He caught the words “See that?” and immediately looked. He, too, saw the light. The next moment, he also felt water close over his head. Just as he surfaced, a wall of water swept over his head, forcing him to come up sputtering. He came up just in time to catch the words “Man overboard!” He jumped in surprise at the heaviness of the voice.
It was then that he heard other things or, as the voice called them, “mans” splashing beside him. He looked up and saw a...thing, floating in the water that was taller than he was. It stretched way up over his head. They were lowering another thing down towards the water beside him.
He grunted in surprise when he saw humans in the thing being lowered, and there were a bunch more humans lining the top of the big floating thingy. He looked over at the other “mans” floating in the water beside him. They were humans also! He nearly panicked! He was surrounded! He groped for his sword only to find that it was gone. It was then that he caught his reflection in the water. He nearly fainted in relief—he'd been disguised! He looked like a human now.
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Skandar looked up in bewilderment and surprise when he surfaced. He heard lots of voices calling to each other, and now that his eyes were cleared, he could see a huge ship beside them. The top was lined with spectators peering down at them. He looked about beside him and saw the rest of the centaurs there struggling to stay above water. Then he saw a seventh person floating in the water by them. It suddenly struck him that if a person could look like a minotaur more or less, that guy did.
He was built like a huge bull. Powerful muscles all up and down his body. Long hair that hung in his eyes and past his shoulders in long dreadlocks. A black guy.
He looks like a defensive linebacker on a pro-football team, he thought. Then just as quickly, Where did that come from? I haven't heard anything about football for years.
Just then the boat pulled alongside to pick him up. As he clambered aboard, he wondered what it would be like to be in a “human world” again without the humans being clad in armor. He saw Garth was going to need some getting used to walking on two legs. The other centaurs too. They were staggering around on the boat's upper deck now. He laughed to himself in amusement.
It's gonna take some getting used to seeing them in two legs also, he thought.
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“James!” Grunwick turned around and stared at a guy who was at least a foot smaller and a hundred pounds lighter coming towards him.
“Huh?”
“Yeah, you—you're James.”
“I am?”
“Yeah, you know—James Harrison, defensive back for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
“Who are they?”
“Are you feeling alright? I'll run it by you again. You're James Harrison, a rookie, and you play pro-football for the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
“What is--”
“Oh, go on. Surely you know what football is.”
“Uh...nope.”
The man sighed heavily and rolled his eyes. “Come along, you'll be late for warm-up.”
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“Where are we?” asked Skandar.
“Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh to be exact,” one of the sailors replied.
Skandar racked his brain. He vaguely remembered something about this town and state. For some reason, he felt like he'd grown up here. Whatever.
He called to Garth and Chance and told them that they were in his world now. A totally different world than theirs. Chance got his family and they went into downtown Pittsburgh.
Skye and Fletcher were awed and somewhat frightened at the tall buildings stretching high above them. They had never seen such high structures, but they trusted Skandar to know what he was doing.
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Grunwick—James Harrison—had gone through the warmups and was now going on to the field with a bunch of other men dressed like he was. He thought it strange to see these big “mans” throwing around this brown thing. He'd been told by his “coach” that his job was to grab the guy holding the ball and throw him to the ground. Or if the guy threw the ball, he was supposed to try to grab the guy who caught the ball and bring him down. He thought it sounded like fun.
He saw the guy grab the ball and step back with it. Then he saw him give it to this other guy who then ran. I was told to go after the guy who had the ball, he thought. So that's exactly what he did.
Whatever had been lost while coming to this world, he certainly hadn't lost his strength. He charged through everybody, flinging “mans” out of the way left and right, even the ones wearing the same suit as him. He lowered his shoulder and slammed into the guy so hard that he flew backward to the white line that stretched the whole way across the field. The thing he was wearing on his head flew off as well; the ball also went flying.
Grunwick had also been told that if he saw the ball in the air, he was supposed to grab it and run in the opposite direction as everyone else. He grabbed the ball, then stopped. There were two places with writing in them; one was a long way off and the other was really close. He chose the closer one and carried the guy who had given the ball away into the place where the writing was.
All the “mans” in the stands were making loud noises with their mouths and were waving stuff. They looked threatening. He dismissed that thought rather quickly, though, when all the other mans on his team came up and started slapping him on his shoulders and helmet. One told him that the mans in the stands were cheering him.
Grunwick strode to the middle of the field and bowed deeply in all four directions. Then with the deafening roar made by the 'mans, he went over to the bench.
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Skandar led them to the nearest hotel where they checked in and got two rooms. One for Skandar and Fletcher, the other for Chance, Leigha, and Skye.
Up in their room, Fletcher found a hard box with a glass front. His interest was aroused, and he started pushing buttons. He jumped back, startled and somewhat frightened, when a loud noise suddenly emitted from the box and a moving picture appeared on the glass.
The picture was of a guy bowing to a huge crowd. He thought the guy looked somewhat familiar, so he called Skandar over. “Isn't that the guy who was on the boat?” Fletcher asked pointing to the glass.
“Yeah, he's the guy who I thought looked kinda like a minotaur. Doesn't he?”
“Yeah, he does. Big, strong muscles, dreadlocks, the whole works—in fact, if you could transform him into a minotaur, I'd say he looks like the general of the minotaurs, Grunwick.”
“He would? Let's call your dad over to take a look.”
“Within a few minutes, Fletcher's whole family was there watching this guy named James Harrison play.
“I tend to agree with Fletcher on the fact that he looks similar to Grunwick. But how would've he gotten here? That's what I'd like to know. He has the strength of a minotaur, that's for sure.” Chance said, as they watched him bust through the line, knocking players to the side as if they were rag dolls, then going and sacking the quarterback for a fifteen yard loss.
They ended up watching the whole game, which resulted in a 56-0 win for the Steelers.
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Seventeen weeks had passed, and the ex-centaurs were starting to get used to life as two-leggers. They had given up the thought of going back. Every Friday night, Fletcher filled his place as starting wide receiver on the high school team they were now enrolled in. His incredible centaur speed helped him greatly.
Every Sunday in the afternoon, they would watch the Steelers play, or