Path book 1 Jane. chapter 3

Suddenly, there was a rustle behind him, the cat made a stand on the fence, and his eyes became fiercely tense, the fur on his spine stood on end, and his tail fluffed out and became as thick as his mother's leg. A wave of such horror came from Gina that I turned sharply in my friend's direction. And I saw a face distorted in a grimace and bulging eyes, staring somewhere behind my back. Turning around and looking down, I saw... a nightmare come to life! From a distance of about five meters, a hefty rat looked at me, about a meter at the withers, covered with dense black hair, a body about two meters long, and an equally long, hairy tail with a tassel at the end. Its typically rat-like face, with glowing red eyes, was decorated with a mouth studded with a palisade of long needle-shaped teeth. The creature opened its mouth, stuck out a long purple tongue and, making something like a "SNUFFLE", trotted towards us. A wave of anticipation came from her, and I clearly realized that they wanted to DEVOUR me!

My memory went on in spurts. Here I see Gina, jumping off the fence and screeching on the verge of ultrasound, running away to her house at full speed. Here is our courtyard tree in front of me, I jump up, grab the lower branch, pull myself up and quickly climb to the top, while there is some kind of ringing in my ears. Here Gina jumps onto the porch with an incredible leap, hits the door opening sensor and, without stopping screaming, disappears into the house, slipping through the crack of the barely opened door. There is silence. Only rustling and sounds come from the road: "snuffle, snuffle, snuffle." My throat is scratchy, my arms and legs are shaking, and a Bars is sitting on a branch next to me with its fur on end and making a low throaty hum, interspersed with a powerful hiss.

A few seconds later, the door of the neighbor's house opens, and from there, in sweatpants, an elongated T-shirt and slippers on bare feet, but with a hunting carbine in his hands, Uncle Coel looks out.

"Eugene?" He says softly. "Eugene, where are you?

"I'm here," I hiss back, "in a tree, Uncle Kol."

"What's wrong with your voice?"

"I don't know!"

"What scared you?"

"It's over there, behind the fence, Uncle Kol!"

"Who is IT?!"

"Well, this one, snuffle(Magnaflesheter (Snufl) is a medium-sized scavenger predator on Mendoir. In addition to its creepy appearance, it is almost not dangerous for adults, due to its slowness and stupidity. It has good dense short dark-colored fur, and is an object of the autumn-winter hunting season. Snufkin is nicknamed for the characteristic sounds he makes.)!"

"Snufle in our village?! How did he get through the fence?"

"I don't know! I say hoarsely."

"We've already seen him on the street. Over there!"

Meanwhile, snuffle had almost reached the intersection in the center of the village, and Naina jumped out to meet him! When she saw the creature, the girl somehow crouched down, screamed and with incredible speed, gnashing her claws on the smooth bark, climbed up a tree growing in the middle of the intersection, only the leaves fell down.

Snufl froze in indecision, Uncle Coel came close to the fence, put his elbow on it, aimed and fired. The creature, which took a few steps towards the tree, buried its nose in the ground, but its hind legs continued to move forward, its spine arched, and the animal toppled to one side, while continuing to twitch convulsively.

"Ready! Come on, get down, Zhenya."

"Now," I croaked, and began to unclench my clenched fingers. I was still shaking a little.

When I passed by the neighbor's house, the door opened, and Gina looked out from behind the jamb.

"Zhen!" she asked in a whisper. "Where's the scary one?"

"Your dad shot you," I whispered. "It's lying at the intersection. Come on, let's take a look!"

"I'm really scared!" Jean whispers.

"Don't worry, he's dead, and your daddy's with us, and he's got a carbine."

"Okay, let's go," Gina whispers, comes out of the house and clings to my arm like a tick.

We slowly approach the snufle. There is a heavy smell of the beast and some kind of rotten meat coming from the creature. Barsik, ears flattened, walks around the creature on bent paws in a circle. Uncle Coel is walking slowly next to him, holding the carcass at gunpoint. The animal does not move, the mouth is slightly open, the tongue has fallen out, and a puddle of blood has flowed onto the grass.

"He's dead!" Uncle Coel states the fact. He walks up to the tree and raises his head. "Nain, are you there? Nain, get off, I killed him. Do you hear me?"

In response, only rustles are heard, no response, no greetings.

"Zhen," he says, "get down after her, it looks like she's too scared."

He lifts me up and I start climbing the tree. Closer to the top, I see Nain, clutching the trunk, squeezing her eyes shut and trembling slightly.

"Nin," I whisper, "Ni-in, what are you doing?"

I touch her hand. She shudders and opens her eyes, horror reigns in her emotions.

"Ze-en," she says in a trembling voice, "where is this one?" She closes her eyes again. "That awful, scary, huge one?"

"He's lying dead down there, and Uncle Kol shot him with a carbine."

"Is he really dead?"

"Exactly, exactly. I saw it myself. Let's get off."

"Can I stay here a little longer?"

"No, you can't, you'll freeze, it's already autumn. Come on, you coward," I whisper.

"She's a coward herself!" Nain whispers back. "But I'm scared!"

She's still trembling, but she's already starting to slowly climb down from the tree. Uncle Coel picks us up at the bottom, and Nain hides behind me and stares at the dead snuffle.

"He's even scary dead!" Nain whispers loudly.

"That's right, baby," Uncle Coel replies. "I'm going to get dressed, otherwise I'm walking around in sneakers! Hehe, that must be a sight."

In the evening, my father told me about how Snufl got into the village. The door closer on the gate in the fence broke, and it did not close with a magnetic lock, but the creature, stomping along the fence, noticed a gap and got through. As luck would have it, the brothers took Polkan with them to the city, and in general, of the adults in the village there were only Uncle Koel and Aunt Kaadi, but she was asleep because she was pregnant again. Uncle Coel, laughing, told how he had dozed off with a book, but was maliciously awakened by a wild two-voiced childish squeal from the street. So that's why my ears were ringing and my voice was dead! Then his daughter ran past him and hid under the kitchen table. Grabbing a carbine from a closet, he ran out into the street in his clothes and shot Snufla, who had entered the village. They find it funny, but I've never been so scared in both my lives! And the girls were terrified. I said that I want us to make hats out of his skin, that should be enough! The elders agreed, laughing. Good compensation for fright! Uncle Coel said.