Matt Archer: Monster Summer Read Free

we discovered a new monster, he had to tell
me this one was bigger than the last. Still, Will exaggerated a lot, so I stole
the binoculars to take a look myself.
    I refocused the view until the beast became clear. “Huh,
this one is bigger,”
    It was standard Dingo, all right, but huge. Rings of dark
fur ran around its tail, which wagged slowly as it sniffed the ground. “Want to
bet that it’s more than nine feet tall?”
    “Nope.” Will yawned. Sweat beaded along forehead, and the
sunlight glinted on his damp hair. “I’d rather figure out how to get rid of it
without either of us ending up as dog food.”
    I chuckled. “Are you regretting me blackmailing the Army
into letting you tag along on this trip?”
    “Nah. You need me here to watch your back. Besides, what
were they gonna say, after we did so well hunting on our own at home? It’s not
like they agreed to let you bring a green-bean,” Will said. “Do me a favor,
though. Don’t set me up as bait this time. My hamstrings still hurt from
yesterday and Schmitz’s sprints of death this morning didn’t help.”
    “No bait this time.” I wiped sweat and grit the back of my
neck. It stung; I’d gotten sunburned despite the little bit of shade from the
bushes. It was supposedly winter in the southern hemisphere in July, but the
arid landscapes of the south-central outback allowed for warmer temperatures
than I expected. In the afternoons, the temperature often rose to seventy
degrees. Not that hot, when you thought about it, but all of us wore full
battle dress uniform and camo got warm on a sunny day. No wonder Julie could
smell me this morning.
    I watched the monster a bit longer before turning to Will.
“What’s it doing?”
    Will took his binoculars back. “No idea. It’s down on all
fours like a regular dog, sniffing at a clump of grass. Maybe it needs to take
a leak.”
    We were both so engrossed by the Dingo that a tap on my
shoulder made me jump a foot off ground. Clutching my chest in case my heart
decided to seize up, I glared at our visitor. “Dang it, Master Sergeant! You
gotta stop doing that!”
    Schmitz squatted down next to me. “And you need to watch
your back, sunshine.”
    “Weren’t you doing that?” I asked. “You said you’d
scout the area and keep watch while we spied on Scooby Doo down there.”
    “That’s no excuse not to be more aware of your
surroundings.” He gave Will a hard nudge in the shoulder. “You, too, Cruessan.
You’ve had enough training for that to sink in.”
    “Understood, Master Sergeant,” Will said, sounding weary.
    “So what you got there, Archer?” Schmitz asked, peering over
the cliff’s edge. “That’s one big Dingo.”
    “Yeah,” I said. “Want to go after it?”
    Schmitz watched the monster for another minute before
answering. “Let me check in with Major Tannen, first. He’d kick my ass if I
took you two on an unauthorized hunt. Stay put.”
    He headed back to the Humvee. While we waited, a wisp of
alien thought snaked into my mind.
    They’re coming, it whispered. Keep watch.
    I jerked and pressed a hand to my temple. Being chosen as
pet-wielder by a sentient knife was freaky enough, but it’d recently started
talking to me. In the back of my head.
    I wasn’t sure I liked sharing brain-space with the blade; it
was hard to explain that I heard “voices” without sounding crazier than an outhouse
rat. Still, the relationship had its uses. Things like monster-radar, for
example, which let me know if trouble was on the way.
    Kind of like…oh, crap, right now.
    The knife set off my early-warning system with a punch of
adrenaline. Goose bumps rose on my arms, a feeling like ten-thousand nails on a
chalkboard, and my pulse raced as if I’d just sprinted a mile. Already breaking
out in a cold sweat, I stood fast and yanked the binoculars out of Will’s
hands.
    “Hey, grab-master, I wasn’t using those or anything,” Will
said.
    I ignored him, refocusing the binoculars to scan