THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

vine snatched him off his feet and slithered away, dragging Tony deeper into the jungle. He made garbled noises.
    “Grab him,” I shouted at Gabby, who had the best shot at getting to Tony before he passed her and disappeared.  
    She hadn’t looked overly athletic until she lunged for him and managed to barely snag his ankles.
    I jumped up and raced after both of them.
    “ Raaayen !” Gabby yelled, flopping behind Tony as his body cut through vegetation slapping right and left like a shark ripping through water.
    Picking up speed, I caught glimpses of Gabby’s hair flying behind her and her face plowing up silvery dirt. Her body acted as dead weight to slow the momentum of the slithering vine, but not by much.
    I pushed harder to get ahead of both of them, leaping over fallen trees and dodging wide bushes as I passed Gabby. Humidity soaked my clothes and sweat ran down my back.
    Whipping around a tree, the vine seemed to slow for a second.
    I saw my opening and threw myself toward Tony and grabbed at his free arm. Got it. Now Gabby and I could both be anchors. Maybe the vine would hit a spot it couldn’t pull all three of us through.
    Sounded good. Wasn’t. We were getting beat to pieces and, even with my ankle restraint gouging a deep furrow through feather-fine soil and decomposing leaves, nothing slowed us down.
    If anything, the vine started moving faster.
    “Don’t let go!”  I yelled.
    My last words hadn’t been necessary.
    Fuzzy brown tendrils snaked up from the main vine and circled down Tony’s body to snag Gabby around her wrist. They were lashed together as if one elongated body.
    A second tendril whipped around Tony’s arm until it reached my wrist.
    Let go and risk being able to catch up again? Or–?
    There wasn’t enough time to think it through as the sticky brown length wrapped and triple lashed my wrist to Tony’s arm.
    Terror rode through Gabby and Tony’s faces.
    I couldn’t be distracted when I had to find a way to free us.
    Like fragile tails tied to a windborne kite, we swept across the jungle floor, bouncing up and down, banging back and forth, being thwacked against plants, small trees and leaves with prickly thorns. 
    At last, the vine started to slow.
    I raised my head, gritting my teeth against the burning pain of being dragged over uneven ground. I spied a wide-girthed tree ahead, larger than any others nearby. One so big that little grew anywhere in the immediate area except for a huge bush with jagged leaves at the tree’s base.
    Dark, oozing, orange spots and bumpy shapes dotted the weathered tree bark, some looking uncannily like faces. Small faces.
    But the tree wasn’t the biggest threat. The bush surrounding its base sported another pink blossom, like the one that had attacked Tony. Only this flower was massive. The petals were wider than my shoulders. They sucked in and fanned out in a breathing motion. The center area had what looked like a pile of black sticks...that started spreading.
    The sticks moved until they lined the opening like teeth, sharp and clicking when the mouth of the plant snapped closed then opened again.
    “Tony, watch–” The words choked in my throat when a vine branch curled around my neck, tightening.
    “ Hellllpppp !”  Tony’s frantic plea came out muffled as another vine wrapped his head, turban style, covering his eyes and nose.
    I’d hit my limit of being knocked around and attacked.
    Anger shot through me and sent strength to my tight muscles.
    Energy started building in my chest, wicking its way up through my arms and down through my legs. Everything slowed. Sounds dulled. I could feel each beat of my heart thrum in my ears.
    Then that energy exploded inside me, boiling my blood, hotter and hotter, until my mind and body moved with the speed of a lightning strike.
    Purely on instinct, I swung my only free hand in a slashing chop toward the vine branch that was shutting off my air supply. My one thought, cut, cut, cut .
    And I did. I lanced the tendrils as though my fingers were small knives, and air once again flowed into my lungs.
    I had no idea why that worked, but the vine dragging the three of us stopped moving forward. Instead, it began wrapping layer after layer around Gabby, Tony and me. Like a spider cocooning its prey.
    I wrenched aching muscles, forcing myself to wiggle forward, past Tony and Gabby, struggling until I could yank each of my legs free to stand between them and the host bush. With everything I