Free Ghouls Gone Wild by R.L. Stine Page B

move. Too weak to fight.

31
    S PREADING ITSELF OVER ME , pressing down on my face, the meat creature gurgled and slurped.
    “Max—get up!” I heard Dad shouting. He sounded so far away.
    And then I heard another sound. A light thud of footsteps.
    I heard a growl. More footsteps.
    I turned and peered out from under the meat creature—and saw a big, furry animal bound heavily into the room.
    Buster!
    How did Buster get into the house?
    Buster barged into the kitchen. He raised his snout and sniffed the air hard. He lowered his head and saw the meat monster.
    Buster's mouth dropped open, and he bared his teeth.
    My heart pounding, I froze.
    And watched Buster attack.
    He leaped onto the meat creature and attacked it—
devoured
it.
    Buster snarled and dug his teeth in, chewed, and swallowed big hunks of the spoiled meat, swallowed them
whole.
    He downed the whole rotten thing in seconds, just the way he had gobbled up my steak!
    Then he sat on his haunches, breathing hard, licking his chops, his big tail scraping the floor. He had bits of spoiled meat stuck to his snout. He licked furiously, enjoying every morsel.
    Still flat on my back, I slowly raised my head. “Hunh? Hunnh?” I tried to clear my throat. I had chunks of rotten meat in my hair and smeared on my cheeks and chin.
    Blinking hard, I saw Nicky and Tara. Tara gripped the spell book in her hands. “Sorry about that!” she called.
    “How could you
do
this to me?” I cried.
    Dad reached down and pulled me to my feet. “Who are you talking to?” he asked.
    “Uh…Buster,” I said. “I just wondered how he felt after eating twenty pounds of rotten meat.”
    Actually, Buster felt just fine. He was still licking his snout, wagging his tail happily. He kept looking up at the freezer. Waiting for more meat to fall out, I guess.
    I stood up and followed Dad back to the dining room. Mr. Grimmus pressed his handkerchief over his nose. With his free hand, he was buttoning his vest.
    “Thanks for a most…unusual dinner,” he said to Mom. He started brushing himself off frantically with the handkerchief. He mopped his forehead. Then he wiped his jacket, his vest.
    He hurried to the front door. “Oh, the smell,” he muttered to himself. “It's like I stepped in cattle plop with both feet. I'll never get it off me!”
    “Mr. Grimmus—are you leaving?” Dad cried in alarm. He hurried after him.
    “Of
course
I'm leaving!” Mr. Grimmus cried. “Meat coming to life? Do you really think I'm going to hire someone whose house smells like dead cattle and has meat coming to life in the kitchen?”
    “But—but—but—the job?” Dad sputtered.
    Mr. Grimmus turned at the front door. “Let me put it in the nicest way possible,” he said. “Don't ever cross my path again. And don't ever come to Texas!”
    He slammed the door behind him.
    Dad slumped back into the dining room. Colin was still sitting at the table. “Hey, Dad,” he said. “Does this mean I don't get my own gym?”

32
    L ATER IN MY ROOM , Nicky, Tara, and I celebrated with big glasses of Coke and a bowl of tortilla chips. I made sure that my door was closed so our party wouldn't be interrupted.
    “I'm not moving to Texas!” I cried, pumping my fists in the air.
    I couldn't control myself. I climbed onto my bed and started leaping up and down for joy. “No Texas! No Texas! Yaaaaay!”
    Tara grinned at me. “You're stuck with us, Max,” she said.
    I jumped up and down some more. My bed is an excellent trampoline. “You're my best friends,” I said. “I didn't really want to leave you.”
    Nicky climbed onto my bed and tried jumping up and down too. But he kept floating too high. His head was shooting right through the ceiling.
    Finally, we stopped. We slapped high fives and low fives all around.
    “That spell book really works,” Nicky said to Tara.
    She grinned. “Did you like my meat spell, Max?” she asked. “Am I a great magician? Bringing meat to life?”
    I stared at her.