Free 03 - Monster Blood by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

back down into it.
    Evan gripped the side of the tub with both hands, held on to it tightly, and
began to force himself up. Up, up from the clinging, pulling ooze. Up from the
strange force that seemed to be drawing him back with renewed power.
    Up. Up.
    “No!” he managed to scream as the warm, green ooze slid over his shoulders.
    “No!”
    It was gripping his shoulders now, sliding around his neck, sucking him down,
pulling him back into its sticky depths.
    Down. Down.
    It’s got me, he realized.
    It’s got me now.

 
 
20
     
     
    “No!” Evan screamed aloud as the green gunk bubbled up to his neck.
    Pulling him. Pulling him down.
    “No!”
    Try again. Up.
    Try again.
    Up. Up.
    Yes!
    Gripping the sides of the tub, he was moving upward, pulling himself,
hoisting himself, straining with all of his strength.
    Yes! Yes! He was beating it.
    He was stronger than it was. One more tug and he would be free.
    With a relieved sigh, he dropped over the side of the tub onto the cool
basement floor.
    And lay there, pressed against the damp concrete, waiting to catch his
breath.
    When he looked up, Sarabeth stood a few feet away, her head cocked to one
side, her yellow eyes peering into his, an expression of supreme satisfaction on her dark feline
face.
     
    The next morning, after a fitful, restless sleep, Evan brought the pad of
yellow lined paper and a marker to the breakfast table.
    “Well, well,” Kathryn greeted him, placing a bowl of shredded wheat in front
of him, “you certainly look like something the cat dragged in!” She laughed,
shaking her head.
    “Don’t mention cat to me,” Evan muttered. He shoved the bowl of cereal
aside and pointed to the pad in his hand.
    “Don’t let your cereal get soggy,” Kathryn scolded, reaching to push the bowl
back to him. “You get more of the vitamins that way. And it’s good roughage.”
    “I don’t care about your stupid roughage,” Evan said moodily, knowing she
couldn’t hear him. He pointed to the pad again, and then began to write,
scribbling quickly in big, black letters.
    His writing caught her interest. She moved around the table and stood behind
him, her eyes on the pad as he wrote his desperate message.
    I HAVE A PROBLEM, he wrote. I NEED YOUR HELP. THE BATHTUB DOWNSTAIRS IS
OVERFLOWING WITH GREEN MONSTER BLOOD AND I CAN’T STOP IT.
    He put down the marker and held the pad up close to her face.
    Looking up at her from the chair, seeing her pale face in the morning
sunlight as she leaned over him in her gray flannel bathrobe, Kathryn suddenly
looked very old to him. Only her eyes, those vibrant, blue eyes running quickly
over his words, seemed youthful and alive.
    Her lips were pursed tightly in concentration as she read what he had
written. Then, as Evan stared eagerly up at her, her mouth spread into a wide
smile. She tossed back her head and laughed.
    Completely bewildered by her reaction, Evan slid his chair back and jumped
up. She rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a playful shove.
    “Don’t kid an old woman!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. She turned and
headed back to her side of the table. “I thought you were serious. I guess
you’re not like your father at all. He never played any dumb jokes or tricks.
Chicken was always such a serious boy.”
    “I don’t care about Chicken!” Evan shouted, losing control, and tossed
the pad angrily onto the breakfast table.
    His aunt burst out laughing. She didn’t seem to notice that Evan was glaring
at her in frustration, his hands tightened into fists at his sides.
    “Monster Blood! What an imagination!” She wiped tears of laughter from her
eyes with her fingers. Then suddenly, her expression turned serious. She grabbed
his earlobe and squeezed it.
    “I warned you,” she whispered. “I warned you to be careful.”
    “Ow!”
    When he cried out in pain, she let go of his ear, her eyes glowing like blue
jewels.
    I’ve got to get out of here, Evan thought, rubbing his