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

tender earlobe. He
turned and strode quickly from the kitchen and up to his room.
    I knew she wouldn’t be any help, he thought bitterly.
    She’s just a crazy old lady.
    I should pull her down to the basement and show her the disgusting
stuff, he thought, angrily tossing the clothes he had worn yesterday onto the
floor.
    But what’s the point? She’d probably laugh at that, too.
    She isn’t going to help me.
    He had only one person he could rely on, he knew.
    Andy.
    He called her, punching in her number with trembling fingers.
    “Hi. You’re right,” he said, not giving her a chance to say anything. “We
have to take the stuff back to the store.”
    “ If we can carry it,” Andy replied, sounding worried. “That hunk of
Monster Blood you gave me—it outgrew the coffee can. I put it in my parents’
ice bucket, but it’s outgrowing that.”
    “How about a plastic garbage bag?” Evan suggested. “You know. One of the
really big lawn bags? We can probably carry it in a couple of those.”
    “It’s worth a try,” Andy said. “This stuff is so disgusting. It’s making all
these sick noises, and it’s really sticky.”
    “Tell me about it,” Evan replied gloomily, remembering the night before. “I
took a swim in it.”
    “Huh? You can explain later,” she said impatiently. “The toy store opens at
ten, I think. I can meet you on the corner in twenty minutes.”
    “Good deal.” Evan hung up the phone and headed to the garage to get a plastic
lawn bag.
     
    Andy showed up with her plastic bag wrapped around the handlebars of her BMX
bike. Once again, Evan had to go along beside her on foot. His plastic bag was
bulging, and so heavy he had to drag it over the sidewalk. He couldn’t lift it.
    “The tub was nearly full to the top,” he told Andy, groaning as he struggled
to pull the bag over the curb. “I’m afraid it’s going to burst out of this bag.”
    “Only two blocks to go,” she said, trying to sound reassuring. A car rolled
by slowly. The driver, a teenager with long black hair, stuck his head out the
window, grinning. “What’s in the bag? A dead body?”
    “Just garbage,” Evan told him.
    “That’s for sure,” Andy muttered as the car rolled away.
    Several people stopped to stare at them as they entered town. “Hi, Mrs.
Winslow,” Andy called to a friend of her mother’s.
    Mrs. Winslow waved, then gave Andy a curious stare, and headed into the
grocery.
    Andy climbed off her bike and walked it. Evan continued to drag his bulging
bag behind him.
    They made their way to the next block, then started to cross the street to
the toy store.
    But they both stopped short in the middle of the street.
    And gaped in shock.
    The door and window of the store were boarded up. A small, hand-printed sign
tacked to the top of the door read: OUT OF BUSINESS.

 
 
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    Desperate to get rid of the disgusting contents of the garbage bags, Evan
pounded on the door anyway.
    “Come on—somebody! Somebody, open up!”
    No reply.
    He pounded with both fists.
    Silence.
    Finally, Andy had to pull him away.
    “The store is closed,” a young woman called from across the street. “It
closed a few days ago. See? It’s all boarded up and everything.”
    “Very helpful,” Evan muttered under his breath. He slammed his hand angrily
against the door.
    “Evan—stop. You’ll hurt yourself,” Andy warned.
    “Now what?” Evan demanded. “Got any more fantastic ideas, Andy?”
    She shrugged. “It’s your turn to come up with something brilliant.”
    Evan sighed miserably. “Maybe I could give it to Kathryn and tell her it’s
beef. Then she’d chop it up with that knife she’s always carrying around.”
    “I don’t think you’re thinking too clearly right now,” Andy said, putting a
sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
    They both stared down at the garbage bags. They appeared to be moving—expanding and contracting, as if the green globs inside were breathing !
    “Let’s go back