Free 02 - Stay Out of the Basement by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page B

to look toward the closet doorway. “Just untie me. Quick!”
    “The father we’ve been living with? He’s a plant?” Margaret cried, swallowing
hard.
    “Yes. Please—untie me!”
    Margaret reached for the tendrils.
    “No!” Casey insisted. “How do we know you’re telling the truth?”
    “I’ll explain everything. I promise,” he pleaded. “Hurry. Our lives are at stake. Mr. Martinez is in here, too.”
    Startled, Margaret turned her eyes to the far wall. Sure enough, Mr. Martinez
also lay on the floor, bound and gagged.
    “Let me out—please!” her father cried.
    Behind them, plants moaned and cried.
    Margaret couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’m untying him,” she told Casey, and
bent down to start grappling with the tendrils.
    Her father sighed gratefully. Casey bent down and reluctantly began working
at the tendrils, too.
    Finally, they had loosened them enough so their father could slip out. He
climbed to his feet slowly, stretching his arms, moving his legs, bending his
knees. “Man, that feels good,” he said, giving Margaret and Casey a grim smile.
    “Dad—should we untie Mr. Martinez?” Margaret asked.
    But, without warning, Dr. Brewer pushed past the two kids and made his way
out of the closet.
    “Dad—whoa! Where are you going?” Margaret called.
    “You said you’d explain everything!” Casey insisted. He and his sister ran
through the moaning plants, following their father.
    “I will. I will.” Breathing hard, Dr. Brewer strode quickly to the woodpile
against the far wall.
    Margaret and Casey both gasped as he picked up an axe.
    He spun around to face them, holding the thick axe handle with both hands.
His face frozen with determination, he started toward them.
    “Dad—what are you doing ?” Margaret cried.

 
 
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    Swinging the axe onto his shoulder, Dr. Brewer advanced on Margaret and
Casey. He groaned from the effort of raising the heavy tool, his face reddening,
his eyes wide, excited.
    “Dad, please!” Margaret cried, gripping Casey’s shoulder, backing up toward
the jungle of plants in the center of the room.
    “What are you doing ?” she repeated.
    “He’s not our real father!” Casey cried. “I told you we shouldn’t
untie him!”
    “He is our real father!” Margaret insisted. “I know he is!” She
turned her eyes to her father, looking for an answer.
    But he stared back at them, his face filled with confusion—and menace, the
axe in his hands gleaming under the bright ceiling lights.
    “Dad—answer us!” Margaret demanded. “Answer us!”
    Before Dr. Brewer could reply, they heard loud, rapid footsteps clumping down the basement steps.
    All four of them turned to the doorway of the plant room—to see an
alarmed-looking Dr. Brewer enter. He grabbed the bill of his Dodgers cap as he
strode angrily toward the two kids.
    “What are you two doing down here?” he cried. “You promised me. Here’s your
mother. Don’t you want to—?”
    Mrs. Brewer appeared at his side. She started to call out a greeting, but
stopped, freezing in horror when she saw the confusing scene.
    “No!” she screamed, seeing the other Dr. Brewer, the capless Dr. Brewer,
holding an axe in front of him with both hands. “No!” Her face filled with
horror. She turned to the Dr. Brewer that had just brought her home.
    He glared accusingly at Margaret and Casey. “What have you done ? You
let him escape?”
    “He’s our dad,” Margaret said, in a tiny little voice she barely recognized.
    “ I’m your dad!” the Dr. Brewer at the doorway bellowed. “Not him! He’s
not your dad. He’s not even human! He’s a plant!”
    Margaret and Casey both gasped and drew back in terror.
    “ You’re the plant!” the bareheaded Dr. Brewer accused, raising the axe.
    “He’s dangerous!” the other Dr. Brewer exclaimed. “How could you have let him
out?”
    Caught in the middle, Margaret and Casey stared from one father to the other.
    Who was their real