Free 50 - Calling All Creeps! by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Page A

grabbing up free cookies?
    How?

 
 
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    On Saturday morning, Iris and I and the four Creeps carried our big trays of
cookies into the gym.
    What a crowd!
    Every kid in school was there. They were running back and forth, carrying
trays of baked goods to the tables. Talking and laughing and kidding around.
    A podium with a microphone had been set up under the basket at one end of the
gym. The long row of tables stretched from one wall to the other.
    As Iris and I walked to the tables, the four Creeps stayed close at our
sides. Protecting the cookies. Watching our every move.
    The cookies with the Identity Seeds inside were piled high on the two trays.
We had baked hundreds of them. More than enough for every kid in school.
    We passed by a group of kids gobbling down brownies. At the near table, Ms.
Williamson, our teacher, was busy cutting slices in a cheesecake. I saw dozens
of plates of cookies spread over the tables.
    Signs were posted, giving the prices. Just about everything cost a dollar.
Nothing was free.
    Our cookies were the only free items.
    How could I stop kids from taking them? How could I make sure that no one ate
them?
    We headed to the tables. But Wart stepped in front of us. “Start giving them
out now,” he urged.
    “Yes. There’s no reason to wait,” Brenda agreed. “Let’s pass out the cookies.
The gym is totally jammed with kids. In a few minutes, we’ll have dozens of new
Creeps.”
    Wart grabbed for the tray.
    David and Jared pulled the plastic wrapping off the cookies.
    I’ve got to act—now! I knew.
    But what could I do?
    As Wart lifted the cookie tray from my hands, I had an idea.
    I dodged past him. Swung my way around a group of chocolate cake eaters.
Leaped behind the podium where Tasha was about to make a welcoming speech. And
grabbed the microphone.
    “Attention! Attention, everyone!” I screamed.
    A loud squeal from the speakers got everyone’s attention. My panicky voice
echoed off the high gym walls.
    “Don’t eat the free cookies!” I shouted. “Please—listen to me, everyone!
Don’t eat the free cookies! You will all become monsters! Bumps will grow all
over you, and you’ll look like purple lizard creatures! And… and… you’ll
eat squirrels whole!”
    Everyone laughed. The laughter drowned out my desperate words.
    “You’ve got to believe me!” I shrieked into the microphone. I could
see Wart and David running toward the podium. “You’ve got to! Stay away
from the free cookies!”
    The laughter rose up until I couldn’t hear myself.
    “Get away from that mike!” Tasha screamed. She tried to grab the microphone
from my hands.
    Two teachers rushed up to pull me away.
    “Sicky Ricky! Sicky Ricky!” Tasha started to chant. And then the rest of the
huge crowd of kids joined in.
    “Sicky Ricky! Sicky Ricky!” The gym rang with their chanting and wild
laughter.
    I could feel my heart sink to my stomach.
    “Sicky Ricky! Sicky Ricky!” The chanting made me feel as if my head was about
to burst.
    I wanted to cover my ears. I wanted to run. I wanted to disappear.
    How can I save them if they’re just going to laugh at me? I wondered. What
can I do if they refuse to listen to me?
    And then I had another idea. An even more desperate plan than grabbing the
microphone and begging them.
    “Sicky Ricky! Sicky Ricky!” Tasha led the chanting.
    I tried to ignore the laughing, shouting voices. I knew I had only a few
seconds to act.
    Would my plan work?
    Probably not. But it was the only thing my panicked brain could come up with.
    I’ll gobble down all the cookies myself, I decided.
    I’ll grab the trays and eat all the cookies—and save everyone in the
school.
    With a wild leap, I pushed past a bunch of chanting kids. I grabbed the tray
of cookies from Wart’s hands. And I opened my mouth to start swallowing them
down.

 
 
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    “Ow!”
    I cried out when something smacked me in the forehead.
    I wasn’t hurt. Just startled.
    I