Free 05 - The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

something slid against my leg.
    It felt hard. And prickly.
    I heard clicking sounds. Snapping. Creatures bumping into each other.
    Panting loudly, my chest heaving, my entire body gripped with terror, I
jumped up, tried to dance away as I fiddled with the flashlight.
    Something crunched loudly beneath my sneaker. I danced away, hopping over
something that scuttled through my legs.
    Finally, the light flickered on.
    My heart thudding, I lowered the yellow beam of light to the floor.
    And saw the scrabbling, snapping creatures.
    Scorpions!
    I had stumbled into a disgusting nest of them.
    “Ohh—help!”
    I didn’t recognize my tiny, frightened voice as I cried out. I didn’t even
realize I had cried out.
    The light darted over the slithering creatures, their tails raised as if
ready to attack, their claws snapping silently as they moved. Crawling over each
other. Slithering past my ankles.
    “Somebody—help!”
    I leapt backwards as a pair of claws grabbed at the leg of my jeans—into
another of the creatures whose tail snapped against the back of my sneaker.
    Struggling to escape from the poisonous creatures, I tripped.
    “No! Please—no!”
    I couldn’t save myself.
    I started to fall.
    My hands shot out, but there was nothing to grab on to.
    I was going to plunge right into the middle of them.
    “Nooooo!”
    I uttered a frantic cry as I toppled forward.
    And felt two hands grab me by the shoulders from behind.

 
 
15
     
     
    A mummy! I thought.
    My entire body convulsed with fear.
    The scorpions snapped and scrabbled at my feet.
    The strong hands gripped my shoulders, pulled me hard.
    The ancient, bandaged hands.
    I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t think.
    Finally, I managed to spin around.
    “Sari!” I cried.
    She gave me one more tug. We both stumbled backwards, claws snapping up at
us.
    “Sari—how—?”
    We moved together now, making our way toward the center of the vast chamber.
    Safe. Safe from the disgusting nest of snapping scorpions.
    “Saved your life,” she whispered. “Yuck. Those are gross!”
    “Tell me about it,” I said weakly. I could still feel the hideous creatures sliding along my ankles, still feel them
slithering between my legs, crunching under my sneakers.
    I don’t think I’ll ever forget that crunching sound.
    “What are you doing down here?” Sari cried impatiently, as if scolding
a child. “Daddy and I have been looking everywhere for you.”
    I pulled her even farther from the scorpions, into the center of the chamber.
“How did you get down here?” I cried, struggling to calm my breathing,
struggling to stop the pounding in my chest.
    She pointed with her flashlight to a tunnel in the corner that I hadn’t seen.
“I was searching for you. Daddy and I got separated. Do you believe it? He
stopped to talk to a worker, and I didn’t realize it. By the time I turned back,
he was gone. Then I saw the light moving around in here. I thought it was
Daddy.”
    “You got lost, too?” I asked, wiping beads of cold sweat off my forehead with
the back of my hand.
    “I’m not lost. You’re lost,” she insisted. “How could you do that, Gabe? Daddy and I were totally freaked.”
    “Why didn’t you wait up for me?” I demanded angrily. “I called to you. You
just disappeared.”
    “We didn’t hear you,” she replied, shaking her head. I was really glad to see
her. But I hated the way she was looking at me, like I was some kind of hopeless idiot. “I guess we got involved in our argument. We thought
you were right behind us. Then when we turned around, you were gone.” She sighed
and shook her head. “What a day!”
    “What a day?” I cried shrilly. “What a day?”
    “Gabe, why did you do that?” she demanded. “You know we were supposed
to stay close together.”
    “Hey—it wasn’t my fault,” I insisted angrily.
    “Daddy is so mad,” Sari said, shining her light in my face.
    I raised my arm to shield my eyes. “Cut it out,” I snapped.