Free 45 - Ghost Camp by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead)

middle of the woods. Far from the highway.
    I didn’t even know which direction to go to find it.
    “It must be back that way,” Alex suggested, pointing.
    “No. That’s the way back to the camp,” I argued.
    Alex started to reply—but a loud thumping sound made him stop. “Did you
hear that?” he whispered.
    I did.
    And then I heard it again.
    A loud thump. Very close by.
    “Is it an animal?” I cried softly.
    “I—I don’t think so,” Alex stammered.
    KA-THUMP.
    Louder.
    Is it a ghost? I wondered.
    Has one of them found us?
    “Quick—this way!” I urged. I grabbed Alex by the wrist and tugged him hard.
    We had to get away from whatever was making that frightening noise.
    KA-THUMP.
    Louder.
    “We’re going the wrong way!” I cried.
    We spun around and darted back into the clearing.
    KA-THUMP.
    “Which way?” Alex screeched. “Which way? It—it’s everywhere !”
    KA-THUMP.
    And then—from somewhere just ahead of us—a deep, booming voice growled, “WHY ARE YOU STANDING ON MY HEART?”

 
 
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    The ground tumbled and shook.
    Alex and I both let out terrified cries.
    But our cries were drowned out by a rumbling sound that quickly rose to a
roar.
    The ground gave way beneath us.
    We both raised our arms high as we toppled over.
    I landed on my hands and knees. Alex fell onto his back. The ground trembled
and tossed, tumbling us around.
    “It—it’s the monster !” Alex shrieked.
    But that’s impossible! I thought, struggling to my feet.
    That monster is from a story. A dumb camp ghost story.
    It can’t be here in the woods.
    I helped pull Alex up. But the ground shook again, and we both fell to our
knees.
    KA-THUMP. KA-THUMP.
    “It can’t be real!” I cried. “It can’t—”
    My mouth dropped open in horror as a huge, hairy head raised itself in front
of us. Its eyes glowed as red as flames—round, terrifying, glowing eyes set
deep in an ugly, growling face. The creature glared furiously at us.
    “Th-the monster!” Alex stuttered.
    We were both on our knees, bouncing helplessly on the rolling, tossing
ground.
    Was it the ground? Or the monster’s chest?
    The creature opened an enormous cavern of a mouth. It flashed rows and rows
of jagged yellow teeth.
    Slowly it raised its head, moving closer. Closer.
    Opening its hairy jaws wide. Preparing to swallow us as we frantically
struggled to scramble away.
    “Harry—! Harry—!” Alex shrieked my name. “It’s going to eat us! It’s
going to swallow us whole!”
    And then—in a flash—I had an idea.

 
 
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    The huge monster uttered a low growl.
    Its hairy mouth opened wider. An enormous purple tongue rolled out. I gasped
when I saw that the tongue was covered in prickly burrs.
    “Look out, Alex!” I cried.
    Too late.
    The ground tossed, bouncing us both into the air. We landed with a hard plop on the tongue.
    “Owwww!” we both howled. It felt like a cactus!
    Slowly, the prickly purple tongue began to slide, carrying us into the
creature’s open mouth.
    “We don’t believe in monsters,” I told Alex.
    I had to shout over the bellowing of the hungry monster. The tongue carried
us closer. Closer to the rows of jagged yellow teeth.
    “We don’t believe in this monster!” I shouted. “It is just made up. Part of a
story. If we don’t believe in it, it can’t exist!”
    Alex’s whole body shook. He hunched over, making himself into a tight ball. “It looks pretty real!” he choked out.
    The tongue dragged us closer. I could smell the monster’s foul breath. I
could see black stains on its jagged teeth.
    “Concentrate,” I instructed my brother. “We don’t believe in you. We don’t
believe in you.”
    Alex and I began chanting those words, over and over.
    “We don’t believe in you. We don’t believe in you.”
    The purple tongue carried us into the huge mouth. I tried to grab onto the
teeth. But they were too slippery.
    My hands slid off. I felt myself being swallowed.
    Down,