25 - Attack of the Mutant by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online

bright
red. “How could you leave me by myself in this creepy place?”
    “I didn’t!” I insisted. “You left me!”
    She shook her head, still gasping for breath. “Well, let’s get out of
here, Skipper. I found some elevators that are working.” She tugged my sleeve.
    I picked up the stack of drawings. “Look, Libby.” I held them up to her. “You
have to see these.”
    “Are you serious?” she cried. “I want to get out of here. I don’t want to look at comic book drawings now!”
    “But—but—” I sputtered, waving the drawings.
    She turned and started toward the doorway. “I told you I found some
elevators. Are you coming or not?”
    “But these are drawings of me!” I cried.
    “Yeah. Sure,” she called back sarcastically. She stopped at the front of the
big printing press and turned back to me. “Why would anyone draw you, Skipper?”
    “I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “But these drawings—”
    “You have a sick imagination,” she said. “You seem like a normal guy. But
you’re totally weird. Bye.” Libby started jogging over the paper-cluttered floor
to the door.
    “No—wait!” I called. I dropped the drawings onto the counter, slid off the
tall stool, and chased after her. “Wait up, Libby!”
    I followed her out into the hall. I didn’t want to be left alone in this
creepy place, either. I had to get home and think about this. I had to puzzle it
out.
    My head was spinning. I felt totally confused.
    I followed her through the long tunnel of hallways. We turned a corner, and I
saw a row of elevators against the wall.
    Libby pushed the button on the wall, and one of the elevators slid open silently. We both peered carefully inside before
stepping on. It was empty.
    We were both panting. My head was throbbing. My side ached. Neither of us
spoke a word.
    Libby pushed the button marked LOBBY. We heard a soft hum and felt the
elevator start to move.
    When the door slid open, and we saw the pink-and-yellow walls of the lobby,
Libby and I both cheered. We burst out of the elevator together and ran across
the marble floor to the exit.
    Out on the sidewalk, I stopped, lowering my hands to my knees, sucking in
deep breaths of fresh air. When I glanced up, I saw Libby studying her watch.
    “I’ve got to get home,” she said. “My mom is going to have a cow!”
    “Do you believe me about the drawings?” I asked breathlessly.
    “No,” she replied. “Who would believe that ?” She waved and made her
way across the street, heading for home.
    I could see a bus approaching, a few blocks down. Searching in my jeans
pocket for a token, I turned to take one last look at the weird building.
    It had vanished once again.
     
    I needed time to think about everything that had happened. But Wilson was
waiting for me when I got home, and he followed me up to my room.
    “I brought over some of my rubber stamps,” he said, raising a brown paper bag
up to my face. He turned it over and emptied it onto my desk. “I thought you
might like to see some of the better ones.”
    “Wilson—” I started. “I really don’t—”
    “This one is a ladybug,” he said, holding up a small wooden stamp. “It’s very
old. It’s the oldest one I own. Here. I’ll show it to you.” He opened a blue
inkpad, stamped the ladybug on it, and pressed it onto the top of a pad of paper
I had on the desk.
    “How old is it?” I asked him.
    “I don’t know,” he replied. He held up another one. “It’s a cow,” he said. As
if I couldn’t tell. He stamped it onto the pad. “I have several cows,” Wilson
said. “But I only brought one.”
    I studied the cow, pretending to be interested.
    “It’s another really old one,” Wilson said proudly.
    “How old?” I asked.
    He shrugged. “Beats me.” He reached for another stamp.
    “Uh… Wilson… I just had a really weird thing happen,” I told him.
“And I need to think about it. Alone.”
    He narrowed his blue eyes at me, confused. “What