50 - Calling All Creeps! by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) Read Free Book Online

joke.
    So why weren’t they laughing? Why did they appear so grim?
    Brenda trained her round dark eyes on me. “You no longer have to pretend,”
she said. “Now that we know you are the Commander, we must act quickly.”
    “We Creeps have so little time,” Wart said, his eyes also locked on mine.
    “It is urgent,” David added. “That is why we have been calling you. To meet
as soon as possible.”
    I saw the squirrel poking its head out from behind the evergreen shrub on the
end. I wondered if I made a run for it, could I escape?
    “Commander, we cannot understand why you have been delaying,” Brenda said.
    “Guys, this isn’t funny—” I started.
    They nodded solemnly. “We know,” Jared said softly. “We have so little time
to complete our mission.”
    Mission? Had they all totally lost it?
    How long had it taken them to dream up this dumb joke? Did they really think
I would buy it?
    “What is the point of this?” I demanded.
    “The Identity Seeds will grow stale in one week,” Brenda said.
    “We have so little time to plant them,” David added fretfully. “So little
time to turn everyone in the school into Creeps.”
    “Seeds? Plant seeds?” I laughed. What else could I do? I laughed in their
faces. “Am I going crazy, or are you?” I asked.
    “If we do not plant the seeds in time…” Wart started. But his voice
trailed off before he finished his sentence.
    Brenda picked up where Wart left off. “If we fail to plant the Identity
Seeds,” she said, keeping her eyes on me, “our mission will fail.”
    Wart placed a hand on my shoulder and gazed at me solemnly. “And of course,
Commander, you know what will happen to you if the mission fails.” He
made a slicing motion across his throat.
    A heavy silence fell over the woods. A burst of wind shook snow off the
evergreens. I suddenly felt cold all over.
    Brenda reached into her backpack. She pulled out a clear plastic bag and
raised it toward me. “I have the Identity Seeds with me, Commander,” she
announced.
    I studied the seeds inside the bag. They looked exactly like chocolate chips.
    “As you know, Commander, every student must eat a seed,” Wart said. “It takes
only one seed to turn a human into a Creep.”
    “The Creeps must rule!” Jared declared loudly.
    “Humans are the past!” Brenda cried, raising the bag of seeds high. “Creeps
are the future!”
    All four of them cheered. And as they cheered, they began to change—into
MONSTERS!

 
 
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    “Creeps rule! Creeps rule!” they chanted.
    I stared in horror as their faces twisted and their bodies began to
transform.
    Bumps popped out all over their heads. Bumps about the size of quarters rose
up on their arms and hands.
    Their skin began to darken. In seconds, they were all bright purple. The big
purple bumps trembled and shook on their skin.
    Their faces stretched. Their hair disappeared into their purple skulls. Their
eyes sank into their flat, purple heads.
    Long, ropy tongues flicked from between jagged rows of teeth. Bumpy purple
tongues, glistening as they whipped them from side to side.
    I stared at them, unable to move, unable to run. Unable to take my eyes off
the four creatures. Bumpy lizard creatures.
    Creeps.
    They grunted and wheezed. Their eyes rolled wetly. Their long snouts dripped.
Their lizardy jaws snapped open and shut.
    “NOOOO!” I cried out as Wart sprang at me.
    I thought he was attacking.
    But he scrambled past me—and grabbed the scrawny squirrel between both
purple hands. Instantly, his jaws flew open, and he stuffed the squirrel inside.
    He swallowed it without chewing. The furry tail slid down last.
    His bumpy tongue licked his wet lips. “Sorry there wasn’t enough to share.”
He grinned at the others.
    “How was it?” Brenda hissed.
    “A little dry,” Wart replied.
    “I don’t like them with the skin on,” Jared chimed in.
    For some reason, that made them all laugh. Ugly, dry laughs that sounded like