Goosebumps: The Blob That Ate Everyone by R. L. Stine Read Free Book Online Page B

a heartbeat.
    Alex had moved away from me. I saw her walking quickly toward the laundry
room.
    “Alex—!” I hurtled across the room to her—so fast, I bumped into her.
    “Hey—watch it!” she exclaimed.
    “Alex—it’s down here!” I shrieked. “It’s here! It’s really here! Listen! Do
you hear it?”

 
 
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    We both froze.
    The steady, rhythmic sound rose up from the far wall.
    Slap… slap… slap… slap…
    “Do you hear it?” I whispered.
    Alex nodded. Her mouth had dropped open in shock. She gripped the candlestick
in both hands.
    Slap… slap…
    “What are we going to do?” I whispered.
    “It’s waiting for fresh meat,” Alex murmured.
    “I know. I know!” I groaned. “You don’t have to say it.” I pulled her arm.
“Come on. We have to tell Dad.”
    I gazed through the darkness to the stairway. The steps seemed a million
miles away.
    “We’ll never make it,” I choked out. “We have to run past the Blob Monster to
reach the stairs.”
    Slap… slap…
    “What’s our choice?” Alex shot back. “Pick one, Zackie. Choice one: We stay here. Choice two: We don’t stay here.”
    She was right, of course. We had to make a run for it.
    Maybe if we ran fast enough, we’d take it by surprise.
    Maybe the Blob Monster was too big to run fast.
    Slap… slap… slap… slap…
    “Let’s go,” Alex urged. “I’ll go first since I have the light.”
    “Uh… can we run side by side?” I asked softly.
    She nodded.
    Without another word, we took off.

 
 
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    Our shoes thudded over the concrete basement floor.
    I struggled to keep at Alex’s side. My legs felt so heavy, as if I were
running uphill!
    “Whoooa!” I cried out when the lights flashed on.
    Startled, we both stopped running.
    I blinked hard, waiting for my eyes to adjust to the bright ceiling light.
    Slap… slap…
    We both turned to the far wall to see the Blob Monster.
    And stared at a pale white hand slapping against the wall beneath the open
basement window.
    A hand ?
    Slap… slap…
    “It—it’s a rubber glove!” Alex exclaimed.
    “It’s one of Dad’s gardening gloves,” I choked out.
    Dad usually leaves his heavy gardening gloves on that window ledge. One of
the gloves was hanging from a nail. And the wind kept slapping it against the
wall.
    Alex laughed first. Then I joined in.
    It felt good to laugh. And it felt especially good to know that no Blob
Monster was hiding in the basement.
    What a relief!
    Alex and I climbed happily up the stairs. Then she made her way to the front
door. “Thanks for the awesome entertainment!” she teased. “It was better than a
movie! See you tomorrow.”
    She started out the door, then turned back. “We definitely got a little crazy
tonight, Zackie. I mean, about that old typewriter.”
    “Yeah. I guess,” I admitted. “It doesn’t have any special powers. It didn’t
make a Blob Monster appear in the basement. And all the lights came back on
without me having to type that they came on.”
    “The typewriter didn’t cause anything to happen tonight. It was all
coincidence,” Alex said.
    “Oooh. Big word!” I teased.
    She slammed the door behind her.
     
    “Are you doing anything, Zackie?” Mom asked.
    “Not really.”
    It was Saturday afternoon, and I was just hanging out. I had a ton of homework to do. So I was lying on the couch, staring
up at the ceiling, thinking up excuses not to do it.
    “Can you run to the store for me?” Mom asked. “The Enderbys are coming for
dinner, and I need a few things.” She held up a slip of paper. “It’s a short
list.”
    “No problem,” I said, climbing up from the couch.
    Maybe I can add a few items to the list, I thought, taking it from her hand.
Like maybe a few candy bars. Or a box of Pop-Tarts….
    I love to eat Pop-Tarts raw.
    “Ride your bike, okay?” Mom asked. “I’m kind of in a hurry. Come straight
back—okay?”
    “No problem,” I repeated. I tucked the list into the back