Teen Frankenstein by Chandler Baker Read Free Book Online

lines and distorting the shape that once looked human.
    Einstein scurried in between my feet. Then Owen was at my side. His hand reached out for me at the same moment a shower of sparks exploded from the kilowatt meter, and a shock jolted through the soles of my feet and raced its way up my body before my vision snapped off like the click of a camera shutter.
    And there was nothing.

 
    SEVEN
    Observation: Initial inspection of the first human subject revealed the following injuries: hematoma above the sixth rib (2-inch diameter), laceration along right side of torso (estimated depth of ¼ inch), surface scrapes above right patella, right and left femurs, and left ankle (all minor), small laceration over left ocular socket (½ inch).
    *   *   *
    My eyelids fluttered open. Dust and dirt stuck to the lashes. The first thing I noticed was that the ground was in close proximity to my face. A groan came from somewhere nearby, followed by a whiny, “Cut it out.”
    I turned painfully onto my side. Einstein’s tail was aimed at my face, and she was slobbering all over Owen. I pushed myself upright. Another wave of hurt shot through my body, like my skeleton was made up of one giant funny bone and I’d smacked it with a baseball bat. The tip of Einstein’s white tail was smoking.
    Beside me, Owen pulled himself to a sitting position with the slow deliberateness of a zombie from the grave. The full volume of his hair stuck straight up. His eyes were round saucers of surprise in his skull.
    â€œWell, that was a shock,” he said drily.
    I patted the top of my own head, and my palm bumped against hair several inches above where it should be in relation to my scalp. I blinked and glanced around. The high voltage must have reacted with the damp floor, traveling to the spot where we stood and slamming Owen and me with an electrical punch to the figurative gut. Speaking of which, my stomach was killing me. The dirt and concrete must have saved us from the worst effects or else we’d be human French fries right about now. My heart flip-flopped unevenly in my chest. “What the…?”
    Wires cascaded from the edge of the tub. Empty. The transistor radio lay broken into clunky pieces on the floor nearby. I pushed the heels of my hands into my eye sockets. The veins in my head pounded.
    Water puddled at the base of the bathtub. Smaller splashes formed a trail at even intervals, and that was when it hit me, coming back in a great, crashing tidal wave of realization. There had been a corpse there earlier. Corpses did not generally move on their own. Unless, of course, they weren’t corpses any longer.
    I jumped to my feet. Einstein skittered back. “Owen,” I hissed, tapping his shoulder. As I did so, I turned and froze, my heart now missing a full beat. Buh-boom. Skip . Einstein grumbled then let out a hoarse bark.
    â€œYou know that feeling of when a semitruck is driving through your brain?” Owen asked, dragging himself to his feet. “Yeah, that.” He rubbed at his temples, eyes squeezed shut.
    From across the room, a boy stared directly at us. I tugged at Owen’s sleeve. He registered the added presence in the room, and his mouth fell open.
    My skin tingled. “ Eureka ,” I said in a slow exhale.
    It was not any boy. It was the boy, and now that he was standing in front of me, I could picture him again with his startled expression the second before my headlights crashed into him. He was wearing only his pair of dripping boxers and was slick-chested and wet like he’d just been born.
    He cocked his head, examining us. Now upright, he was even taller than I’d thought. More substantial, too.
    Owen put his hand up, palm facing outward. “We come in peace,” he overenunciated.
    I pushed his hand back to his side. “This isn’t Roswell, you idiot.”
    I took a cautious step forward, heart pounding ferociously. The deep