R. Stine: Monster Blood IV

Evan made another frantic grab — and lifted the wet blob off the ground. “Got it!” Evan cried.

But the creature changed shape. Squeaking loudly, it pulled itself in until it resembled a giant worm. And then it slid easily from Evan’s hands.

“Whoa — it’s cold !” Evan exclaimed. He examined his hands. The creature had left a coating of wet blue slime on Evan’s palms.

Evan glanced up in time to see the creature roll to the back of the yard. “Stop it!” he cried. “Don’t let it go over to Conan’s yard!”

He ran to catch up to it. Kermit reached it first. “Hey — what’s it doing?” Kermit demanded. “It’s turning on the garden hose.”

The hose was coiled against the back of the garage. A long end of it stretched along the ground.

Evan stopped and stared as the creature perched on top of the nozzle. Its body began to bounce up and down in a steady rhythm. It stopped squeaking and began to make loud gulping sounds.

“Is it drinking?” Andy asked.

“Huh? I think it is!” Evan cried, staring in amazement.

The creature bobbed on top of the hose nozzle. Drinking. And as it drank, it grew.

“It’s inflating — like a water balloon!” Kermit declared.

“We’d better stop it before it gets too big,” Evan warned.

Evan tried to turn the water off, but the spigot wouldn’t budge. “It’s stuck!” he cried. “I can’t turn it! It’s stuck!”

The creature gulped more water. It was as big as a basketball now, and still growing.

Evan grabbed it with both hands and tugged. His hands slid off the slippery, wet body.

The creature was as big as a beach ball.

“Help me!” Evan cried, grabbing the creature again. “We’ve got to pull it off the hose.”

He gave a hard tug. But the gulping creature held on to the hose.

Andy stepped up beside Evan. They both wrapped their arms around the inflating creature and struggled to pull it loose.

“It — it’s attached itself!” Evan gasped.

The creature bulged, bigger, bigger, until Evan and Andy couldn’t get their arms around it.

“Now what?” Evan groaned.

And the creature exploded.

Evan heard a deafening POP. A wave of cold water and slime hurtled over him, knocking him over.

Evan landed in a sitting position.

“Ohhhhh.” He let out a groan as he wiped the thick blanket of slime off his eyes and face.

“Sick,” he heard Andy mutter.

He turned and saw that Kermit and Andy were also drenched. Thick gobs of slime clung to Kermit’s glasses. Andy’s hair was soaked, matted flat on her head.

“Sick,” Andy repeated, staring down at her slime-covered hands. “Oh, yuck. This is sick .”

Evan wiped more goo from his eyes. Then he turned to where the creature had stood — and gasped in shock. “Oh, noooo!” he cried. “Am I seeing things?”

Two blue creatures bobbed beside the garage.

Two creatures about the size of chipmunks.

Squeaking softly, they grinned at Evan, Kermit, and Andy. Their big black eyes rolled in their heads.

“It multiplied !” Kermit exclaimed.

Evan swallowed hard. He scooped a gob of slime off his shoulder. “I don’t like this,” he murmured. “I don’t like this one bit.”

“But they’re so cute!” Andy protested.

Evan shivered. The night air suddenly felt much colder. He turned to the house. It was covered in darkness.

What if Aunt Dee wakes up and catches us out here? he wondered. I’ll be in major trouble. My baby-sitting job will be over. No sleepaway camp…

“It’s getting late,” he told them. “We’ve got to go in.”

“But we can’t just leave these little guys out here!” Andy protested.

Evan sighed. He knew Andy was right. “Okay,” he agreed, “let’s round them up quickly. We’ll get a bag or a bucket or something.”

The two blue blobs began bouncing in different directions.

“No! Don’t let them get away!” Evan cried. “If they split up, we’ll never catch them.”

“I have an idea,” Kermit said. He darted across the grass and picked up the garden hose. He turned the nozzle, and a hard spray shot out.

“I’ll keep them against the back of the garage,” he announced. “You go find something to put them in.”

Evan watched as Kermit raised the hose and aimed the spray at the two creatures.

The hard spray sent them both flying against the garage wall.

“It’s working!” Kermit cried. “I’ve trapped them!”

He kept the spray on them. The water pushed them back, pressing the two creatures against the garage.

“Hurry—!” Kermit cried.

But Evan hesitated. He watched as the two creatures opened their mouths wide. Wider. And began to gulp.

“Kermit — turn off the hose!” Evan shouted. “It’s a bad idea. They’re drinking it!”

As the stream of water shot into their gaping mouths, the creatures inflated rapidly. They gulped the water hungrily, blowing up bigger and bigger.

“Kermit — shut off the hose!” Evan ordered.

Too late.

Another loud explosion. Another burst of water and slime.

And now Evan stared across the lawn at FOUR blue blobs!

Startled, Kermit dropped the hose. Water shot across the lawn.

Evan dove for the garage and frantically turned the water spigot. The water dribbled to a stop.

But the four blue creatures were already lapping up water from the grass. And growing bigger.

“We have to stop them,” Evan gasped. “We have to pick them up before they explode again.”

He and Andy ran together, frantically reaching down to grab two of them. But Andy stopped suddenly — and Evan ran right into her.

“Whoa!” he cried. “Why did you stop?”

“Look at them.” Andy pointed.

Evan gazed down at the bobbing creatures. They were lapping the night dew off the grass. “What about them?” he asked impatiently.

“These four look different,” Andy replied. “Check out their faces. They’re not smiling.”

“Who cares?” Evan shrieked. “They’re drinking! Why do we care if they’re smiling or not? Do we want eight of them? No! So let’s get them!”

Evan leaped forward and grabbed one in each hand. One blue blob slipped out and bounced away, squeaking loudly.

Evan wrapped both hands around the other one, determined to hold it tight. “Get a bucket!” he told Andy. “Or a garbage bag or something!”

Then Evan let out a scream as a sharp jolt of pain shot through his arm.

He looked down. The blue creature had clamped its jaws around his wrist.

“H-help!” Evan stammered. “Owwwww! It — it’s biting me! It’s biting my hand off!”

Evan tugged at the creature with his free hand. “Help me! Ow! It — it’s sucking my skin!” he wailed.

Kermit and Andy dove to his side. They both grabbed at the wet blue blob. Andy’s hands slipped off, and she stumbled backwards.

But Kermit held on, held on with both hands. And tugged. Tugged until they all heard a loud POP.

Kermit pulled the creature off and tossed it across the yard.

Evan rubbed his arm. “It was sucking my skin,” he moaned. “Sucking the water out, I guess.”

Kermit started running to the house. “I’m telling Mom,” he cried. “This is too dangerous!”

“No!” Evan grabbed Kermit around the waist. “I can’t get in any more trouble with your mom. Let’s get them all rounded up first. If we don’t, there will be hundreds of them!”

Evan turned to Andy. Her teeth were chattering. “This is getting scary,” she murmured. “Listen to them.”