The Beast from the East by R. L. Stine

Author:R. L. Stine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-08-21T16:00:00+00:00

“Huh?”

My hand swiped empty air.

They were gone!

No beasts. Only a pile of broken gourds scattered over the ground.

I blinked in surprise. And scrambled to the front of the rock.

No beasts. They had moved on.

“Nat!” I called. “Nat!”

My brother came jogging to the boulder. “What happened?”

“Nothing happened. They’re gone,” I told him. “Now what?”

“Hey,” Nat snapped. “It’s not my fault.”

I stared at him, feeling totally disappointed. And afraid.

A sharp gust of wind kicked up. I glanced at the sky. Shades of pink streaked overhead. The sun was setting.

My chest tightened in despair.

“It’s hopeless,” I muttered.

Nat shook his head. “Do you know what we need?” he asked.

“No. What?” I replied.

“We need another plan.”

I had to laugh. Nat was such a jerk!

He leaned against the boulder and wrinkled his nose. “What kind of rock is this anyway?” he asked.

“A creepy one,” I answered.

Nat peered at the huge rock. “Something’s growing on it,” he said.

“Well, don’t touch anything,” I warned.

But telling Nat not to do something only makes him want to do it more.

Nat stuck his finger into a hole in the boulder.

The big rock trembled.

A crack appeared at its top and spread quickly.

Nat pulled his finger away.

“What’s happening?” I yelled.

A cloud of gray smoke shot up from inside the boulder.

KERPLOOM!

Nat and I ducked, clapping our hands over our ears.

The explosion roared like a million firecrackers going off at once.

More gray smoke billowed out of the boulder.

I could barely see Nat. I started to cough. My eyes burned.

The smoke filled the clearing around us and drifted above the treetops. A few seconds later, it faded away.

And I saw Fleg standing in the clearing.

Spork appeared behind him, scratching at his open eye socket.

Another beast followed. And then another. They stared at Nat and me.

“You touched the Penalty Rock!” Fleg cried.

Nat took a step closer to me. “Huh?”

Fleg nodded to the beast with the smashed tail. “Get him, Gleeb,” Fleg growled.

Gleeb’s snout tensed. His eyes bulged. He reached out for Nat’s arm.

“Wait! Stop,” I yelled. “Nat didn’t know it was a penalty.”

“No fair! No fair!” Nat cried.

The beasts ignored us.

Gleeb scooped Nat up and lifted him high in the air. “Let’s go,” Gleeb grunted.

Gleeb balanced Nat on both paws. Then he pretended to drop him.

Nat shrieked.

Gleeb and the other beasts snorted their ugly laughter, clapping their hairy paws together.

“Stop it!” I screamed. “Let him go!”

“Yes, go,” the beasts echoed. They clapped their paws again. “Let’s go! Let’s go!” they chanted.

I glared at Fleg. “Tell him to put my brother down.”

“He touched the Penalty Rock,” Fleg explained. “He must have his penalty.”

“But we didn’t know about it!” I protested. “We don’t know any of your dumb rules. That isn’t fair.”

I tried to grab Nat’s dangling legs.

“Let me see your hand,” Fleg demanded. He snatched at my arm and lifted my hand up to his eyes. He studied my palm.

“Nubloff colors!” he exclaimed. He studied me. “That’s fifty points. You can’t trick me. You’ve played this game before. You already know the rules.”

I stared at my hand. Yellow sap from the stick.

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