As they rushed down the hall, one of the doors flew open and Mr. McLaughlin, who taught seventh grade English, stuck out his head, hollering after the boys. “Slow down, wouldya?”
But they couldn’t.
They ran past the double doors where the rest of their class was scarfing down their sloppy joes in the half-lit cafeteria. The kids didn’t seem to mind eating in the dark. They could hear the teacher on lunch duty telling everyone to stay calm, assuring them that the lights would be back on shortly.
Freddie and Manny slowed down as they caught a whiff of the delicious smells wafting out of the dining hall. They looked down the length of the hallway. Their monsters were nowhere in sight. “Where’d they go?” Manny asked. Freddie shrugged, and they raced on, stopping at the intersection of another hallway. Then a flash of motion caught their attention. At the far end of the empty hall, they spotted their trio of 3D-printed monsters galloping into the science room.
“Come on!” Freddie said as they ran into Mrs. Fletcher’s science class. “They went in here!”
Manny used the flashlight on his phone to light up the shadows in the classroom.
“You see them?” Freddie asked in a whisper.
“There!” Manny shined the flashlight on the table.
All three of the monsters were climbing up toward the aquarium full of fish.
“They can’t get wet!” Manny yelled.
Freddie rushed through the rows of tables and stools and reached his long arms across the table. He scooped Yapzilla and Mega-Q away from the fish tank.
“Gotcha!” he said with a whoot. He dropped the wriggling creatures into the pockets of Manny’s cargo shorts. Then Freddie opened the front pocket of his backpack, planning to trap Kraydon. But the one-eyed muscle ball scuttled away and smashed the aquarium with his tail.
Water spilled through the cracks in the glass and a wave washed across the table. Freddie swiped for the monster, but Kraydon was too quick and disappeared out of view, jumping down onto the wet floor and scampering through the shards of broken aquarium glass.
Manny whipped around the flashlight, frantically trying to find the monster, when they heard Kraydon smash another hole through the bottom of the door.
This jagged hole was bigger than the last one.
“He’s getting away!” Manny said. “After him!”
“Wait,” Freddie said, looking down at a fish flopping on the floor. “Help me.”
“Oh, come on,” Manny said. “It’s just a bunch of fish. They don’t even have feelings.”
“That’s not true! I had a fish once, and he had feelings!” Freddie said. “Get some water.”
Manny grunted, then quickly filled a beaker with water at the sink. The two boys plucked up the squiggling fish off the floor by their slimy tails and dropped them in the water.
“There, are you happy now?” Manny said, and took off, Freddie close behind.
They jetted back into the hallway and skidded around a corner. Kraydon was nowhere in sight. They sprinted down the next hall, back past the cafeteria.
“Hold it, boys!” Principal Worst suddenly called out.
Freddie and Manny hit the brakes. The principal’s high heels clacked loudly as she approached behind them. “Freddie Liddle and Manny Vasquez . . . ,” she said slowly in a slight singsong voice. They knew they’d been caught.
Freddie’s pulse thumped like a drumbeat as they turned around to face the music.
5
A hand-in-the-cookie-jar look crossed Freddie’s face as he gazed down at Principal Worst. We’re totally busted, he thought, freaking out. Manny, however, seemed chill and relaxed, or as Manny would say, chillaxed.
“Hey, Mrs. W.,” he said, making casual conversation. “When are the lights coming back on?”
“Soon, I hope, but my bigger concern is why you’re running in the halls,” she replied, her arms crossed.
Brghrurgh! A weird grumbling noise came from Manny’s pockets.
“What was that?” the principal asked, eyeing Manny suspiciously.
Freddie tensed up, his nerves jangling.
“That?” Manny said, suddenly clutching his stomach. “That’s the sloppy joes talking. You know how it is. So good going in . . . so bad going out.”
“Yeah, that’s why we were running . . . ,” Freddie added, holding his own belly with a pained look on his face.
Principal Worst stared at them hard for a long moment. “Tummy troubles, eh?”
But they had bigger troubles than make-believe indigestion. Behind Principal Worst, Freddie could see Kraydon waddling down the hallway like some sort of mutant penguin.
He watched as the monster pushed through the swinging door of the boys’ bathroom.
“What are you looking at, Freddie?” Principal Worst turned around. “Who’s there?”
Freddie shrugged dumbly. Just then, the lights suddenly flicked back on, bathing them in bright white fluorescence. Saved! Freddie thought.
“Please,” Manny said, clutching his tummy again. “It’s an emergency. . . .”
Their principal stared at them for a couple of seconds longer. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll give you a pass, but this is strike two. . . . One more and you’re out. . . .”
“We’re really sorry,” said Freddie. “It won’t happen again.”
As Principal Worst walked away, Freddie and Manny made a beeline for the bathroom. Freddie felt his blood pumping. That was a close one!
Now inside the boys’ bathroom, Manny peeked under the row of stalls for any feet (human or otherwise). “All clear!” he shouted.
Freddie flung open the door to the last stall, a big handicap stall at the end.
There was Kraydon, crouched against the wall behind the toilet, trying to hide.
“There he is!” Freddie gasped. He dropped to his knees and spread his arms wide, pinning the little monster in the corner. Kraydon made a dash for it, but Freddie snatched up the creature before he could escape again.
“Finally.” He sighed as Kraydon squirmed in Freddie’s big mitts.
Then the monster’s eyeball started to swirl again.
“Watch out!” Manny swooped in with some toilet paper and wrapped it around the monster’s eye. The toilet paper turned to stone, solidifying around Kraydon’s Cyclops eye. Freddie stashed the writhing, blindfolded monster in his backpack and got to his feet.
“Manny,” Freddie said, “I think we have to tell someone about what’s going on.”
“No, we don’t,” Manny said. “Didn’t you just hear what Principal Worst said? Two strikes . . . you really want a third? They’ll call our parents. We might even get suspended!”
“We just created monsters from a 3D printer!” Freddie said. “This is some serious high-level, top-secret stuff going on!’
“How do you know it’s high-level or top secret?” Manny asked.
“We just created three living, fire-breathing, and whatever-elsing monsters with a 3D printer!” Freddie shouted. “You don’t think that’s insane?”
“Keep your voice down,” Manny said, looking around, all paranoid.
“Sorry . . . ,” Freddie whispered.
“You’re right, you’re right.” Manny looked down at the linoleum floor. But when he looked back up, he waggled his eyebrows up and down. “But think how cool they are going to be for our movie!”
“What? Manny, that’s crazy.” Freddie shook his head. “We need to tell the police. The FBI. The CIA. NASA. The . . . the . . . whoever deals with monsters department?”
“We will, we will,” Manny said, his voice smooth like cheese dip. “Just as soon as we’ve trained them to act and we’ve shot our action scenes.”
Freddie had to admit the idea was appealing. He pictured their monster movie in his head. If they could train the monsters to do their own stunts, they might really have something special on their hands. And if they made the first-ever movie with real-life monsters, well, maybe he wouldn’t just be known as the gigantic fre
ak. He’d be known for making the monster blockbuster of the year.
“Fine,” Freddie agreed, calming down a bit. “Deal. But we have to start training them right away.”
“Deal . . . ,” Manny said and put out his hand.
As Manny and Freddie clasped their hands together, two feet dropped to the floor in the stall next to them. Feet that were wearing a pair of jangling cowboy boots. Boots that could only belong to one person.
The stall door flew open with a sharp bang, and Quincy Moorehead stepped out.
“Well, well, well . . . ,” the evil mega-nerd said, tapping his fingertips together, pit-a-pat, pit-a-pat. “What have we here?”
6
Freddie and Manny froze in the center of the boys’ bathroom. The overhead lights hummed in the silence. Freddie’s backpack went crazy as Kraydon wriggled around inside. Manny’s cargo pockets were jumping like they were filled with angry hamsters.
“What are you two up to?” Quincy asked, squinting at Freddie and Manny.
Manny found his voice first. “We were actually having an AB conversation, so why don’t you C your way out of it.”
“Monsters, eh?” Quincy continued. “I hope this isn’t some kind of prank. The last kid who tried to pull a prank on me, well, let’s just say it did not go so well for him or his little science camp project.”
Freddie gulped, a hard swallow. They had to get out of here before this evil kid genius figured out what they’d done.
Then with a sudden whoosh, Manny’s pant leg went up in flames. A thin tendril of smoke rose to the ceiling, circling the smoke detector. It began to beep.
“Yo!” Freddie cried. “Your shorts!”
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Manny looked down at his pants and squealed. “I’m on fire!” He smacked his thigh with an open palm to put out the flames. “Ouch, ouch, ouch!” A small yap and another puff of smoke wafted from Manny’s scorched pocket. The smoke rose and hit the smoke detector again. The beeping got louder and the fire sprinklers clicked on, spritzing water everywhere. Freddie reached up on his tiptoes and tried to unscrew the smoke detector from the ceiling.
But it was too late. The three of them were already soaking wet from the indoor downpour.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Quincy snarled. “I knew this was a prank!”
“Quick, Manny, we have to get them out of here!” Freddie yelled. “The water makes ’em grow!” Freddie spun his pack around so that he was covering Kraydon from the sprinklers. But as he rushed to the door, it was flung open in his face.
Jordan Cross stumbled into the bathroom, lurching past Freddie. He was cupping his stomach with both hands, his face knotted with pain and anguish.
“Too many sloppies,” he groaned. “Wait, why is it raining in here?” Jordan looked up in confusion at the sprinkling sprinklers.
SKCRRREHK!
A rip sounded from Manny’s pants as Mega-Q’s razor-sharp legs poked through the fabric, slicing it to shreds. Yapzilla tore through the tattered threads and burst seams of the other pocket with her talons.
KAK! KAK! KAK! The metal teeth on Freddie’s backpack zipper popped as Kraydon crawled out and scrabbled down Freddie’s chest, waist, and legs, hopping off the toe of his big sneaker and onto the bathroom tiles. The little monster swung his tail around his body and struck himself in the face, smashing the stone blindfold that covered his eyeball.
“Monsters on the loose!” Manny yelled, running after their creations.
Quincy was in total shock, his mouth hanging open, his hair dripping wet. “You made monsters. . . . How did you . . . ? How is that . . . ?”
The now not-so-little critters ran across the sopping-wet floor, between Jordan’s feet, and into the hallway.
“Don’t let them get away!” Freddie shouted. “After them!”
But the monsters were too quick. Freddie and Manny chased after the monsters as fast as they could, trying not to lose sight of them.
“Come on!” Quincy said, slapping Jordan on the back.
Mega-Q led the way into the gym, with Yapzilla and Kraydon following the lightning-fast millipede.
The boys raced through the double doors and sprinted across the basketball court. “Where’d they go?” Manny asked, looking around in a panic.
“I don’t see them . . . ,” Freddie replied.
“This is insane, even for you guys,” Jordan grumbled behind them.
They came to a stop in front of the double doors that led to the swimming pool. Freddie’s heart sank. He knew exactly where the monsters were.
Screams rang out through the chlorine-scented air, and Nina burst out of the pool room, shrieking at the top of her lungs.
Jordan ran up to her, and shaking her by the shoulders, he ordered her to chill.
“You chill!” she snapped. “There are monsters in the swimming pool!”
“What are you doing in the pool?” Quincy asked her. “You’re supposed to be at lunch.”
“Well, if you must know, I prefer the swimming pool bathroom to the regular bathroom,” Nina said, talking fast. “Plus the girls’ bathroom is all filled—it’s sloppy joe day. But that’s not the point right now, ’cuz the swimming pool is full of monsters!”
“They’re in the pool?” Manny asked, his voice filled with panicked nerves. “In the water?!”
Freddie and Manny looked at each other, their eyeballs bulging.
Just then, the loudspeaker pierced the air with a high-pitched screech and Principal Worst’s voice blared: “This is not a test! This is an emergency evacuation! Everyone stay calm and make your way outside in an orderly fash— Holy Mary, mother of monsters—” The announcement cut off.
Manny looked confused. “How does Principal Worst know about the monsters?”
“Because they have security cameras in the pool area,” Quincy replied. “Duh!”
“Don’t ‘duh’ me, dummy . . . ,” Manny snapped.
“I can say ‘duh’ whenever I want,” said Quincy. “It’s a free country!”
“I’m gonna duh-ump you both in the pool with those monsters if you two don’t shut up,” Jordan said.
A mad scramble of locker clanks and door slams and squeaky sneakers and shrieking squealers echoed through the gym as everyone rushed to leave the building. The emergency bell blared.
This was not good.
This is actually very, very bad, Freddie thought as he and Manny and the two other boys moved cautiously across the gym toward the swimming pool.
“What are you guys doing?” Nina shouted. “We have to get out of here!”
“We just want to see,” Manny said. “They’re our monst—I mean, they’re monsters!”
“Ugh . . . boys. Fine, let’s get a look, then we’re out of here.” Nina groaned and followed after them.
Together, the five classmates crept through the doors of the pool room.
Freddie could see the three monsters shimmering beneath the surface of the water. They were growing bigger and bigger as the water level of the pool sank lower and lower. Then the monsters rose out of the deep end.
Kraydon was as big as an elephant.
Yapzilla was the size of a giraffe.
And Mega-Q was as long as an anaconda.
For the first time in his life, Freddie felt as small as a mouse.
7
KRUARHHHHHHH! Kraydon roared and lifted his massive fists, smashing them down on the pool deck. The ceramic tiles cracked and crumbled under his weight. All five of the kids were backed into a corner, their eyes bugging out of their skulls.
“Freddie! What do we do?” Manny asked, terrified.
One of Yapzilla’s necks pointed and aimed directly at them. The she monster pursed her lips and spat a stream of fire.
Freddie dove out of the way and scrambled back to his feet, slipping and sliding on the deck. Mega-Q reared up on his hindmost legs. A neon-blue bolt of electricity shot out at the kids.
“Watch out!” yelped Freddie.
“Retreat!” Quincy shouted, and the five of them scurried back into the gym.
BZZZT! The door crackled with blue electricity and then fizzled out.
Freddie was in shock. Everything had started out so harmlessly. All he’d wanted to do was make a little monster movie.
Now the monsters were destroying his school.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
Freddie peeked back into the pool room through the circular window above the door. He watched as Kraydon swung his spiky tail and smashed a giant hole through the wall that led to the playground. Mega-Q and Yapzilla escaped through the hole. The runaway monsters darted across the school yard and through the parking lot, disappearing in a whirlwind of electrified fire.
“Dude, this is so messed up!” Freddie said. He slid down the gym wall and sank his head in his hands. “Dude, what are we supposed to do? This is all our fault, dude!”
“Calm down, take a deep breath,” Manny told him. “And stop saying ‘dude’ so much.” He pulled Freddie aside from the bullies, who were huddled together in a corner of the gym. “Now, let’s just think. How are we going to stop these monsters?”
“How should I know?” Freddie sputtered. “Just because I designed them doesn’t mean I understand them.”
“That’s it!” Manny jumped up. “I think I know what we have to do.”
“You do?” Freddie asked. “What is it?”
“I’m your best friend,” he said. “You trust me, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Freddie said. “What’s your idea?”
“Know thy enemy . . . ,” said Manny.
“Huh?” Freddie asked, looking down at him oddly.
“Know. Thy. Enemy. It’s like basic strategy,” said Manny. “The only way to defeat your enemies is to understand the way they think. That way you can know their strengths and weaknesses.”
“You want to ask these jerks for help?” Freddie whispered in sheer disbelief.
Monsters Unleashed Page 2
