by R. L. Stine
Dark figures, dripping with thick mud, pushed themselves up and began staggering across the clearing. Their bare feet slapped the mud as they walked.
There were dozens of them now. Skinny, scraggly, twisted, mud-drenched bodies, all lurching toward the tree house. Dozens. And dozens more, pulling themselves up from under the ground.
“Run!” I screamed, jumping out from behind the weeds. “Courtney! Denise! Run! Run!”
They hesitated. Then they finally saw the hideous monsters.
Courtney’s shrill scream rang out through the trees.
She screamed out in terror. Again. And then again.
She and Denise were both screaming.
It should have been our big moment, our triumph.
But it wasn’t.
The two girls screamed in shrill horror.
And then I realized we were all screaming.
Their feet smacking wetly over the ground, the Mud Monsters staggered forward.
I saw Courtney and Denise leap to the ground.
And then I saw them running, screaming in terror as they ran.
And then I was running, too. Running through the dark trees. Running from the woods.
Running. Running. Running from the mud-covered monsters I knew I’d never forget, no matter how far I ran.
Well, that all happened two weeks ago. Two long weeks ago.
The horror is over. It’s all behind us.
But I still don’t go out much. I really don’t like to leave the house.
Neither do my friends.
Yesterday, Kevin asked me if I wanted to see his Mud Monsters video. It’s all edited and finished, he said.
I told him no thanks. I really don’t want to watch it.
I’ve been very nervous and tense since that night in the woods.
My friends have been nervous and tense, too. We’re all totally stressed out.
Except for Courtney.
You know what Courtney has been doing? She’s been bragging to everyone that she was right. That there really are monsters in the world.
Courtney’s been bragging to everyone how she proved there are real monsters because she saw them.
She’s worse than ever.
My friends and I, we’d really like to give Courtney a good scare.
We’d really like to scare Courtney once and for all.
But we can’t. We’re just too scared.
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