Goosebumps: Once in a Blue Moon - Ch5

“RUN!” Andy shouted.

Sean and Evan didn’t need to be told twice. The kids bolted down the street, with the wolf hot on their heels. Sean could hear its grunting snarls getting closer behind him.

“Split up!” he yelped as they reached a four-way intersection. “It can’t follow all three of us!”

Evan ducked left; Andy went right. Sean charged straight on ahead, running flat-out, faster than he’d ever moved in his life. A stitch was pounding in his side, but he didn’t dare slow down.

Glancing behind him, Sean realized his plan had worked. The wolf had stopped in the middle of the intersection, its back hunched ferociously as it growled. It didn’t know which victim to pursue first.

And then Sean stumbled, collapsing on the pavement in a heap. He’d tripped over the loose laces of the shoe he’d begun to untie before bed.

Wincing from the sting of gravel and sand against his skin, Sean frantically tried to get back on his feet quickly. The growls were getting louder. Clearly, the wolf had decided that he was the easier prey to pick off.

Sean darted into a nearby front yard, leaping over a hedge with a level of grace he didn’t think he had. A motion-sensor yard light blinked to life as he tore across the stranger’s property. The wolf bounded over the hedge, still snarling horribly.

The house was up against a grove of trees. Sean knew he could make it to Main Street if he cut through them. If he outran the wolf, he could surely find a hiding place somewhere among the buildings, or at least someone who could help him.

If he outran the wolf…

Sean darted into the woods, dodging and weaving swiftly. Tree branches whacked him in the face with every step, but he didn’t care. He could hear the snuffling breaths getting closer and closer…

A large branch jutted out from a tree in front of Sean, at chest height. He pushed it out of the way and let it snap back as he ran. It caught the wolf right between the eyes, knocking it backwards.

Sean didn’t have time to check and see how disoriented the wolf was. All he knew was to keep moving, get as far away as possible, and then reunite with Evan and Andy if he could.

Finally, Sean reached a chain-link fence that separated the suburban woods from Main Street. He scrambled up and over, landing on his feet in the alley behind a row of buildings. He didn’t stop running. He needed to put as much distance between himself and the beast as he could.

Dodging past empty wooden pallets and parked delivery trucks, Sean finally slowed down to catch his breath. His lungs ached from the cold air. He looked around. The alley was decidedly wolf-free. All he could hear was the rumble of cars on the other side of the buildings.

“Evan?” he panted. “Andy?”

Sean was apprehensive. He kept expecting another monster to leap out at him from anywhere.

And then the sound of swiftly approaching footsteps made Sean’s heart leap into his throat. He spun around – and saw Evan and Andy running towards him.

“There you are!” Andy gasped. “Quick, in here!”

She jumped up and scrambled into a nearby dumpster. Evan and Sean clambered in after her.

It stinks in here, Sean thought as he landed in a pile of garbage. Huge squishy black bags surrounded them, along with a few flattened cardboard boxes and other assorted debris. He glanced at Evan and Andy. “Are you two okay?”

“Ssshh!” Andy hissed. They all fell silent, crouching low among the trash.

Moments later, Sean’s heart began to pound as he heard the familiar grunting pants of the wolf. It was right outside the dumpster.

He tried to control his breathing so he wouldn’t be heard. The wolf seemed to be circling the dumpster. Its growls grew more indignant.

Then finally, after about a minute, it wandered away. Sean could hear its breathing getting fainter in the distance. It became indistinguishable among the street noise.

“Is it gone?” he whispered.

“I think so,” Andy replied, peering cautiously over the lip of the dumpster. “When I saw the wolf go after you, I ran back to Evan. We didn’t want to leave you to get eaten! Then when we caught up with you, we figured the wolf wasn’t far behind.”

Evan lifted his right hand, which was covered in brown water from one of the trash bags. “And you couldn’t have found us a better hiding place?”

“Wolves track their prey by smell, right?” Andy shot back impatiently. “Why do you think it gave up chasing us? It couldn’t smell us over all this garbage.”

Sean felt himself grin slightly, in spite of the situation. He had to admit, that was a pretty clever strategy.

“I don’t think that was any normal wolf, though,” Evan said, wiping his hand on his pants. “Did you see how big and bulky it was? Almost like a – ”

“A werewolf,” Sean finished. “The werewolf of Fever Swamp.”

It was true, he realized. Terrifying, but true. Memories of Goosebumps #14 rose to the forefront of his mind. Will, the werewolf, who had attacked Grady by the full moon. Just like the moon tonight…

“Fever Swamp?” Andy repeated. “I’ve heard of the werewolf legends about Fever Swamp, but I thought that place was in Florida.”

Sean shook his head. “No, no, it’s not real. It’s from another book…”

“What books?” Evan whined. “What are you talking about? And can we please get out of this dumpster? This is disgusting!”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Andy said, digging through the debris. “I’ve always kinda liked dumpster diving. You find a lot of cool stuff in here that people just throw out otherwise.”

Sean watched curiously as Andy rooted through the trash. She certainly seemed like she’d done this before. “You dumpster dive?” he asked.

“Oh yeah,” Andy continued, “it’s great. I love looking for old antique junk. Like that old hobby shop where we found the Monster Blood, remember, Evan?”

Evan grimaced. “I told you, Andy, I don’t want to remember! That stuff is bad news!”

As Andy kept up her search, Sean peeked up over the edge of the dumpster. The coast was definitely clear. He slowly began to hoist himself back out. Despite the coldness of the air, he was still sweaty from the mad dash he’d just made through the woods.

His feet touched the pavement just as Andy’s voice called from within the receptacle. “Aha! See? Look what I found!”

“Eugh,” Evan exclaimed. “That thing is horrifying!”

“Yeah, isn’t it great?” Andy replied, sounding thrilled. “I bet we could scare the pants off of Kermit with this little guy.” She paused. “I don’t know why somebody threw him out, either. The eyes and the jaw still seem to work.”

Sean froze. A sudden feeling of dread began to build in his chest.

“Hey, there’s something in his pocket,” Evan said. Another pause. “What the heck does this mean? ‘Karru marri odonna lomma molonu karran—‘ ”

“NO!”

Sean leapt back into the dumpster, his face white with terror. Andy looked quizzically at him, the tuxedoed ventriloquist’s dummy hanging limply from her right arm.

With trembling hands, Sean snatched the card out of Evan’s grip and tore it to pieces. “Hey!” Evan griped. “What was that for?”

“We need to get out of here,” Sean said seriously. “Now!”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Andy said, carrying the dummy as she lifted one leg over the edge of the dumpster. “We still need to find a way to get back to Atlanta…”

Sean yanked the dummy off her arm and threw it into the corner of the dumpster. Its head hit the metal wall with a CLANG. “Leave it!” he yelped. “We have to get away from that thing! Far, far away!”

“Hey, I know it’s creepy-looking, but it’s not that scary,” Andy insisted.

Sean swallowed hard. “Trust me, he’s scarier than he looks,” he whimpered. “Come on, we gotta go…”

But where? Sean knew he needed to tell Andy and Evan about the other horrors that were likely springing to life all around town, but how? His Goosebumps books were back at the house, and he didn’t dare set foot there. What if that was where the monsters were all coming from?

“The library,” he said aloud. “It’s just a few blocks away. There’s something I need to show you.”

Evan and Andy hoisted themselves out of the dumpster and back onto the pavement. “You’re gonna show us these books you’ve been talking about, I assume?” Evan said impatiently.

“Exactly,” Sean muttered, as the three of them walked swiftly towards the street. He glanced back at the dumpster, his heart hammering against his chest.

Evan hadn’t quite completed the incantation. Maybe the dummy hadn’t come to life after all…but Sean wasn’t about to stick around and find out.