Goosebumps: The Blob That Ate Everyone by R. L. Stine Page B

onto the couch. I was still breathing hard. And
I could still feel the brush of the cat on my ankle.
    “See, Zackie?” Adam cried. He slapped me hard on the back—so hard I nearly
fell off the couch. “That was a lot scarier than any story you could write.”
    “No way!” I insisted. “I can write a scarier story than that. The dumb cat
just surprised us.”
    Alex pulled off her glasses and wiped the lenses on her T-shirt. “What a screech that cat made!” she exclaimed, shaking her head.
    “I wasn’t scared at all,” Adam claimed. “I was just trying to scare you
guys.” He reached over and rubbed the palm of his hand back and forth over my
head.
    Don’t you hate it when people do that?
    I slugged him as hard as I could.
    He only laughed.
     
    Alex and I stayed for dinner. Mrs. Levin is a great cook. We always try to be
around Adam’s house at dinnertime because she always invites us to stay.
    It was dark by the time Alex and I started to walk home. We’d had
thunderstorms the day before and most of today. The lawns glistened from the
rain. The wet street reflected the glow of street lights.
    I could hear the crackle of thunder somewhere faraway. As Alex and I made our
way along the sidewalk, cold rainwater dripped on us from the trees.
    Adam lives on the other side of Norwood Village. But it isn’t a very long
walk—only about fifteen minutes.
    We walked for about five minutes when we came to a row of little shops.
    “Hey—!” I cried out when the antique store on the corner came into view. “It—it’s been totaled!”
    “It looks as if a bomb hit it!” Alex exclaimed.
    We stayed on the corner, staring across the street at it. Part of the roof
had fallen in. All the windows were shattered. One wall had nearly caved in. The
shingles on the walls and the roof had been burned black.
    “Was it a fire?” I wondered, leading the way across the street.
    “Lightning,” a woman’s voice replied.
    I turned to see two young women on the sidewalk beside the store. “It was
struck by lightning,” one of them said. “Yesterday. During the big storm. The
lightning started a huge fire.”
    “What a mess,” the other woman sighed. She pulled car keys from her
pocketbook.
    The two women disappeared around the corner, tsk-tsking about the
store.
    Alex and I stepped up to the front.
    “Ooh, it stinks,” Alex groaned, holding her nose.
    “It just smells burned,” I replied. I glanced down and saw that I had stepped
into a deep puddle.
    I jumped back.
    “It’s soaked everywhere,” Alex murmured. “From the fire hoses, I guess.”
    A gust of wind made the front door bang.
    “It’s open!” I exclaimed.
    The door had been taped shut. But the tape had broken off. A large yellow
sign on the door declared in big black letters: DANGER—KEEP OUT.
    “Alex—let’s take a peek,” I urged.
    “No way! Zackie—stop!” Alex cried.
    Too late. I was already inside.

 
 
4
     
     
    I took a couple of steps into the shop and waited for my eyes to adjust to
the darkness. Water dripped everywhere. An entire wall of shelves had toppled
over. Broken vases, and lamps, and small statues lay scattered over the puddled
floor.
    “Zackie—!” Alex grabbed my shoulder. “Zackie—get out of here!” she
whispered. “This is really dangerous.”
    “Leave the door open,” I told her. “We need the light from the street.”
    “But what do you want to see ?” Her voice echoed over the PLUNK PLUNK
PLUNK of dripping water.
    She grabbed my other arm and started to tug me out. “Come on. You saw the
sign. The whole building may fall in on us.”
    I jerked my arm away. My sneakers squished as I walked. The carpet was
soaked.
    “I just want to look around for one second,” I told Alex impatiently. “This
is cool!”
    “It isn’t cool,” she argued. “It’s really stupid.”
    A row of ugly antique masks stared at us from one wall. The masks were tilted
at odd angles. Other masks stared up from where