The Beast From the East by R. L. Stine Page A

from there!” Dad shouted. “That branch won’t hold you!”
    “Hey—I made it to Level Seven!” Pat declared, fingering frantically.
    “Look—two bunny rabbits!” Mom cried. “See them in the tall grass?”
    “Let’s keep walking,” I groaned. “It’s too hot here.” I wanted to get out of
the clearing and back under the cool shade of the trees.
    “Ginger is the only sensible one,” Dad said, shaking his head.
    “Ginger is a freak!” Nat called, sliding down from the oak tree.
    We made our way through the woods. I don’t know how long we walked. It was so
beautiful! So peaceful. Beams of sunlight poked through the high branches,
making the ground sparkle.
    I found myself humming that song about the bears in the woods. I don’t know
what made it pop into my head. Dad hadn’t sung it to me in years and years.
    We stopped for lunch by a clear, trickling stream. “This would make a nice
camping spot,” Mom suggested. “We can set up the tent on the grass here by the
shore.”
    Mom and Dad started to unpack the equipment and set up the tent. I helped
them. Pat and Nat threw stones into the stream. Then they got into a wrestling
match and tried to shove each other into the water.
    “Take them into the woods,” Dad instructed me. “Try to lose them—okay?”
    He was joking, of course.
    He had no way of knowing that Pat, Nat, and I would soon be lost for real—with little hope of ever returning.

 
 
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    “What do you want to do?” Nat demanded. He had picked up a thin tree branch
to use as a walking stick. Pat kept slapping at it, trying to make Nat stumble.
    We had followed the stream for a while. I saw a million tiny, silver minnows
swimming near the surface. Now we were making our own path through the tangle of
trees, low shrubs, and rocks.
    “Hide-and-seek!” Pat declared. He slapped Nat. “You’re It!”
    Nat slapped him back. “You’re It.”
    “You’re It!”
    “You’re It!”
    “You’re It!”
    The slaps kept getting harder.
    “I’ll be It!” I cried. Anything to keep them from murdering each other.
“Hurry. Go hide. But don’t go too far.”
    I leaned against a tree, shut my eyes, and started to count to one hundred. I could hear them scampering into the trees.
    After thirty, I counted by tens. I didn’t want to give them too big a head
start. “Ready or not, here I come!” I called.
    I found Pat after only a few minutes. He had crouched behind a large white
mound of sand. He thought he was hidden. But I spotted his brown hair poking up
over the top of the sand.
    I tagged him easily.
    Nat was harder to find. He had climbed a tree, of course. He was way up at
the top, completely hidden by thick clumps of green leaves.
    I never would have found him if he hadn’t spit on me.
    “Get down, creep!” I shouted angrily. I waved a fist up at him. “You’re
disgusting! Get down—right now!”
    He giggled and peered down at me. “Did I hit you?”
    I didn’t answer. I waited for him to climb down to the ground. Then I rubbed
a handful of dried leaves in his face until he was sputtering and choking.
    Just a typical Wald family hide-and-seek game.
    After that, we chased a squirrel through the woods. The poor thing kept
glancing back at us as if he didn’t believe we were chasing after him. He
finally got tired of the race and scurried up a tall pine tree.
    I glanced around. The trees in this part of the woods grew close together.
Their leaves blocked most of the sunlight. The air felt cooler here. In their
shade, it was nearly as dark as evening.
    “Let’s go back,” I suggested. “Mom and Dad might be getting worried.”
    The boys didn’t argue. “Which way?” Nat asked.
    I glanced around, making a complete circle with my eyes. “Uh… that way.”
I pointed. I was guessing. But I felt ninety-nine percent sure.
    “Are you sure?” Pat asked. He eyed me suspiciously. I could see he was a
little worried. Pat didn’t like the outdoors as much as