35 - A Shocker on Shock Street Read Online Free Page B

of the tram. “There’s nothing around
here,” he said. “We’re in the middle of nowhere. Why did we stop?”
    “Do you think—?” I started. But I stopped talking when I saw the bush move.
    It wiggled. Then the bush next to it wiggled, too.
    “Marty—” I whispered, tugging his sleeve. I saw two glowing red circles
behind the bush. Two glowing red eyes !
    “Marty—there’s someone there.”
    Another pair of eyes. And then another pair of eyes. Staring out at us from
behind the evergreen bushes.
    And then two dark claws.
    And then rustling sounds. The bush tilted as a dark figure leaped out.
Followed by another.
    Snarling, growling.
    I gasped. Too late to run.
    We were surrounded by the ugly creatures. Snuffling, wheezing creatures, who
staggered out from the bushes. Reaching out, reaching out for us, they began to
climb into the tram.

 
 
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    Marty and I jumped to our feet.
    “Ohhhhhh.” I heard Marty let out a frightened moan.
    I started to back away. I thought maybe I could scramble out the other side
of the car.
    But the snarling, growling monsters came at us from both sides.
    “L-leave us alone!” I stammered.
    A monster covered in tangled brown fur opened his jaws to reveal long, jagged
rows of yellow teeth. His hot breath exploded in my face. He stepped closer.
Then he swiped at me with a fat paw and uttered a menacing roar. “Would you like
an autograph?” he growled.
    I gaped at him, my mouth hanging down to my knees. “Huh?”
    “Autographed photo?” he asked. He raised his furry paw again. He held a
black-and-white snapshot in it.
    “Hey—you’re Ape Face!” Marty cried, pointing.
    The hairy creature nodded his head. He raised the photo to Marty. “Want a
photo? This is the autographing part of the tour.”
    “Yeah! Okay,” Marty replied.
    The big ape pulled a marker from behind his ear and bent to sign the photo
for Marty.
    Now that my heartbeat was returning to normal, I began to recognize some of
the other creatures. The guy covered in purple slime was The Toxic Wild Man. And
I recognized Sweet Sue, the walking-talking baby doll with real hair you can
brush. Sweet Sue was really a mutant murderer from Mars.
    The frog-faced guy covered from head to toe with purple and brown warts was
The Fabulous Frog, also known as The Toadinator. He starred in Pond Scum and Pond Scum II, two of the scariest movies ever made.
    “Frog—can I have your autograph?” I asked.
    “Grrrbbit. Grrbit.” He croaked and slipped a pen into his wart-covered hand.
I leaned forward eagerly and watched him sign his photo. It was hard for him to
write. The pen kept slipping in his slimy frog hands.
    Marty and I collected a bunch of autographs. Then the creatures went snarling
and wheezing back into the bushes.
    When they were gone, we both burst out laughing. “That was so dumb!” I cried.
“When I saw them creeping out from behind the bushes, I thought I’d have a cow!”
I glanced down at the photos. “But it’s kind of cool to get their autographs.”
    Marty made a disgusted face. “It’s just a bunch of actors in costumes,” he
sneered. “It’s for babies.”
    “But—but—they looked so real,” I stammered. “It didn’t look as if they
were wearing costumes—did it? I mean, The Toadinator’s hands were really
slimy. And Ape Face’s fur was so real. The masks were awesome. I couldn’t tell
they were masks.”
    I brushed the hair out of my eyes. “How do they get into those costumes? I
didn’t see any buttons or zippers, or anything!”
    “That’s because they’re movie costumes,” Marty explained. “They’re better
than regular costumes.”
    Mr. Know-It-All.
    The tram started to back out. I settled down into the seat. I watched the two
rows of evergreen bushes fade into the distance.
    Down the long, sloping hill, I could see the white studio buildings. I
wondered if they were making a movie on one of the soundstages. I wondered if
the tram would take us