Night of the Living Dummy (9 page)

24

“I warned you,” Mr. Wood snarled over the howls of the little black terrier. “You will do as I say—or one by one, those you love will suffer!”

“No!” Kris cried.

Barky let out a high-pitched
whelp,
a bleat of pain that made Kris shudder.

“Let go of Barky!” Kris screamed.

The dummy giggled.

Barky uttered a hoarse gasp.

Kris couldn’t stand it any longer. She and Lindy leapt at the dummy from two sides. Lindy tackled his legs. Kris grabbed Barky and tugged.

Lindy dragged the dummy to the floor. But his wooden hands held a tight grip on the dog’s throat.

Barky’s howls became a muffled whimper as he struggled to breathe.

“Let go! Let
go!”
Kris shrieked.

“I
warned
you!” the dummy snarled as Lindy held tight to his kicking legs. “The dog must die now!”

“No!” Kris let go of the gasping dog. She slid her hands down to the dummy’s wrists. Then with a fierce tug, she pulled the wooden hands apart.

Barky dropped to the floor, wheezing. He scampered to the corner, his paws sliding frantically over the smooth floor.

“You’ll pay now!” Mr. Wood growled. Jerking free from Kris, he swung his wooden hand up, landing a hard blow on Kris’ forehead.

She cried out in pain and raised her hands to her head.

She heard Barky yipping loudly behind her.

“Let go of me!” Mr. Wood demanded, turning back to Lindy, who still held onto his legs.

“No way!” Lindy cried. “Kris—grab his arms again.”

Her head still throbbing, Kris lunged forward to grab the dummy’s arms.

But he lowered his head as she approached and clamped his wooden jaws around her wrist.

“Owww!” Kris howled in pain and pulled back.

Lindy lifted the dummy up by the legs, then slammed his body hard against the floor. He uttered a furious growl and tried to kick free of her.

Kris lunged again, and this time grabbed one arm, then the other. He lowered his head to bite once more, but she dodged away and pulled his arms tight behind his back.

“I’m warning you!” he bellowed. “I’m warning you!”

Barky yipped excitedly, hopping up on Kris.

“What do we
do
with him?” Lindy cried, shouting over the dummy’s angry threats.

“Outside!” Kris yelled, pressing the arms more tightly behind Mr. Wood’s back.

She suddenly remembered the two steamrollers she had seen moving over the yard next door, flattening the ground. “Come on,” she urged her sister. “We’ll crush him!”

“I’m warning you! I have powers!” the dummy screamed.

Ignoring him, Kris pulled open the kitchen door and they carried their wriggling captive outside.

The sky was charcoal-gray. A light rain had begun to fall. The grass was already wet.

Over the low shrubs that separated the yards, the girls could see the two enormous yellow steamrollers, one in the back, one at the side of the next-door lot. They looked like huge, lumbering animals, their giant black rollers flattening everything in their path.

“This way! Hurry!” Kris shouted to her sister, holding the dummy tightly as she ran. “Toss him under that one!”

“Let me go! Let me go, slaves!” the dummy screamed. “This is your last chance!” He swung his head hard, trying to bite Kris’ arm.

Thunder rumbled, low in the distance.

The girls ran at full speed, slipping on the wet grass as they hurried toward the fast-moving steamroller.

They were just a few yards away from the enormous machine when they saw Barky. His tail wagging furiously, he scampered ahead of them.

“Oh, no! How’d he get out?” Lindy cried.

Gazing back at them, his tongue hanging out of his mouth, prancing happily in the wet grass, the dog was running right into the path of the rumbling steamroller.

“No, Barky!” Kris shrieked in horror. “No! Barky—no!”

25

Letting go of Mr. Wood, both girls dove toward the dog. Hands outstretched, they slid on their stomachs on the wet grass.

Unaware of any problem, enjoying the game of tag, Barky scampered away.

Lindy and Kris rolled out of the path of the steamroller.

“Hey—get away from there!” the angry operator shouted through the high window of the steamroller. “Are you girls crazy?”

They leapt to their feet and turned back to Mr. Wood.

The rain began to come down a little harder. A jagged streak of white lightning flashed high in the sky.

“I’m free!” the dummy cried, hands raised victoriously above his head. “Now you will pay!”

“Get him!” Kris shouted to her sister.

The rain pelted their hair and shoulders. The two girls lowered their heads, leaned into the rain, and began to chase after the dummy.

Mr. Wood turned and started to run.

He never saw the other steamroller.

The gigantic black wheel rolled right over him, pushing him onto his back, then crushing him with a loud
crunch.

A loud
hiss
rose up from under the machine, like air escaping from a large balloon.

The steamroller appeared to rock back and forth.

A strange green gas spurted up from beneath the wheel, into the air, spreading out in an eerie, mushroom-shaped cloud.

Barky stopped scampering and stood frozen in place, his eyes following the green gas as it floated up against the nearly black sky.

Lindy and Kris stared in open mouthed wonder.

Pushed by the wind and the rain, the green gas floated over them.

“Yuck! It stinks!” Lindy declared.

It smelled like rotten eggs.

Barky uttered a low whimper.

The steamroller backed up. The driver jumped out and came running toward them. He was a short, stocky man with big, muscular arms bulging out from the sleeves of his T-shirt. His face was bright red under a short, blond flattop, his eyes wide with horror.

“A kid?” he cried. “I—I ran over a kid?”

“No. He was a dummy,” Kris told him. “He wasn’t alive.”

He stopped. His face faded from red to flour-white. He uttered a loud, grateful sigh. “Oh, man,” he moaned. “Oh, man. I thought it was a kid.”

He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then he bent to examine the area beneath his wheel. As the girls came near, they saw the remains of the dummy, crushed flat inside its jeans and flannel shirt.

“Hey, I’m real sorry,” the man said, wiping his forehead with his T-shirt sleeve as he straightened up to face them. “I couldn’t stop in time.”

“That’s okay,” Kris said, a wide smile forming on her face.

“Yeah. Really. It’s okay,” Lindy quickly agreed.

Barky moved close to sniff the crushed dummy.

The man shook his head. “I’m so relieved. It looked like it was running. I really thought it was a kid. I was so scared.”

“No. Just a dummy,” Kris told him.

“Whew!” The man exhaled slowly. “Close one.” His expression changed. “What are you girls doing out in the rain, anyway?”

Lindy shrugged. Kris shook her head. “Just walking the dog.”

The man picked up the crushed dummy. The head crumbled to powder as he lifted it. “You want this thing?”

“You can throw it in the trash,” Kris told him.

“Better get out of the rain,” he told them. “And don’t scare me like that again.”

The girls apologized, then headed back to the house. Kris cast a happy grin at her sister. Lindy grinned back.

I may grin forever, Kris thought. I’m so happy. So relieved.

They wiped their wet sneakers on the mat, then held the kitchen door open for Barky. “Wow. What a morning!” Lindy declared.

They followed the dog into the kitchen. Outside, a flash of bright lightning was followed by a roar of thunder.

“I’m drenched,” Kris said. “I’m going up to get changed.”

“Me, too.” Lindy followed her up the stairs.

They entered their bedroom to find the window wide open, the curtains slapping wildly, rain pouring in. “Oh, no!” Kris hurried across the room to shut the window.

As she leaned over the chair to grab the window frame, Slappy reached up and grabbed her arm.

“Hey, slave—is that other guy gone?” the dummy asked in a throaty growl. “I thought he’d never leave!”

Scanning, formatting and basic
proofing by Undead.

Table of Contents

Start