Brain Stealers Read online

  The tentacle slid down Frasier’s arm. It was going to grab the bat! I had to stop it! The bat was our best weapon. Hands outstretched I leaped for the bat.

  Just then the tentacle slimed over Frasier’s hand and the tip encountered the handle of the bat. The tentacle jerked away, like a finger touching a hot stove. It writhed and fell away from Frasier’s body, slithering backwards so fast it was a blur.

  The bat swayed in Frasier’s hand. It touched the second tentacle and the pulsing thing recoiled like it had been stuck with a red-hot needle. But instead of letting go, the tentacle lashed out and grabbed Frasier’s arm and shook it.

  The bat dropped from Frasier’s stiff terrified fingers.

  Darting forward I picked up the bat in a flash and slammed it into the fattest part of the tentacle.

  SQUUIIISH!

  The tentacle dissolved into globs of gooey slime. Its hold on Frasier broke and the injured thing whipped around on the cavern floor, leaving trails of green ooze.

  “Watch out, Nick,” yelled Jessie. “Get away!”

  The tentacle perked up at Jessie’s voice and swiveled toward her, making slapping sounds on the floor. I hefted the bat and ran forward, swinging at the slithering tentacle.

  The instant the bat made contact, the tentacle leaped into the air, coiling back on itself. I ran forward, swinging again and the tentacle recoiled, making a high-pitched hissing sound.

  “SSSSSSHHHHIIIIIIEEEE!”

  It snapped back toward the tunnel, retreating into the shadows. But more tentacles were emerging from somewhere in the black of the tunnel, whipping their tips around in agitation. They darted at me, glowing and pulsing menacingly.

  My stomach heaved and my heart thumped as crowds of them poured across the floor. I forced myself to run at them, flailing away with the bat.

  Hissing and spitting, they flinched away from me, writhing and tumbling over one another in their haste to get away. Finally there were none left.

  Panting, my heart racing with adrenaline, I went back to Jessie and Frasier. “Well, that proves something,” I said, handing the bat back to Frasier and dusting off my hands.

  “What?” asked Jessie distractedly, her eyes searching the corners nervously.

  “Those scummy aliens don’t play baseball!” I said, still pleased with myself.

  “Uh-oh,” said Jessie. She was staring over my shoulder. Her eyes had a haunted look.

  I turned. Part of the melted-rock wall was sliding down fast, like a mudslide. The molten rock began to glow as it moved to cover the opening to the tunnel.

  We darted forward as if we thought we could push back flowing rock with our hands. The flow rushed forward, filling the tunnel until the opening was nearly closed.

  “We’re trapped!” cried Frasier.

  From the shadows, in the darkest part of the cavern surrounding us, the tentacled aliens suddenly began SHRIEKING!

  “REEEE-REEEEE-REEEEEE-REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!”

  22

  Tiny splits began appearing in the cavern walls and glowing green tentacles began wriggling down out of them, like muscular worms.

  “Look!” cried Jessie, pointing behind me.

  I jumped around to see swarms of tentacles erupting from the shadows and the narrow passage that was our only way out. More cracks were appearing in the walls every second and tentacles wormed out of them in gobs.

  They plopped and plunged off the walls then surged toward the three of us, a writhing, wriggling, slimy mass.

  We knew from before that if we could make our minds go blank from terror, the alien creatures couldn’t find us. It was thoughts they sensed.

  Surrounded by them I was almost scared enough already but I knew this time it wouldn’t work. We had no place to run to and the aliens knew it. We were trapped. If we blanked out they’d just wait until we started thinking again and grab us.

  We had no choice. We had to fight them.

  Frasier screamed a war whoop and waded into the mass of glowing tentacles, swinging his bat in every direction. But the tentacles were lightning fast.

  They whipped in front of Frasier, just out of his reach, distracting him while another swarm of them swooped toward me and Jessie.

  Jessie beat them off as best she could with her flashlight but there were too many of them. A big fat one whipped around her, pinning her arms.

  “Jessie,” I yelled, lunging for her. But a squirming mass surged up, blocking my path. The pulsing tentacles swayed in front of me as if choosing the best place to attack.

  I could see Jessie struggling, her eyes fierce and furious. But the tentacle was too big. It was starting to drag her off when Frasier broke through.

  “Hiiyyyaaaa!” he yelled as he pounced with his bat and beat the tentacle off.

  Gobs of broken tentacle flew through the air. But each time a glop landed on another tentacle it was absorbed. Drips of goo on the floor flowed together and re-formed, latching on to the nearest passing tentacle.

  Jessie wasn’t out of it yet. More tentacles shot across the floor toward her.

  “Get behind me,” yelled Frasier, swinging his bat like Jose Canseco. His teeth were bared and his glasses were hanging off one ear. Tentacle goo stained his clothes and hung in strings from his hair. “I’ll try to keep them off!”

  Jessie jumped over a fat, purple tentacle aiming for her ankle and ducked another one circling her head. Frasier grabbed for her arm but missed. The tentacles swarmed over Jessie in triumph, dragging her backward.

  I shoved at the wall of tentacles, my heart in my throat, so horrified I hardly felt the slime coating my hands and arms. I trampled on a tentacle and felt it splatter under my foot. But I couldn’t get through.

  The tentacles pulled Jessie further into the shadows. It was up to Frasier.

  “Hold on, Jessie,” Frasier yelled, dodging a pair of tentacles waving menacingly near his head, and cracking them good with a blow from his bat. “I’m coming!”

  The tentacles backed away hissing, leaving a narrow circle of safety around Frasier.

  “Way to go, Frase!” I yelled as he brandished his bat like a sword, clearing a path toward Jessie.

  Stamping and kicking, Jessie kept the tentacles from dragging her farther off, although she couldn’t get free.

  “Grab the bat, Jessie!” shouted Frasier, swinging it toward her while he kicked at a tentacle creeping along the floor. With all her strength, Jessie lunged at the bat and grabbed it. She pulled it toward her and the tentacles holding her sprang away, skittering in panic across the floor.

  Frasier grabbed Jessie’s arm and swung her behind him. A thrill of excitement went through me. Jessie was safe! We might even get out of here!

  Jessie jumped on Frasier’s back and both of them swung toward me. Frasier grinned, although his eyes rolled in fear. “I’m coming, Nick,” he cried. “I can protect us all!”

  But just then a chill ran up my spine. It was a cold, clammy, wiggly chill. But the chill didn’t stop at my spine. It began to circle my neck.

  I caught a glimpse of Frasier’s face. His triumphant gleam was gone. His eyes were bulging with horror.

  It was no ordinary chill I felt. It was an evil, slimy tentacle and it had me by the neck. A scream started out of my throat but it was choked off as the tentacle yanked me backward, into the darkness.

  23

  I felt like I was sinking slowly in cold mud. I kept trying to struggle out but my arms and legs were too heavy to lift.

  There was a sound surrounding me. It was a low hum, like the lowest note on a church organ. I knew I’d heard it before somewhere. For some reason, this sound set off alarm bells all through me. I wanted to jump and run but I couldn’t move.

  The low-pitched sound seemed to grow a skin around it, like thin plastic. It probed at my head, going through the skull like it wasn’t there, caressing my brain. It was looking for a way in.

  Suddenly I jerked awake. But it was no dream. Or maybe it was but reality was worse. Thick mi
st swirled around me. I couldn’t see anything. But I knew I was alone. Far from my sister and my friend.

  That low humming sound was still in the air though it seemed farther away now. I remembered where I’d heard it before: in the Harley Hills, right after the alien ship came.

  I reached out in a panic and my hands hit bars. There were bars under me and over my head, too. I was imprisoned in a cage!

  The bars were hard and glassy and I couldn’t find a lock or a door latch anywhere.

  Oh no, I thought, as my stomach lurched.

  I was inside the mothership, probably in the same chamber and the same cage as Jessie had been in when Frasier and I had rescued her. That meant there was no way I could get out by myself. The switch to open the cage was on the wall, way out of my reach.

  Would Frasier and Jessie find me? Had they been caught, too?

  I sank down in the bottom of the cage and tried to send my thoughts out to my twin. It had worked for her. Jessie had been able to call me to her with her thoughts. Maybe I could do the same.

  If she was still free. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Jessie, I called in my mind. Jessie, I’m here. In the cage. Jessie, help me!

  But my mind stayed blank. There was no answering thought from my sister. Maybe the aliens had her in another cage in some other mothership chamber.

  Then I heard a slurpy, gurgling noise somewhere below the cage. Fear scattered my thoughts like confetti. Gripping the bars of the cage, I peered down into the swirling mist.

  A shadowy, lumpy shape seemed to be shifting in the thick mist but I couldn’t be sure. My feet tingled with fear. I gripped the bars at the top of the cage and pulled my feet up off the floor, away from that shadowy shape. But I knew I couldn’t hold myself in this position for long.

  Suddenly a pale pink tentacle whipped up through the mist and slithered between the bars. It tasted the air, looking for me.

  A moan of fear escaped my lips. The tentacle raced across the floor and wound up the bars, seeking me. I scrunched my legs higher. But my arms were coming out of their sockets already.

  The tentacle wavered in the air. I twisted my legs away from it but the motion only told it where I was. Instantly the tentacle darted forward and wound around my leg.

  Panicky, I let go of the bar above me to slap at the tentacle. The struggle was too much for my other hand. My fingers slipped from the ceiling bar and I fell heavily to the bottom of the cage, the tentacle crawling up across my stomach.

  My fingers were sticky with gunk and the tentacle kept coming. It crept up around my chest, slipping around my neck and up my cheek, leaving a slimy trail.

  Its cold, slippery tip probed at my ear. It was going to steal my brain! I flailed out in terror, pulling and tearing at the thing.

  And then I felt something sticky oozing against my leg. I looked and my heart nearly stopped. Pink goo was bubbling up through the bottom of the cage, more and more every second. The cage was filling with it!

  The blob grew bigger. I couldn’t get away from it! The tentacle eased off my neck and the blob sucked it in. Bubbling and boiling, the blob oozed slowly toward me while I tried to press myself right through the cage bars.

  Moaning in panic, I kicked out at it and the blob sucked my feet right in. It swam up over my legs, pinning me. Its clammy touch seeped right down to my skin, making me gag with terror and revulsion.

  I punched at it but my hands just sank into its gooey body right up to the elbows. My stomach churning, I jerked my hands back. But they wouldn’t come! The blob was sucking them in.

  I twisted and struggled to get free but every movement sank me deeper into the goo. It was like fighting quicksand. Only worse, much worse.

  The blob kept coming. It bubbled up over my chest and flowed over my neck. I clamped my jaws shut as it seeped over my chin. Clammy as a giant snail it crept over my nose, my eyes. I couldn’t hear, I couldn’t see.

  I was rigid with fear. It heaved itself up over my scalp and engulfed my forehead. I was drowning in goo.

  The creature had won. And now it was going to steal my brain.

  24

  Blind and petrified, I felt something probe hesitantly at my brain. It felt like the cold wet nose of a dog.

  With all my heart I wanted to squirm away but I couldn’t move. The probe came again, like a nudge. It seemed uncertain. It probably couldn’t figure out which part of my brain to slurp up first.

  Then suddenly a picture flashed into my head. A spaceship! It was so huge it made the sky look small.

  Why was I thinking of something stupid like that? But I wasn’t. I—panic exploded in my mind like a bomb, shooting fragments of thought in all directions. Trouble was, not all of the thoughts were mine.

  The alien blob was thinking inside my head! My brain tried to yank away but the thing held on like it had pincers.

  As my mind struggled in terror the spaceship picture re-formed and grew bigger until I couldn’t think of anything else. I wasn’t even sure who I was!

  The spaceship filled my mind, gliding majestically through the starlit darkness of outer space. But something about it wasn’t right. It looked like a made-up picture. Then the image focused on the back end of the ship where puffs of smoke were coming out. That didn’t look right either. A spaceship wouldn’t puff smoke that way.

  Before I could figure what was weird about it, the smoke stopped completely, the ship wobbled and began to fall out of the sky.

  The ship fell straight toward a blue dot, like a blue marble. As the blue dot got bigger I could see it was supposed to be Earth. But it wasn’t like the Earth I had seen in space pictures. It looked like a little kid’s crayon drawing.

  And then the Harley Hills popped up on the blue ball. They were huge, like mountains, and even more menacing and spooky than I had ever seen them.

  My panic was simmering and sputtering under the force of the alien pictures in my mind. I wanted to push the alien out but I couldn’t.

  Maybe it was because of that—because I was so scared myself—that I didn’t at first recognize the feeling that went with the pictures. I could tell something bad had happened to the spaceship, that was obvious.

  But then I became aware of a sensation surrounding the spaceship. It was a queasy, nagging feeling that seemed to latch on to my fear and magnify it until I felt my brain would shiver to pieces. I tried to control it, to tell myself it was no use to get the screaming heebie-jeebies, but the feeling kept growing.

  And finally I realized it wasn’t me. It was the alien who was afraid! Terrified, in fact.

  At that moment I heard a noise, a rumbling, like distant thunder. It didn’t fit with the images in my brain. It was coming from outside of me.

  Something was coming. My heart started to pound with double fear—the alien’s and my own. It was a horrible feeling. My heart beat against my ribs like it was trying to pry them apart and escape.

  Suddenly the spaceship in my mind speeded up. It crashed into the Harley Hills and sliced into the rock like it was butter.

  And then everything—Earth, hills, ship—exploded, blasting into a trillion sparkly pieces.

  My mind went dark and totally blank, like the power had been cut off.

  The alien screamed.

  25

  The cage was shaking. The rumbling noise was so loud it drowned out my thoughts. But at least I was having thoughts. My connection with the alien had been severed.

  I heaved a sigh of relief and realized there was something heavy on my chest.

  “AAAAAHH!”

  It was the blob! It was slimed over my chest and it was quivering like a mound of pink jelly. I shoved at it, but my hands just sunk into its gooey self and it didn’t move.

  I jerked my hands back and felt grateful when they came loose. At least the alien wasn’t sucking me in anymore.

  The cage began to shake harder. The rumbling noise reverberated ominously, its vibration making shivery patterns in the mist outside the cage. I clutched the bars
as the cage swayed, feeling my stomach clench under the weight of the alien blob.

  I peered into the fog, trying to make out what was coming for me now. But even though the noise got louder every second, I couldn’t see a thing.

  My mind bounced between fear of what the aliens had in store for me next and revulsion at the blob stuck on my chest. I had to get it off!

  I pushed myself up to my knees, plucking my shirt away from my skin. The weight of the blob shifted, and nearly toppled me back to the floor of the cage. The thing was surprisingly heavy.

  Holding on to the bars on either side of me, I leaned over and tried to shake it off. It drooped and bits of goo dripped off and fell through the bars. But the blob itself clung to me.

  I was starting to feel panicky. My eyes darted between the swirling fog and the alien blob pulsing on my chest. The thundering noise was clattering closer through the murky fog. And I couldn’t scrape, shake, or shudder the alien blob off me.

  What did it want? Was it changing me somehow? Seeping through my skin into my blood and my bones? I shuddered violently and the blob held tighter.

  Or was it just trying to hold me down until whatever was making that noise could get me?

  Both possibilities sounded horrible. A surge of terrified energy rushed through me and I staggered to my feet.

  As I struggled up, a shape suddenly emerged out of the fog. I stared, unable to move.

  It was a thing so strange and weird, I couldn’t have imagined it in a thousand years.

  26

  Staring, I lost my balance and fell back in the cage, the blob on top of me. It seemed to ooze around my sides, grasping me more tightly.

  The thing moving slowly across the chamber toward me bobbed weirdly above the floor as if it were flying. But it didn’t have wings. It didn’t have anything!

  It looked exactly like a big wooden crate floating through the fog.

  The rumbling noise was coming from inside it. The crate came closer. Suddenly the clattering rumble stopped. The crate was almost up against the bars of the cage.