Beast from Beneath the Cafeteria!

  The janitor grumbled as he headed out of the gym. Kramer Duffey backed his big dump truck up to the door.

  The goop the kids had mixed on the floor bubbled and changed color. The horrible aroma rose up through the ceiling hole and out into the air.

  “All ready over here!” cried Liz’s mom from the back of the truck. “And it’s delicious!”

  Suddenly—“RRROOOAAARRRRR!” The sound of the giant beast echoed across Grover’s Mill.

  “Gorga’s free!” cried Liz. “Take cover!”

  THWUMP! THWUMP! Gorga stomped up Main Street and charged across the school parking lot. He dipped his enormous head through the hole in the gym roof and sniffed the goopy mess bubbling in the center of the floor.

  “Whoa!” Mike cried. “His tongue’s curling!”

  “Dig in, big boy!” shouted Liz.

  11

  Eenie-Meenie-Meinie-Liz!

  “SLOOOORRRRLLPPP!”

  Oh, did the big boy dig in!

  The incredible wind of Gorga’s humongous slurp made Liz and Mike brace themselves in a doorway.

  As Gorga slurped up the soupy mess on the floor he grew bigger! And bigger! And bigger!

  “Now the secret weapon!” Liz shouted.

  She gave the signal and—GRRRR!

  Kramer Duffey pulled a lever and the truck at the side door began to tip its load.

  “Today’s special coming right up!” Mrs. Duffey cried out from the seat next to her husband. “Cauliflower soup with broccoli!”

  “Hooray!” Liz cheered. “Health food!”

  Mrs. Duffey’s health food cuisine splashed out across the floor.

  “SLLLLLLURP!” Gorga kept snorting and slurping. He didn’t notice that the menu had changed!

  He swallowed everything. He licked the floor clean. Then he pulled his giant-sized head back and roared. His jaws were trailing broccoli bits and cauliflower stems.

  Suddenly, Gorga grew quiet. He licked his jaws with his long tongue.

  “He’s not liking it,” Mike mumbled.

  Mike was right. A shocked expression struck Gorga’s huge red eyes. He glared down at the little people in the gym. He looked at the Double Dunk twins. He looked at Mr. Sweeney. He looked at Mr. Usher. He looked at Mike, Jeff, Holly, and Sean.

  Suddenly, his huge red eyes spotted Liz. He gave her a look.

  Liz didn’t like that look one bit. “Uh-oh, he remembers the apples.” She ran.

  Her head pounded. Her arms tingled. She pumped her legs as fast as she could. “He’s not going to get me!” she grunted, trying to make it to the gym doors.

  But Gorga was too swift. He slammed his claw down through the ceiling and closed it tight!

  Around Liz!

  “RRROOOAAARRRRR!” Gorga lifted her in triumph high over Grover’s Mill!

  “Hellllp!” screamed Liz, swooping up in the air hundreds of feet above the town.

  “I hate to lose a student,” Principal Bell cried out from the front of the school. “But—send in the attack planes!”

  12

  Jaws of Death! Jaws of Breath!—Bad!

  Gorga bent down to examine the tiny girl squirming in his grasp. The beast’s claw was rough. His scaly hide was thick, like armor. His breath was not too good, either.

  “You’re going on my list, too, big boy,” said Liz. “No More Monsters in Grover’s Mill!”

  Gorga’s eyes were bulging and rolling around.

  Cauliflower juice ran down his chin, mingled with Easy-Cheese. Tiny broccoli bits were stuck between his enormous teeth.

  Gorga could have crushed Liz with a single squeeze, but he didn’t. He flicked her bangs up and down with a huge clawed finger. He made little gurgling noises.

  “Yeah, yeah, I know, my hair,” said Liz. “It’s a lot of fun. Now, put me down!”

  “RRROOOAAARRRRR!” Gorga hoisted Liz high up to the clouds and shook his fist.

  “Whoa!” she cried. “I’ll take that as a No!”

  Suddenly Gorga stopped roaring. He tilted his head like a puppy listening to something in the distance.

  Everything was quiet and peaceful.

  Well, almost.

  Nnnnn! Liz heard a rumbling off in the distant skies. Gorga swung his giant head.

  “Planes?” said Liz. “No, it couldn’t be!”

  Up over the horizon the planes came. Fierce-looking black jet fighters, armed with missiles. Lots and lots of missiles.

  “Ah!” beamed Mr. Bell. “The finest attack force a PTA fund-raiser can buy! They’ll do the trick!”

  “Hey!” Liz shrieked. “I’m up here!”

  POOM! POOM! The distant sound of missiles firing from the fighters resounded through the air. Plumes of smoke whirled backward from the tails of the missiles. Lots of missiles!

  KA-THOOM! The first missile scored a direct hit on Gorga’s shoulder. The beast scratched where it exploded.

  “You can’t do this!” yelled Mike. “Liz is my friend. She saved my life a bunch of times!”

  But the planes circled for another strike.

  Finally, Mike shouted, “Don’t worry, Liz! I’ll save you!” He ran for Gorga’s huge clawed feet and began scaling up a scaly leg.

  Hand over hand he climbed.

  Mike looked up. He wasn’t exactly sure what he was going to do. He just knew he had to try.

  Then he saw it. Above him, dangling down from Gorga’s neck, was Kramer Duffey’s bullwhip. As it swung closer, Mike reached out, grabbed the end of the whip, and pushed off from Gorga’s kneecap.

  “Yes!” Mike cried out. “Just like the movies!”

  As the whip tightened, Gorga arched back and the whip began to coil up around his huge neck. Mike held tight and the whip wound closer and closer to the beast’s giant jaws of death!

  “Uh-oh, I’m beast food!” Mike shrieked.

  “RRROOOAAARRRRR!” Gorga opened his mighty jaws, waiting for Mike to swing in.

  “Nooooooo!” yelled Liz.

  Holly, Jeff, and Sean watched helplessly from the ground below.

  Suddenly—“UNNNGGGGH!” Gorga jerked back, swung around, coughed, clutched his throat, and flailed his spiky tail.

  Then right before everyone’s eyes, the enormous creature began to shrink!

  It was amazing! It was fantastic! It was incredible!

  Within minutes, the huge beast shriveled back to its original baby-egg size. It lay quietly in the dust.

  The Duffeys came running from the gym.

  Liz hopped up from the ground and hugged them. “Mom! Dad! Your recipe worked!”

  Mike ran over next to her. “Is that like a speciality of yours, Mrs. D?”

  Mrs. Duffey laughed. “My secret diet recipe. Lose weight in seconds!”

  Kramer Duffey picked up the tiny lizard-sized dino and stroked its back. “Goo-goo, Gorga. We’re going to take you back home.”

  Then, in one quick move, the world-famous paleontologist leaped over to his dump truck, climbed onto the hood, and shouted, “To the boneyard, dear!”

  Mrs. Duffey jumped into the driver’s seat, waved to Liz, and roared away into the desert.

  “Amazing, isn’t it?” said Liz. “This could only happen in Grover’s Mill.”

  Mike turned around and looked up Main Street. “Yeah, Grover’s Mill. What’s left of it.”

  13

  Oh, My Town!

  Liz turned to look. Grover’s Mill was a mess. Nearly every building on Main Street had been stomped flat. Nothing was left standing. It would take years and years to rebuild.

  A crowd gathered in front of the school. Holly, Jeff, and Sean joined Liz and Mike.

  “Wow,” said Mike. “Only one word describes this—smoldering ruin!”

  But Liz didn’t bother to correct Mike. In that moment, she realized her life had changed forever. “It’s like the end of the world!”

  A lump started to form in her throat. She felt as if she was going to cry.

  Mr. Sweeney, the janitor, came stumbling from the s
chool. “Oh, my town! My town! I loved it so!”

  “So did I!” Liz cried out.

  Everyone gasped when they heard her.

  Liz stepped back. She saw the looks on the faces of her friends. “What? No! I mean … Wait, you thought I meant Grover’s Mill? Oh, ha-ha, that’s so funny. No, I was talking about some other town. Far away from here. Really!”

  Errrch!

  A long black limousine pulled up. The door swung open and out stepped a man in a tuxedo.

  “Principal Bell!” Liz blurted out.

  It was Mr. Bell, and with him was Miss Lieberman in a long gown. They turned back to the car, and the principal leaned in. “Yes. Yes. Mmm, yes. Of course! Thank you!”

  An instant later, the limo was gone.

  Liz stepped over to Mr. Bell. “Was that—?”

  “Yes, the President came to inspect the terrible damage. I’m pleased to say that Grover’s Mill has been declared a disaster area!”

  “Finally,” Liz muttered, making sure everyone heard.

  Mr. Bell went on. “And the President is so grateful that we stopped the monster here, she’s promised that Grover’s Mill will be rebuilt as soon as possible!”

  “Great!” said Liz. She dug into her backpack. “Let’s start by making some changes! I just happen to have a long list of things that—”

  But it was already too late.

  Before Liz could find her list, a convoy of army trucks roared into town, and—Bam!-ZZZ!-Clunk!-Whirr!

  Grover’s Mill was back.

  Down to the last weird detail.

  Double Dunk Donut Den.

  Usher’s House of Pancakes.

  W. Reid Elementary School.

  And not a single thing was different!

  “Now hurry home, children!” boomed Principal Bell with a big smile.

  Mrs. Carbonese shuffled over. “And you’ll have just enough time to finish your writing contest entries before bedtime! Remember, they’re due tomorrow!”

  Liz looked at her friends. She sighed a deep sigh. “Come on, guys. There’s nothing more to do here. Let’s go.”

  Mike, Holly, Jeff, and Sean walked along with her. No one said anything for a while.

  “What was that writing contest again?” asked Mike.

  “After a day like today, who remembers?” said Liz.

  As they all watched the trucks roar away into the sunset, Liz felt something rumble beneath her feet. She stopped and looked down.

  Two tiny red dots winked up at her from a crack in the sidewalk. A second later, they were gone. Liz nodded to herself. Yes, everything was the same.

  “I just remembered that contest,” said Mike. “We have to write a paragraph that describes our town.”

  “That won’t be hard,” said Liz. “My paragraph would only be three words: The Weird Zone. Period.”

  “That’s four words,” said Mike.

  Bong! chimed the brand-new donut.

  Sssss! sizzled the brand-new pancake pan.

  Turn the page to continue reading from the Weird Zone series

  1

  The Zoney Zone

  THONKA-THONKA-THONKA!

  Jeff Ryan stepped back from the swishing blades of the big helicopter taking off from his front yard.

  “I’m off to the shoe store, dear!” yelled Jeff’s mother, swinging from a rope ladder above him.

  Jeff glanced up and down Birch Street. It was a beautiful sunny Saturday. Other moms might be flipping pancakes or reading the morning newspaper.

  Not his mom. She was off to her job at the shoe store.

  Thonka-thonka.

  A moment later, the chopper roared away toward the hills north of Grover’s Mill.

  Shoe store? Jeff thought to himself. His mother had been saying that for as long as he could remember. But his friends told him there was a secret army base in those hills. A base filled with stuff captured from alien spaceships!

  His friends all thought that was very weird.

  Jeff sighed to himself. “But Mom would tell me the truth, wouldn’t she?”

  Bong! The giant donut-shaped clock on the Double Dunk Donut Den chimed the hour.

  Sssss! A big puff of steam rose from the oversized pan on the top of Usher’s House of Pancakes.

  Grover’s Mill had not one, but two giant food signs on Main Street.

  His friends thought that was also very weird.

  Jeff thought it was kind of funny.

  “Time to go,” he told himself. Jeff was meeting his friends at Mike Mazur’s house to play some street hockey. Mike’s street had just been paved and it would be perfect for a game.

  Jeff looked down at his skates. They were not in the best shape. They were old and getting older and tighter by the minute. And hockey wasn’t really his game. He’d be lucky if he got anywhere near the puck.

  Jeff curled the brim of his baseball cap, grabbed his hockey stick, and pushed off down the sidewalk.

  Actually, the sidewalk sort of pushed up at him!

  “Ooof!” Jeff stumbled, skidded, and landed on his face.

  He turned his head—ouch!—and saw the problem. A big round bump ran across the sidewalk. In fact, it went completely across the street and up a yard on the other side.

  “My lawn!” shrieked a voice from across the street. Jeff craned his neck to see Mr. Sweeney, the janitor of W. Reid Elementary, batting furiously at the bump in his yard with a shovel.

  “Uh, do you like it down there, or do you want help?” said a voice.

  Jeff looked up. Holly Vickers was standing over him. She was wearing skates, too, had a hockey stick over her shoulder, and a bubble gum bubble growing slowly out of her mouth.

  Holly was in Jeff’s class at W. Reid Elementary. She was also the sister of his best friend Sean.

  Pop! went the bubble. Holly reached down and pulled Jeff to his feet. “Weird,” she said. “This street is looking more and more like a crinkle-cut french fry.”

  Jeff shrugged, twisting his baseball cap. “Yeah, this bump just suddenly appeared and—”

  BLAMMO! The ground thundered!

  Jeff dived back to the sidewalk—and this time Holly joined him—as a big, heavy manhole cover shot up from the street next to them! It arced like a basketball going for the net and landed across the street.

  CRUNNNNCH!

  “My mailbox!” screamed Mr. Sweeney.

  The two kids crawled slowly over to the hole in the street and looked down.

  “Red,” said Jeff, squinting into the sewer. “Reddish light. Do you see that?”

  “Very weird, Jeff. Very zoney,” Holly said. “Let’s get to Mike’s before the sky falls down.”

  “Or the street falls up!” said Jeff, grabbing his stick and twisting his cap around. “But listen, I just want you to know. Hockey isn’t really my game.”

  “Yeah, I know, but hurry up, anyway. It’s going to be fun,” said Holly, already skating down the street.

  “Yeah, lots of fun,” Jeff mumbled, his toes starting to ache in his skates.

  Two minutes later, they rolled down Cedar Circle. Mike was in front of his house. He was swatting a round black puck around with his stick. Liz Duffey sat on the curb, strapping on her Rollerblades.

  “Where’s Sean?” asked Jeff.

  Splat! Splort! Splut! Strange slopping sounds came squishing down the street!

  Everyone turned.

  Suddenly, there was Sean Vickers skating up the sidewalk, soaking wet.

  Holly snickered. “What happened to you?”

  “A fire hydrant happened to me!” said Sean, splashing and dripping over to the curb. “I thought I heard a fire hydrant say something to me. It sounded like, ‘Grok!’”

  “What does ‘Grok’ mean?” asked Jeff.

  “That’s just what I asked the hydrant!” said Sean. “But when I leaned over for the answer—it blew up in my face. You should’ve heard Mr. Sweeney when the water flooded his lawn!”

  “Whoa, just like the manhole!” said Jeff,
shooting a look at Holly. “This is getting to be a dangerous place!”

  “It’s not getting to be,” said Liz. “It is. And it’s not dangerous, it’s weird. It’s also not a place, it’s a zone. Add it all up, you get The Weird Zone!”

  Holly made a face. “Whatever,” she said. “Let’s play already.”

  Whack! Before anyone could do anything, Sean slapped the puck hard with his stick and it skidded out to the center of the street.

  “Ha!” he cried, splashing after it.

  “Get it!” Holly snarled and took off. Liz and Mike skated after her, but Sean got to the puck first. He shot the puck back to Jeff.

  Jeff crouched low, drew his stick back, and swung down fast.

  THWONK! The puck shot to the curb, skipped high, soared, and slammed against the front door of a pretty blue house across the street.

  “It’s not baseball, Jeff!” said Liz.

  Everybody stopped skating. There was a big black streak across the front door.

  “Oh, man!” said Jeff, sliding to a stop. “This is definitely not my game!”

  “I think new people live there,” said Mike. “No one’s met them yet. They’ll probably be okay about it.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Jeff muttered. He hopped the curb and skated up the walk. As he got closer to the house, he saw that all the shades were down.

  Maybe no one’s home.

  But just as Jeff climbed the front steps, the front door cracked open a little bit. It was dark inside the house.

  “What do you want?” a low voice growled out of the shadows. A strange smell wafted out of the house. Like fresh dirt, Jeff thought.

  From the shadows, Jeff could see a pair of small, almost reddish eyes dart here and there, as if they were looking at him from head to toe.

  “Um … hi,” said Jeff. “Our hockey puck hit your door. We’ll be more careful so that we don’t—”

  Before he could say another word, a dark hand jerked out of the shadows, grabbed the puck from the step, and pulled it into the house.

  WHAM! The door slammed in Jeff’s face.

  2

  Easy Come, Easy GO

  Everyone stared at the front door of the pretty blue house. Their eyes were fixed on the spot where the puck used to be.