Camp Fear Ghouls (8 page)

And then I screamed again.

They were
all
monsters!

All the Camp Fear Girls had changed into hideous, rotting creatures!

Their eyeballs bulged out of their sockets. Pus dripped from their pores. I began to choke on the smell of their decaying flesh.

Caroline dug her nails into my arm, shrieking.

Amy stood in front of us. She continued with the story.

What was the matter with her? Couldn't she see what was happening?

I jumped up and pulled Caroline to her feet. “Amy!” I cried. “Come on! We have to get away!”

Amy turned and gazed at me. Her dark eyes gleamed.

“Amy,” I yelled again. “Let's get out of here! Now!”

But Amy didn't answer.

And then, as I stared at her,
she
began to change.

Her skin turned the color of pea soup. Her cheeks swelled. Larger and larger. They started to pulse.

Then the left one burst open. And something crawled out!

A worm! A fat, purple worm! It slithered across her face.

Her eyes bulged.

Her nose caved in, leaving a black hole in her face.

Caroline and I jumped to our feet.

The Camp Fear Ghouls slowly formed a circle around us. They moved closer. Tightening the circle. Closing in on us.

“Wh-what are they going to do to us?” Caroline choked out.

“I don't know!” I cried. “Let's not stick around to find out!”

I lunged at the Trudy-monster and knocked her over. Breaking the circle.

“Run, Caroline!” I cried. “Run!”

Caroline grabbed my hand. We took off for the trees.

I glanced over my shoulder. The Camp Fear Ghouls groaned. Then they began to shuffle after us.

They moved so
slowly.
We can outrun them! I thought.

It was almost as if I had spoken out loud. “You will never get away!” Amy growled.

“Don't listen to her!” I panted to Caroline.

We reached the edge of the light cast by the campfire. The woods were only a foot away. One more step and we'd be in the trees—hidden. Then we could escape.

I was in the lead. We leaped for the woods—and slammed into something solid. It felt as though I had run into a wall, headfirst.

But there was nothing there.

I rubbed my head, dazed. “What was
that?”

“Lizzy, they're coming!” Caroline cried.

I threw myself toward the trees again.

Again I rammed into something hard. Everything swam before my eyes. Dizzy, I stumbled backward.

“What is it?” Caroline whimpered. “Why can't we get out?”

“I don't know,” I croaked. “It's like there's something there—blocking our way. Only it's invisible!”

The monsters lumbered closer. They gathered around us.

“What do you want?” Caroline cried.

“Let us go!” I yelled. “Please, let us go!”

My heart thudded hard against my rib cage.

Amy raised one green, oozing finger and pointed at us. “You will never get away. You will remain with us . . .
forever!”

A
my shoved her hideous face close to mine. I cringed and drew away from her.

“The campfire story is true,” she rasped. “
We
are the Camp Fear Ghouls. One hundred years ago today, our troop went into these woods on a camping trip. We never went home again.

“We set up camp in this very clearing. Then we collected wood for a fire. But in the dark, no one noticed that the sticks we picked up weren't wood. They were bones. The bones of an evil man who died here!”

I sucked in my breath, horrified.

“The fire from those bones sent us all into a deep sleep,” Amy continued. “When we woke up, we were . . . as you see us now. Ghouls. Camp Fear
Ghouls! Since that day we have roamed these woods. Thirteen girls—bound together forever by evil.”

“But—but there were only twelve of you when I met you,” I stammered. “You said I was the thirteenth. And now Pearl's gone. There are only eleven of you!”

“You're smart, Lizzy.” Amy let out a horrifying laugh. “You'll be a good replacement for Rose.”

“R-Rose?” I choked out.

“Yes. Rose tried to escape the Camp Fear Ghouls. We had to destroy her. We chose you to take her place.”

Priscilla moved close to Caroline. She grinned. Her single tooth was covered with fuzzy green moss.

Caroline put a hand over her mouth and gagged. “Lizzy . . . ” she whimpered.

It was my fault that Caroline was here. I was doomed—but maybe I could get her out of this. I took a deep breath.

“You chose me,” I told the Camp Fear Ghouls. “But you didn't choose Caroline. Please let her go.”

“I'm afraid we can't,” Priscilla whispered.

“You see, we had to have you in our troop, Lizzy,” Amy explained. “But you tried to quit when we told you your friend couldn't join. So—” She paused. “We made room for her.”

Made room?

“Pearl,” I whispered. “You destroyed her too.”

“Right. Pearl.” Amy grinned. “She was getting too bossy anyway.”

“Enough talking. It is time for the initiation,” Trudy announced.

My knees began to tremble.

“You must each earn three badges. One badge will test your courage,” Amy said, counting on her rotting fingers. “Another will test your strength. And another, your wits.”

Amy turned to the troop. “If either Lizzy or Caroline fails to survive the badge tests, they will
both
become Camp Fear Ghouls . . . forever!”

A chill raced up my spine. If
we failed to survive?

“What if we
do
earn all our badges?” I asked.

Priscilla stepped up. A strip of torn, oozing flesh dangled from her cheek. “You won't,” she told us. “But if you do—you can go.”

Caroline and I squeezed each other's arms. There was hope! All we had to do was earn those badges.

Amy held up her sash. “Choose the badge you want to earn first.”

Caroline and I examined the sash.

My voice shook as I explained the badges to Caroline. “The swimming badge. The rock-collecting badge. The arts and crafts badge.”

“Lizzy, I'm scared. I don't want to take any of these tests. We have to go home,” Caroline moaned. “Time to go home now.”

“Stop it, Caroline!” I shook her by the shoulders. “We have to try to earn the badges. If we don't, we'll end up like the Camp Fear Ghouls.”

Caroline's face twisted. I could see she was trying not to cry. But she nodded at me.

I studied the badges on Amy's sash.

What should we pick? Swimming, arts and crafts, or rock collecting?

Swimming could be really scary. What if they tried to drown us or something? I decided to avoid that badge for now.

That left arts and crafts and rock collecting. “I'm not the best at arts and crafts,” I whispered to Caroline. “How about rock collecting? You pick up some rocks. You put them in a bag. How hard could that be?”

Caroline nodded in agreement. It seemed like the safest bet.

I took a shaky breath and said, “We're going for the rock-collecting badge.”

“Rock collecting!” the ghouls whispered all together. An evil smile twisted Amy's hideous features. “Good choice,” she told us. “Excellent choice!”

“K
eep moving!” Trudy barked. The troop marched me and Caroline to another clearing in the Fear Street Woods.

This one had no campfire. Just dozens of large stones scattered on the ground.

Amy handed me a big cloth bag. “Fill this up with rocks.”

I glanced from the bag to the rocks. That was it?

“No problem,” I mouthed to Caroline.

“Pick up only these rocks,” Priscilla told us, holding up a long, skinny piece of blue, glowing stone. “No others.”

“You've got five minutes,” Violet snapped. “Starting—now!”

The ghouls left the clearing.

The second they were out of sight, I whispered, “Quick, Caroline! They're gone! Let's make a break for it.”

Caroline didn't hesitate. She turned and charged toward the trees. I followed right behind her.

But just as we hit the edge of the woods, we smacked against another invisible barrier.

Caroline cried out in pain.

“We're trapped,” I groaned, rubbing my forehead.

Caroline's chin quivered. “I'm so scared, Lizzy. What do we do now?”

“The only thing we can do,” I answered. “Collect rocks. But we don't have much time.”

I glanced at my watch. About a minute had already passed.

Caroline crawled around the clearing on her hands and knees, pawing at the stones. “Which rocks are we supposed to collect?”

I spied some medium-size stones that seemed to glow in the dark. “Pick up those, Caroline. The bluish ones.”

Caroline wrapped her hand around the one nearest her. “Yeow!” she shrieked. She dropped the rock. “It's hot!”

“Let me try.” I picked up the rock.

Pain shot through my fingers. I dropped the rock. It just missed my foot. “It burned me!”

“We can't collect these rocks,” Caroline cried in horror. “They burn! We're going to fail!”

“Don't say that!” I ordered.

“We're going to fail!” she repeated. “We can't do it, Lizzy—we can't!”

“We
have
to do it!” I shouted.

“They're going to turn us into ghouls!” Caroline wailed. “And there's nothing we can do to stop them!”

“T
hey're not going to beat us,” I cried. “I won't let them!”

I gritted my teeth and dove for another blue rock. I would hang on to it this time. Even if it fried my hand!

White heat seared my palm. I couldn't hold on!

“Ow!”
I flung the rock into the air. It flew straight for Caroline.

“Look out!” I warned.

Without thinking, Caroline caught the rock with both hands.

I gasped. “Drop it, Caroline!” I yelled. “It'll burn you!”

But Caroline held on to it. She stared at it in amazement. “Lizzy, it's cold now! Ice cold!”

“No way.” I strode across the clearing and grabbed the rock from Caroline.

She was right! I could hold it too—with no problem.

“That's it!” I cried. “If we toss the rocks, they cool off!” I ran to the bag and tossed the cold blue rock in. “Stay right here, Caroline. If we work together, we can do this!”

I dashed across the clearing. Hooking my toe under another burning hot rock, I kicked it into the air. Caroline caught it. She tossed it into the bag.

“Kick me another!” she yelled.

We raced against the clock, hurling one rock after another into the bag. Sweat poured down our faces. A little voice inside my head kept repeating, “You're not going to make it. You're not going to make it.”