Monster Blood IV

25

“Dogface — get away!” Kermit cried, frantically waving the big sheepdog back.

Panting hard, his pink tongue hanging down from his furry face, Dogface bounded up to the hot sauce pot. Ignoring Kermit’s desperate cries, he lowered his head to the pot and sniffed it.

“No! Go away! Go away!” Evan joined in on Kermit’s cries. “Get him away from there!”

They couldn’t move fast enough.

The big dog bumped the pot over. The orange hot sauce poured out over the grass.

Dogface lowered his head and licked up a few tastes.

Blue Monster Blood creatures bounced closer. A few began hungrily drinking up the spilled hot sauce.

Evan waited and watched, his fingers crossed so hard, they hurt.

No. No.

The hot sauce didn’t bother the hairy blue blobs a bit.

But Dogface raised his head from the ground. Behind his thick fur, his black eyes rolled crazily. The big dog opened his jaws in a long howl of pain.

And as he howled, a growling blue blob leaped onto the dog’s back.

Stunned and in pain, Dogface shook himself hard. But the creature clung to the fur on his back.

“No! Get away!” Evan shrieked as another blob leaped onto Kermit’s dog.

With another howl, the big dog took off. His big paws pounded the grass. He shook himself as he ran, trying to throw off the two creatures.

Kermit stood openmouthed in shock.

“The blobs are drinking up all the hot sauce!” Andy declared. “And now they’re biting and snapping at each other! It’s turning them even meaner!”

“Come on!” Evan cried, running after the dog. “We’ve got to save Dogface! Those creatures will kill him!”

Evan took a deep breath and started running full speed, following the howling dog. Kermit and Andy ran right behind him.

“Dogface — whoa!” Kermit called. “Dogface — stop! Stop!”

But, as always, the dog ignored Kermit.

Shaking his back, he ran in crazy zigzags.

Through backyards. And then across a street. And onto the sidewalk.

The dog barked and howled in protest. But the two blobs hung on, appearing to enjoy the ride.

“Dogface — wait!” Kermit pleaded.

The three kids ran as fast as they could, zigzagging across streets and yards, following the barking, frightened dog.

As they neared the school, Evan glanced back. And saw that the Monster Blood creatures were following them. Dozens of them, bouncing and rolling over the front yards.

They were growling and snapping at everything in their path. One of them exploded, sending a spray of slime over someone’s front yard.

“They’re all following us!” Evan cried breathlessly.

Kermit and Andy turned back. “Oh, wow!” Kermit muttered. “It’s like a parade!”

“Hey — what’s that?” Evan heard a woman shout. “What are you kids doing?”

“Hey — get off my grass!” He heard a man’s angry cry.

He heard startled voices. And saw people bursting out of their houses. Two kids jumped off their bikes and stared. A man on a ladder cried out in surprise and nearly toppled to the ground.

“Dogface — please stop!” Kermit wailed.

But the big dog galloped across the street, heading to the playground behind the school. Just past the sidewalk, he stopped and began rubbing his back against a wide tree trunk.

The hairy blobs on the dog’s back bounced and scraped against the rough tree bark. But they held on tight.

With another howl, Dogface took off, running wildly across the softball field, kicking up dust in the infield, bucking his head, shaking his whole body.

And then the big dog slumped to the ground.

The three kids gasped as Dogface toppled onto his side.

The two blobs had their mouths buried in the dog’s thick fur.

Dogface kicked out once with all four legs.

And then didn’t move.