Body Switchers from Outer Space Read Online Free PDF

alive!

7

    Y eecccchhh!
    And that was putting it mildly. I had seen my mom and dad order snails at a restaurant. And I tried some raw fish once—but this! This was the grossest thing ever! I’d never seen anyone eat anything as awful as this!
    It had to be some kind of joke!
    Right?
    Chad-Two reached in and grabbed a handful of the creatures while I sat there—stunned.
    He stuffed two of them into his mouth!
    For a second a couple of squirming tentacles stuck out between his lips. He sucked them in like noodles and grinned while he chewed.
    Oh, man—talk about gross!
    My stomach crawled up my throat!
    Mom and Dad scooped out handfuls of squirming creatures. The critters slid around on their plates, wiggling their eyestalks and tentacles.
    Mom popped one into her mouth. Her fingers dripped with yellow goo. She licked it off and smiled at me some more.
    â€œWhat’s the matter, Chad-One?” she asked. “Why aren’t you eating?”
    â€œUh—ur—I—” Because I have to go throw up! “I don’t feel very well! Maybe I’d better go to bed.”
    â€œAre you coming down with something, honey?” Mom asked. She laid the back of her hand against the back of my hand.
    â€œI think . . . maybe,” I said. I coughed to sound more convincing.
    â€œYou’ll feel better with some food inside of you,” she said. She picked up one of the purple octopuses and held it toward me. It waved a sucker-covered tentacle.
    â€œI don’t—urp—excuse me!” I jumped up and ran out of the room, through the front hall, and up the staircase.
    Chad told me his room was the second one on the left. But as soon as I stepped off the top stair I knew I was going to have trouble.
    There was no upstairs hall. It was like stepping inside a giant pink beach ball or a hot-air balloon.The floor was pink and spongy, like the floor of the backyard shed. It curved up at the sides until it turned into walls. The whole place was round. I wasn’t sure where the floor and walls and ceiling started or ended.
    The only areas that weren’t pink were two square slick orange patches on the floor. They were about two feet across, and four pairs of fat white boots sat next to them. They looked like moonboots, but puffier.
    I noticed more of those circle things on the wall like the one that had made the shed door open.
    Could it be? Well, I had to try something. Second door on the left . . . I went to the second patch on the left wall and stuck my thumb on the green-yellow surface.
    A long oval door whooshed open.
    I peered through the opening. There was nothing in it but some bars along the side walls, about waist high. The space was closet-sized, about two feet by four feet.
    This was Chad’s room? You couldn’t even sit down in there, let alone lie down!
    I must have opened the wrong door.
    I bounced over to another colored patch on the wall. I could hear Chad’s family talking at the dining room table.
    â€œI think I’ll take a plate up to Chad-One,” I heard Mom say. “He may be ready to eat now.”
    No! No way! I was not eating creepy crawlies!
    This place was way too weird for me!
    I snuck down the stairs, careful not to make a sound. I pressed the patch by the front door. Whoosh! I shut the door behind me and took off!
    I ran faster than I ever had before—faster than I ever could have in my own body.
    Once I put some distance between me and Chad’s house on Fear Street, I slowed down a little.
    The closer I got to my own home, the better I felt.
    Could I have been wrong? Maybe I hadn’t seen what I thought I saw. Maybe Chad’s family wasn’t eating slimy, creepy, live creatures. Maybe it had just been some kind of weird noodles.
    Noodles with eyes?
    I still felt sick to my stomach. What kind of food was that?
    I’d seen some disgusting food on TV, but those crawly things were the worst!
    What