Max Baker: Guardian of the Ninth Sector Read Online Free PDF Page A

plots and horrible acting.  Every night, approximately 15 minutes before sundown, the majority of the population would retreat to their homes as if some demonic cult or hoard of vampires roamed the streets at night.   It was the oddest thing to Max.  During the day, the town looked normal and the streets bustled with life, and like a switch being flipped, every night Forest Valley turned into an abandoned ghost town.  Max wished it were vampires, or zombies, or some other supernatural phenomenon that caused the town fall silent, but in actuality it was nothing more than the senior citizens readying themselves for their 7:45 bedtime.
Max turned down Oakwood Drive and rode silently past the dimly lit houses.  He couldn’t shake the sinking feeling in his gut that he was being followed, but upon examining his surroundings he was quite sure that he was alone.  Nevertheless, he picked up his pace to escape the rising feeling of dread. 
It was the same feeling that could make a person walk nervously around their house, flipping on closet lights and checking underneath beds for the boogeyman.  That feeling was lying heavy in his guts. 
He stopped for a moment and surveyed the darkened landscape.  He stared out into the distance from which he had come.   He was looking for any sign that he was about to be attacked, or worse – eaten by a maniacal alien that had been sent to Earth to destroy humanity.  Luckily, he didn’t see anything following him, alien or human, but as he continued on toward his house, he still couldn’t shake the feeling.
He was about a mile from his house when he finally spotted it.  Roughly 300 yards behind him was a car; it crawled along slowly while its headlights remained off.  At first glance, it looked as if the car was just sitting awkwardly on the side of the road; its front end protruding more toward the center of the road than the back end.  As Max got further down the street, he noticed the car was not only following him, but it had narrowed the gap between them.
    Crime had never been a real problem in Forest Valley; in fact, most residents felt comfortable leaving their doors unlocked during the day as they left town to go to work.  Max and Noah had tested this theory and proved it correct countless times a few summers ago. They had snuck into random neighbors’ houses in search of unguarded candy.  They had also found out that while some people chose to leave their front doors unlocked for the entire world to come and go as they please, some of those same people chose to leave giant guard dogs wandering free inside.  A vicious pit bull named Biscuits had convinced the boys that breaking and entering in the name of free M&Ms just wasn’t worth it. 
    Max glanced over his shoulder again and saw that the car had gained another 50 yards on him.  He knew that something was amiss.  The feeling in his gut said that making a run for it was a way more viable solution than standing around and finding out why some stranger was creeping around in the dark with no lights on.  Forest Valley wasn’t known for crime, but Max had seen enough documentaries about serial killers to know that they could spring up from anywhere.  Jeffrey Dahmer was from a small town called West Allis, Wisconsin.  Ted Bundy was born in Burlington, Vermont.  Now that he thought about it…Forest Valley had serial killer written all over it.
    After riding another 20 or so yards down the sidewalk, Max saw his opportunity and hopped off of his board.  He ran through the Taylor’s front yard toward their privacy fence.  The Taylors’ were notorious for keeping candy dishes stocked full of fun size packs of Skittles and Kit Kat bars.  He reached their privacy fence and immediately saw that the gate leading to the rear of the house had been padlocked.  Perhaps they had finally caught on to kids using their pool, Max thought to himself. 
    Behind him, he heard the car’s engine come to life and heard the car