Uncollected Stories 2003 Read Online Free PDF

little quicker."
"Now just hold on," I said, becoming angry. "I hurried "
I was cut off by a sound that has hounded me through nightmares ever
since, a hideous mewing sound, like that of some gigantic rat in pain. I
saw calculation, fear, and finally decision flicker across Weinbaum's
face in a matter of seconds. I fell back in terror.
"What is it?" I choked.
He casually shone the light down into the pit, for all his affected
casualness, I noticed that his eyes were averted by something. The thing
mewed again and I felt another spasm of fear. I craned to see what
horror lay in that pit, the horror that made even Weinbaum scream in
abject terror. And just before I saw, a horrible wall of terror rose and fell
from the vague outline of the house. Weinbaum jerked his flashlight
from the pit and shone it in my face.
"Who was that? Whom did you bring up here?"
But I had my own flashlight trained as I ran through the passage way,
Weinbaum close behind. I had recognized the scream. I had heard it
before, when a frightened girl almost ran into my car as she fled her
maniac of a guardian.
Vicki!
Chapter Seven
    I heard Weinbaum gasp as we entered the lab. The place was swimming
in the green, liquid. The other two cases were broken! I didn't pause,
but ran past the shattered, empty cases and out the door. Weinbaum did
not follow me. The car was empty, the door on the passengers side
open. I shone my light over the ground. Here and there were footprints
of a girl wearing high heels, a girl who had to be Vicki. The rest of the
tracks were blotted out by a monstrous something I hesitate to call it a
track. It was more as if something huge had dragged itself into the
woods. Its hugeness was testified, too, as I noticed the broken saplings
and crushed underbrush. I ran back into the lab where Weinbaum was
sitting, face pale and drawn, regarding the three shattered empty tanks.
The revolver was on the table and I grabbed it and made for the door.
"Where do you think you're going with that?" he demanded, rising.
    "Out to hunt for Vicki," I snarled. "And if she's hurt or – " I didn't
finish.
I hurried out into the velvet darkness of the night. Gun in hand,
flashlight in the other, I plunged into the woods, following the trail
blazed by something that I didn't want to think about. The vital question
that burned in my mind was whether it had Vicki or was still trailing
her. If it had her...
My question was answered by a piercing scream not too far away
from me. Faster now, I ran and suddenly burst into a clearing. Perhaps it
is because I want to forget, or perhaps it is only because the night was
dark and beginning to become foggy, but I can only remember how
Vicki caught sight of my flashlight, ran to me, buried her head against
my shoulder and sobbed. A huge shadow moved toward me, mewing
horribly, driving me almost mad with terror. Stumblingly, we fled from
the horror in the dark, back toward the comforting lights of the lab,
away from the unseen terror that lurked in the dark. My fear-crazed
brain was putting two and two together and coming up with five. The
three cases had contained three somethings from the darkest pits of a
twisted mind. One had broken loose. Rankin and Weinbaum had been
after it. It had killed Rankin, but Weinbaum had trapped it in the
concealed pit. The second one was floundering in the woods now and I
suddenly remembered that whatever-it-was, was huge and that it had a
hard time lifting itself along. Then I realized that it had trapped Vicki in
a gully. It had started down easy enough! But getting up? I was almost
positive that it couldn't. Two were out of commission. But where was
the third? My question was answered very suddenly but a scream from
the lab.
And...mewing.
Chapter Eight
    We ran up to the lab door and threw it open. It was empty. The screams
and the terrible mewing sounds came from the garage. I ran through,
and ever since have been glad that Vicki stayed