Goosebumps Most Wanted #5: Dr. Maniac Will See You Now (7 page)

I dodged to the side. I couldn’t stop myself. I bumped Bree hard, and the two of us fell to the grass.

The Purple Rage burst past us and kept running. Roaring out his furious rage, he flew across the street and crashed headfirst into a fat tree trunk.

KLONNNNK
.
It sounded like wood smashing into wood. The ground shook. My breath caught in my chest.

The Rage fell to his knees. A few seconds later, he climbed back to his feet. “There. That’s better,” he said calmly.

He shook himself like a dog after a bath. Shook his whole body. Then he came walking slowly back to us. “I feel like a new man.”

We heard screams down the block. Another explosion in the distance. More sirens.

“Wh-what are we going to do?” I stammered.

“I know who is behind all this craziness,” the Rage said, smoothing down his cape. “I know who started this. I know.”

We gazed at him silently, waiting for him to tell us.

“I can tell you whose fault it is in two words,” the Rage said. “Just two words.”

“What two words?” Bree asked.

“
Maniac
,” he replied.

“But …
Maniac
is only
one
word,” I said.

“See? That’s just how dangerous he is!” the Rage exclaimed. “What happened to the other word?”

“This guy is a maniac, too,” Bree whispered in my ear. “I’ll never forgive you for this, Richard.” She stomped really hard on my foot. Ernie hooted with laughter.

“Huh? Me?” The whole world was in trouble, and she was blaming
me
!

The Rage rubbed his chin. “Dr. Maniac opened the door between the comic book world and the real world,” he said. “Dr. Maniac let everyone escape.”

“But … why?” I asked.

“Because he’s a MANIAC!” the Rage cried. He thumped his chest with a fist and screamed at the sky for a while.

“I know why he did it,” he said finally. “To make me angry.” He stomped toward the street. “Come on. We’re going back to that museum. We’re going to force Dr. Maniac to make things right again.”

“But — but — it’s night,” I sputtered. “The museum will be closed.” I knew that was a lame excuse, but it was the only thing I could think of.

“I have a special key to the door,” the Rage said. “See this?” He raised his big fist. “This is my key.”

He stomped rapidly along the sidewalk, his cape ruffling behind him. “This really WRECKS my ROOSTER!” he cried. He uttered an angry roar — and
punched
a low tree limb.

I saw something go flying across the street. It took me a few seconds to realize what had just happened.

“Bree,” I whispered. “He … he just punched a
squirrel
! He’s so insane, he just punched a squirrel off a tree. Do you really think we should follow him?”

“What choice do we have?” she snapped. “Your parents are in cages. And I don’t know where my parents are. Look at my house.” She pointed behind us. “It’s totally dark. We have no choice, Richard. We have to find a way to turn things back the way they were.”

And that’s how we ended up back at the Comic Book Museum for the most terrifying night of our lives.

A few minutes later, we followed the Rage up the concrete steps to the museum entrance. The lights were on and the front doors were wide open.

I knew what that meant. It meant that more comic book characters were escaping their world and running out into our world.

We burst into the front entryway and gazed all around. No one in sight.

“Know what PICKLES my PASTA?” Rage boomed. “Everything!”

I took a few steps into the front hall.
Where is Dr. Maniac?
I wondered.
Did he fly off into our world, too? How will we ever find him?

The Purple Rage adjusted his purple tights as we walked down the long hall. “I hate when they crawl up on me,” he muttered. He turned to me. “I come from the Angry Planet. Everyone stays angry all the time. Have you read my origin? It’s one of the top-rated origin comics on everyone’s list.”

“Yes. I’ve read it,” I said. We passed the statue of the Unknown Superhero. I kept my eyes straight ahead, searching for any sign of Dr. Maniac.

Bree stayed close behind us. I knew she was really worried about her parents. Her face was pale, her expression grim. She didn’t bother to fix her hair. She didn’t say a word.

“What’s
your
origin story?” the Rage asked me.

“Huh? Me?” The question startled me. “Uh … My origin? I was born. That’s all.”

The Rage snickered. “We could call you Captain Boring.”

We were nearly to the end of the hall. I peered into the auditorium. Dark and empty.

Bree was squinting into one of the display rooms. She turned, shaking her head sadly. “There’s no one here,” she said in a trembling voice. “We’re wasting our time.”

The Rage let out an angry growl. “Know what CRINKLES my CUCAMONGA? Finding an empty museum. I know that maniac is here somewhere.” He shook a fist in the air. “If we find him …”

I heard a shrill scream. From the front of the museum.

“Hey — Ernie?” I cried. I spun around. “Where’s Ernie?”

Another high scream. It definitely sounded like my brother.

“Is that him?” Bree said. “Did he wander off again?”

We went racing back to the front. Our shoes slapped the marble floors as we ran.

“Ernie? Ernie?” I shouted his name over and over.

And his cry came back: “Help me! He’s taking me away! Help me! Hurry!”

I skidded to a stop as the front desk came into view. “Noooo!” I screamed.

I saw Ernie and Dr. Maniac behind the desk. Maniac held Ernie in both hands, high above his head. Ernie kicked and squirmed and thrashed, but Maniac held him tightly.

“Help meeeee!” Ernie screamed.

Struggling to fight off my panic, I screamed, “Let him go!”

Then I took a deep breath — and hurtled to the front desk.

Too late.

They both vanished.

“Ernie? Where are you? Can you hear me?”

Of course he couldn’t hear me. He was gone.

I leaned over the desk and searched behind it. No one there.

My poor brother. He sounded so frightened. I shuddered. I suddenly felt frightened, too. I gripped the desk with both hands.

I was in charge of Ernie. I was supposed to take care of him … watch out for him. And I let him down.

Still trembling, I turned back to Bree and the Purple Rage. “Why?” I cried. “Why did Maniac want Ernie?”

The Rage squinted at me. “Because he’s a MANIAC?”

Bree ran up beside me and searched behind the desk. “But … where are they?” she asked. “Where did they go?”

The Rage let out a shout. “Know what BANGS my BAZOOKA? When villains like Maniac get away!” With a loud roar, he ran full speed across the room and
kicked
the wall.

“Owwwwww!” The pain made him howl. He hopped up and down on one foot. Finally, he walked back to Bree and me. “I have to stop kicking things,” he said. “But what else can you do when you’re angry? I tried punching myself in the head. But that didn’t feel good, either.”

“What do we do now?” I asked. “I have to get my brother back.”

He placed a gloved hand on my shoulder. “Follow me, Richard.”

I blinked. “Follow you? Where?”

“Into Comic Book World,” he said. “You want your brother back, right? We have no choice. We have to go there to find him.”

“But — but —” I sputtered.

“How do we get there?” Bree asked. “Look around. I don’t see any door with a sign marked
This Way to Comic Book World
.”

I turned to the Rage. “You came through the door. Tell us where it is.”

He scratched his forehead. “I know it’s right here somewhere,” he said. “But where? I was so angry, I forgot to look. Doesn’t that PUNCH your PETUNIA?”

I had a flash. “The wastebasket,” I said.

They both stared at me. “What about the wastebasket?” Bree asked.

“There were two comic book characters,” I said. “Standing behind the desk. They were both standing in the wastebasket.”

The Rage clapped his purple gloves together. Then he slapped me a high five. “Yes. I remember now!” he said. “They were coming up from the other world — through the wastebasket. Just like me. Good work, Richard.”

But then his expression changed. His face darkened. “Know what PUNCTURES my PECCADILLO? It makes me angry that I didn’t remember that!”

“Never mind,” I said. “Let’s go. Ernie may be in big trouble. We don’t want to waste another second.”

My heart pounding, I swung myself around to the back of the desk. Bree and the Rage scrambled after me.

“Quick — into the wastebasket!” the Rage cried.

“Hey, wait —” I uttered. “I don’t believe it!”

The wastebasket was gone.

“It — it can’t be,” I stuttered. “It was always right here.”

“AAAAARRRRRGGGGH!” The Rage bellowed a furious cry. “That totally BOGGLES my BABUSHKA!”

He roared again, swinging his fists over his head in a total rage.

With a swing of his boot, he kicked the whole desk over. It crashed onto its side.

And as he danced around in pain, I stared at the floor. At the shiny black metal handle poking up in front of me. I bent down and grabbed the handle with both hands. I tugged it up.

A trapdoor. A trapdoor that had been hidden under the desk.

“Hey — look!” I shouted.

The Rage leaned over me. “Yes! That’s it,” he said. “Now I really remember. That’s the passageway.”

I gazed down into the opening. I saw only total blackness.

A wave of panic chilled my entire body.
I don’t want to go down there. If I do, will I ever get back?
The frightening thoughts made my head spin.

But I knew I had no choice. I had to find Ernie.

I turned to Bree. “Are you coming?” I asked.

She shrugged. “If we go down there, maybe we’ll get extra credit for our museum project.”

I dropped onto my knees and started to lower myself into the opening. Bree tapped me on the shoulder. “But I really don’t want to be seen with you in the other world, either,” she said. “You understand, right?”

“Right,” I said. I didn’t really care. I only cared about rescuing my brother.

I turned and lowered my legs into the darkness of the hole. My feet found a ladder on the side of the opening. I stepped onto a rung and waited for my heart to stop racing. Then I lowered my feet to the next rung.

“Climb down and wait for me.” I heard the Rage call. He seemed very far above me as I took the next rung down. Then the next.

I couldn’t see a thing. Darkness covered me like a blanket.

I gripped the sides of the ladder with both hands. My hands felt slippery and wet. I peered down, hoping to see some light or the ground. But I saw only solid black without a glimmer. So dark I couldn’t tell if my eyes were open or closed.

“Take your time, Richard. Easy does it.” The Rage’s voice seemed very far away now. Almost in another world.

I took one more step and — whoooooah!

My foot hit air. Only air. No ladder rung.

Both feet dangled now. I struggled to find a place for them to land. But — no.

Oh, no.

My hands slipped off the sides. I fell free from the ladder.

Too frightened to let out a cry, I fell through the thick blackness.

How far would I fall? How long before I hit?

The air whooshed up around me as my body dropped down the passageway.

I finally screamed as I splashed into icy water. My scream cut off as I sank, sank into the bottomless black water.