Then, as I finished circling, I heard a clumsy noise deeper in the woods. I stopped, fur bristling. Something grunted and stumbled. It was coming this way.
I threw a glance over my shoulder. All the kids were now on the bus. Paul was struggling to get the door closed. I was torn. It seemed important to find out what was crashing around in the woods but I didn’t want to let my friends out of my sight. What if it was a trick?
CRASH!
“Ugggh!”
Every muscle ready for battle, I sniffed the air. The scent of the thing was familiar. I sniffed again, puzzled. A human! Mr. Grunter!
Instantly I set off running through the trees. Our gym teacher must be hurt. I had to help him!
Soon the clearing vanished in the dark behind me. My heart soared. Mr. Grunter could drive the bus! He could save the kids from the werewolves.
I raced, the cool night breeze stirring my fur. Ahead of me came another groan and I slowed. I didn’t want to scare Mr. Grunter to death at the sight of me. But how should I approach him? I couldn’t talk, to tell him not to be frightened.
I reached up, pushed aside a branch and there he was. Mr. Grunter was staggering as if there was something wrong with his leg. And he seemed confused, as if he didn’t know where he was.
I started creeping slowly toward him, a plan forming in my head. I could grab him from behind and cover his eyes with my hand so he wouldn’t see me. Then I’d carry him to the clearing and let him go. From there he could make it onto the bus and he’d never know the horrible sort of creature that saved him.
But just as I was reaching out for him, Mr. Grunter turned and the moonlight fell on his face.
I gasped in horror. Half his face was human but stretching and swelling, bones pushing out under the skin! The other half was covered with patchy grayish fur. One eye was blazing red.
As his red eye fell on me, Mr. Grunter’s lips pulled back over his teeth. Long yellow fangs glistened in the silvery light.
Mr. Grunter was turning into a werewolf!
Chapter 42
“Gruff, wait!” cried Mr. Grunter, the words mushy in his half-human mouth. One leg ended in a human foot, the other was sprouting horny claws.
RIIIIP!
Mr. Grunter’s human clothes popped at the seams and fell to the ground as the change became complete. Now both eyes blazed red and I heard his words only inside my head.
“We won’t hurt the children,” he insisted, reaching toward me with his clawed hand. “We’re only going to help the children become like us, Gruff. Then the town will be ours! We’ll be free! You can’t stop us so you might as well help.”
I stepped back from him. The kids! Mr. Grunter had lured me away from the bus! I spun in the air and set off running back to the clearing.
Mr. Grunter sprang after me.
“You know how good it feels to be one of us, Gruff,” his werewolf voice cried inside my head. “Humans are weak and puny. They can’t smell the creatures in the woods. They can’t hear the pulse of life in the wind. Let the children be bitten so they can feel our strength. Let them be like us,” Grunter pleaded, flaring his werewolf nostrils. “Think how wonderful it will be when we can all run together. All hunt together!”
“All kill together,” I snarled, kicking him away from me. Finally the clearing was in sight. I could hear kids moaning in fear. Some were crying.
All around me I began to hear the hissing and snapping of werewolves gathering.
“Please Gruff,” whispered Grunter. “You can’t stop them. Don’t go against Ripper. Save yourself!”
He reached for me and I spun away, sprinting across the clearing. Werewolves were beginning to howl with excitement.
I bolted for the bus. Catching sight of me, the kids inside began to scream. I leaped on top of the bus and crouched, ready for battle.
Hot red eyes advanced through the night toward the bus. They looked like bobbing coals, staining the night red. As the creatures emerged from the swamp into the clearing, moonlight fell on them.
I sucked in my breath, frozen at the awful sight of so many of them. It was an army of monsters. Their yellow fangs dripped with anticipation as they advanced. Their glowing eyes were focused completely on the children in the bus.
Leaping over their heads from out of the darkness, Ripper landed in front of his followers. He threw back his huge head and howled.
“AAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!”
It was the signal for the attack to begin!
Chapter 43
The werewolves charged. For an instant I was paralyzed by the sight. Their hot eyes blazed. Razor-sharp claws and long dripping fangs flashed in the moonlight. The earth shook under the thunder of their running feet.
Shrieking and howling filled my ears as the monsters swarmed over the bus, their claws clicking and scraping along the windows. One of them leaped to the roof of the bus and grinned at me, fangs dripping.
With a tremendous roar I threw myself at it and hurled it off the bus to the ground. Growling with triumph I watched it bounce, a look of horrible surprise on its ugly face.
But I watched too long. A claw ripped into my shoulder from behind. As I howled in pain the werewolf leaped on my back. It aimed its claws at my face, trying to blind me. I bent over, like I’d learned in gym class, and flipped the thing off my back, sending it hurling off the roof.
I spun around at a sound on the metal roof. Another werewolf, grinning. I knocked it off the roof before it could spring at me but when I turned, another was already in midair, aiming for my head. I somersaulted and kicked up with my legs, giving it a push that sailed the monster right over
