Read Online 25 - Attack of the Mutant by R.L. Stine - (ebook by Undead) - Free Book Online Page A

time is
over.”
    “You mean—?” I started.
    “I’m too fast for him,” the superhero boasted.
    “I’ll run circles around him, faster and faster—until I become a raging
tornado. He’ll be swept away forever.”
    “Wow,” I repeated. I didn’t know what else to say.
    “He caught me napping before,” The Galloping Gazelle continued. “That’s the
only way he can catch me. When I’m asleep. Otherwise, I’m much too fast for him.
Too fast for anybody. Know how fast I run the one-hundred?”
    “How fast?” I asked.
    “I run it in one-tenth. One-tenth of a second. That would be an Olympic
record. But they don’t let me in the Olympics because I’m a mutant.”
    I started to follow The Galloping Gazelle to the center of the room. But I
stopped when I heard the laughter.
    The same cold laughter I had heard in the lobby.
    I froze in fright.
    And stared as the gold desk began to move. And change.
    The shiny gold shimmered as it shifted and bent, raising itself up and
forming a human figure.
    I took a step back, trying to hide behind The Galloping Gazelle as the desk
melted away—and The Masked Mutant rose up in its place.
    His dark eyes burned menacingly through the slits in his mask. He was a lot
taller than he appeared in the comic. And a lot more powerful-looking.
    And a lot scarier.
    He raised a fist at The Galloping Gazelle. “You dare to invade my private
office?” he demanded.
    “Say good-bye to all this ill-gotten splendor,” The Galloping Gazelle told
the Mutant.
    “I’ll say good-bye to you !” The Masked Mutant shot back, spitting the
words angrily.
    Then he turned his frightening, cold eyes on me. “I’ll handle you easily,
Gazelle,” the world’s most evil supervillain said softly. “But, first, watch me destroy the kid!”

 
 
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    I shrank back as The Masked Mutant took a step toward me, his fist still
raised, his black eyes glaring furiously into mine.
    My heart pounding, I turned and frantically searched for a hiding place.
    But there was nowhere to hide.
    And I couldn’t make a run for it. The door slammed shut as The Masked Mutant
moved closer.
    “Whoa!” I cried. I raised both hands in front of my face, as if shielding
myself.
    I couldn’t bear to see his cold, cruel eyes glaring at me as he approached.
    He’s going to destroy me, I thought. But I don’t have to watch!
    And, then, as The Masked Mutant took one more step, The Galloping Gazelle
moved to block his way. “You’ll deal with me, Mutant!” he declared in his
booming voice. “If you want the kid, you’ll have to take me out first.”
    “No problem,” The Masked Mutant declared softly.
    But his expression changed as The Galloping Gazelle began to circle him.
Faster and faster—until the Gazelle appeared to disappear into a whirling,
spinning tornado of blue and red.
    The Gazelle is carrying out his plan, I realized as I backed up to the wall.
He’s going to run faster and faster around The Masked Mutant until he creates a
whirlwind that will blow the evil Mutant away.
    Pressing my back against the wall, I watched the amazing battle eagerly. The
Galloping Gazelle whirled faster. Faster. So fast, a powerful wind swept over
the room, slapping the curtains, toppling over a vase of flowers, sending books
flying from the shelves.
    Yes! I thought happily, shooting both fists into the air. Yes ! We win!
We win!
    I lowered my hands and let out a horrified groan when I saw The Masked Mutant
casually stick his foot out.
    The Galloping Gazelle tripped over the foot and slammed facedown onto the
floor with a shattering thud.
    He bounced hard a couple of times and then lay still.
    The wind stopped. The curtains fell back in place.
    The Masked Mutant stood over the fallen superhero, hands triumphantly on the waist of his costume.
    “Get up!” I screamed, without even realizing I was doing it. “Get up,
Gazelle! Please!”
    The Gazelle groaned, but didn’t move.
    “Dinnertime,” sneered The