Monsters Unleashed Read online

  Dedication

  For my beautiful wife, Jenny —J. K.

  For the Rohanoceros —M. O.

  Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Acknowledgments

  Back Ads

  About the Author and Illustrator

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  1

  The day was gray and cloudy, and the air felt steamy and soupy. Sitting in art class, Freddie Liddle felt like he was living inside the pressure cooker his dad used to make his world infamous, way-too-spicy chili.

  Freddie sighed. His dad’s cooking just reminded him of his mom and how she used to make him normal dinners before his parents got divorced.

  Which reminded him of moving to this hot New Mexico town.

  Which only reminded him that he was the new kid.

  Which reminded him of the bullies constantly tormenting him.

  Which made him wish he could disappear.

  And that just reminded him that as a six-foot-four-inch sixth grader, being invisible was pretty much impossible.

  Squeezed into the tiny seat in front of his easel, Freddie glanced around the room at his twelve-year-old tormentors. Unfortunately, art class was the one class of the day when they were all together. There was Jordan, the super athlete; Nina, the popular girl; and Quincy, the mega-nerd. They looked like normal kids on the outside, but beneath the surface they were . . .

  Monsters.

  If it wasn’t for his best (and only) friend, Manny Vasquez, Freddie might have been the loneliest kid in New Mexico.

  A sharp screech from the art room’s loudspeaker interrupted Freddie’s thoughts, as Principal Worst’s voice rang out from above: “Attention all sixth and seventh grade soccer players. Due to a faulty sprinkler system, the field is flooded with mud and unfit for play. The soccer game will be rescheduled at a later date.”

  Jordan Cross, the biggest jock and the biggest jerk at school, twisted up his face, angry and confused. “Are you freakin’ kidding me? My game is canceled!”

  Freddie made the mistake of making eye contact with Jordan. Something about Jordan’s glare always made Freddie freeze up, stiff as a statue.

  “What are you staring at, Gigantor?” Jordan said. “Did you have something to do with it?”

  Freddie flicked his eyes away and twisted uncomfortably in his tiny seat.

  “You probably tripped and fell and caused an earthquake and that’s what screwed up the sprinklers . . . ,” Jordan said.

  Quincy and Nina laughed and gave each other a fist bump. The only thing these two had in common was hating on Freddie.

  Manny looked up from his self-portrait. “Hey, why don’t you guys lay off my boy; go down to the cafeteria; talk to my girl Carol, the lunch lady; and get yourself a nice tall glass of shut up.”

  Freddie chuckled to himself. Manny never backed down from anybody, no matter how much bigger they were than him. And at four foot seven, pretty much everyone was bigger than Manny.

  “Learn to take a joke, bro,” Jordan said.

  “I think in order for it to be a joke, it has to be funny,” Manny shot back.

  From across the room, their teacher, Mr. Snoozer, shushed them in his monotone voice. “Everyone please focus on their self-portraits for the remainder of the class. . . .”

  Freddie tried to shrink away, but it was no use. He was gigantic just like Jordan always liked to remind him.

  So instead of working on his self-portrait, Freddie pulled out his sketchbook, where he had drawn Jordan, Nina, and Quincy’s inner monsters—the horrible creatures he imagined lurked inside each of them. Anytime they were mean to Freddie, instead of talking back, he just opened the book and added another detail to his creations. For having hands the size of baseball mitts, Freddie’s fingers were surprisingly nimble.

  Manny peeked over Freddie’s shoulder as his big buddy sketched. “Looking good, Freddie! Our movie’s going to be awesome once we 3D print those guys.”

  Freddie and Manny’s movie, Manfredo Lives, was set in the future with radioactive mutant monsters roaming the wasteland. Their main character, Manfredo, is the last boy on earth and has to fight three different monsters and defeat them all.

  Mr. Snoozer looked up from his desk and addressed the class. “For those of you hoping to 3D print today, I’m sorry but they sent us the wrong printer, so we won’t be printing anything anytime soon.”

  “But, Mr. Snoozer! You promised,” Manny said.

  “Mr. Vasquez, please don’t start with me today,” Mr. Snoozer replied.

  “This stinks like toe jam on a hot day!” Manny whispered. “Now we can’t shoot our movie.”

  Freddie frowned as he put his monster notebook away and turned back to his self-portrait. Well, it was sort of a self-portrait. It was actually a painting of a fluffy, big-bellied, three-armed creature with two tusks and two horns named Oddo. Freddie was almost done with it and, not to brag, but it was pretty dang good.

  SPLAT!

  A spitball landed in the middle of Freddie’s drawing.

  “Bull’s-eye!” Jordan celebrated.

  Nina started laughing when she saw the wad of soggy paper dribbling down Oddo’s face. Quincy chuckled as well.

  Freddie picked off the spitball and wiped his fingers on the side of his jeans. It wasn’t worth fighting back. They’d just pick on him some more. That was that.

  Or so he thought.

  Freddie watched in awe as Manny flung the tip of his paintbrush in Jordan’s direction. Paint splattered everywhere. All over Jordan’s clothes, the floor, the walls.

  Jordan’s nostrils flared as he got up and shoved Manny back as hard as he could. Manny flew into Freddie, and Freddie fell over Nina, knocking her easel over in a domino effect. Quincy’s easel tipped as a chorus of high-pitched oohs came from the rest of the class. Quincy and Nina’s paintings both crashed to the floor, along with dirty brushes and murky paint water.

  “Hey!” Mr. Snoozer stepped in. “Manny and Freddie, thank you very much for giving up your recess period so you can clean this mess up. . . .”

  “Aw, man! But that’s no fair!” Manny whined. “Jordan started it!”

  “But you finished it,” Snoozer boomed. “And unless you want to stay after school, too, I suggest you find a mop.”

  The bell rang just then, signaling the end of class. Freddie and Manny both hung their heads, staring down at the floor while the rest of the class, including Mr. Snoozer, headed off to recess. They looked around the art room. What a mess, Freddie thought.

  2

  With everyone else at recess, Freddie attempted to dry his drawings with an old hair dryer from last week’s papier-mâché project. The paper was a little wet and crumpled, but the drawings weren’t smudged. Freddie was relieved. He stared at the three creatures, reviewing the list of their features.

  There had been a rumor going around that Quincy’s retainer could pick up Wi-Fi signals. That was how Quincy had never gotten less than an A+ on an assignment. Of course this wasn’t true, but sometimes Freddie wondered. How else could the kid know everything?

  Manny sidled up next to Freddie, holding a mop. “This would go a lot quicker if two people were cleaning. . . .” Th
en he saw what Freddie was looking at. “Yo, if these are your only copies, we better print these suckers before something else happens,” he said.

  “We’re already in enough trouble, Manny,” Freddie said in a worried tone. “And besides, Snoozer said they sent the wrong 3D printer.”

  “Adults lie all the time,” Manny replied, holding up the damp drawing of Kraydon. “Like when my mom says she forgot to buy chocolate ice cream but really she just buries it in the back of the freezer under the frozen peas and broccoli.”

  Freddie just shrugged in response. They finished cleaning until the lunch bell rang, making Freddie jump at the too-loud brrrring. Through the window, the boys saw the rest of their classmates filing in from the school yard. Freddie’s stomach grumbled loudly.

  “Maybe we should print them later?” he said. “It is sloppy joe day.”

  “No one’s around! Snoozer’s probably on his second sloppy joe already. Now’s the perfect time,” Manny said. “Come on.”

  “Okay, okay, I guess sloppy joes can wait . . . ,” Freddie said, lumbering after his little pal with his notebook.

  They snuck into Snoozer’s office. On the desk, connected to the computer, was a strange-looking machine, shaped like a rounded cube with kind of a pyramid point on top of it.

  “There it is . . . ,” Manny uttered in a hushed whisper. It looked different from a normal 3D printer.

  “Snoozer was right. This printer looks superweird,” said Freddie. “Maybe we should hold off. . . .”

  “How different can it be? You press print and it lasers plastic into the shape you want,” Manny said. “Boom. Simple.” He had done his research.

  On Mr. Snoozer’s shelf was a ripped-open cardboard box marked “3D Printer Supplies.” Manny reached in the box and pulled out a see-through plastic cartridge filled with a weird pinkish blob. It looked like the speckled bologna-like mystery meat that they served in the cafeteria. He threw the box back on the shelf, and an avalanche of small packets labeled Silica/Desiccant: DO NOT EAT fell on the floor at his feet.

  “Watch it, man!” Freddie grumbled.

  “Well, don’t just stand there!” Manny pushed the keyboard toward his friend.

  “Okay, okay.” Freddie booted up Mr. Snoozer’s computer and opened an app called Sculptris. He knew how to use the program already because they’d been practicing in art class, just never with a real printer. Snoozer’s computer lit up with a bluish-white glow as the program popped on the screen.

  “Hurry,” Manny whispered. “The Snoozmeister could be back any minute.”

  “I know what I’m doing,” Freddie replied. He laid his notebook facedown on the scanner. The 3D printing software mapped the drawing, and Kraydon appeared on the screen. Kraydon had two enormous arms; muscles rippling with tough, scaly skin; and a single eye in the center of its face, like a Cyclops.

  Freddie took a deep breath and scanned the next drawing.

  Yapzilla was covered in sleek black hair, like Nina’s, and had two long headless necks sprouting from her middle. At the end of each neck was a mouth, one to breathe fire, the other to let out a deafening screech.

  Freddie double-clicked on the third scan. Mega-Q popped up—a creepy part lizard, part millipede with razor-sharp legs and arms like a praying mantis. Freddie and Manny quickly loaded a cartridge of pink goo into the machine. Freddie hunched over the computer and selected all three files to print. “Here we go. . . .” He smashed his finger down on the print button.

  The 3D printer hummed to life. The pinkish goo drizzled from the printer, creating the first monster—Kraydon.

  The boys watched, wide-eyed and smiling, as the machine worked its 3D magic. Every detail from Freddie’s drawing printed to perfection.

  Freddie picked up the six-inch tall monster and studied it. Kraydon was smushy like gummi candy and stretchy like Silly Putty.

  He turned the little ball of monster in his hand and moved his arms around a bit. “He looks so real!” Freddie exclaimed, as he poked the minimonster in the tummy with his index finger.

  Then with a tiny growl, Kraydon’s eye popped open.

  3

  The boys stood in stunned silence as the little monster’s eyelid started to blink. Kraydon opened his mouth and croaked again. “KROOAAAAARRK!”

  Freddie yelped and dropped the monster on the table. Kraydon scampered across Mr. Snoozer’s desk on all fours and growled up at the boys.

  “KRAAAAAYR!” Kraydon roared again, although he was so little, it almost sounded cute, like a kitten doing a lion impression.

  “Hey, little fella,” Freddie said, bending down. “Don’t be scared. My name’s Freddie, Fred-dee!” He pointed to his friend. “That’s Manny, Man-knee!”

  Kraydon snarled and backed away to the edge of the desk.

  Suddenly, Kraydon’s eyeball began to swirl. A pulse of energy shot out of the monster’s pupil.

  The ray beam rippled through the air and hit an apple on Mr. Snoozer’s desk. The apple turned into a hunk of gray rock.

  Freddie’s mind was swimming. His teachers always said he had an “active imagination” (which he knew was their nice way of saying he was a weirdo), but could he be imagining this? Freddie shook his head vigorously from side to side to make certain he wasn’t seeing things, but he wasn’t. Kraydon was still right there in front of them.

  This was really happening.

  Another pulse emanated from the minibeast’s eyeball. But this time Kraydon was looking right at Freddie and Manny.

  “AHH!” The boys yelled as they dodged the pulse, which struck the mirror on the back of Snoozer’s door. The beam bounced off the mirror and hit one of the silica packets from the 3D printer’s shipping box. The packet turned gray and hardened to stone, too.

  Kraydon swung his club-like tail and smashed down hard on the little sack of Do Not Eat pellets. They exploded in a small burst of rocky fragments.

  “Whoa!” Manny yelped and ducked under the desk.

  Freddie put his hands up and started talking to the little monster. “J-just chill out, man, I mean, monster. We want to be your friends. . . .” He spoke softly, as if Kraydon were a puppy.

  In a quick burst of energy, Manny lunged for Kraydon. The minimonster dodged the sneak attack, running over the computer keyboard, hitting almost every key before leaping off the desk.

  As the little monster hit the floor, the 3D printer beeped to life. Kraydon raced past Freddie’s feet and shot through the office doorway.

  The boys chased the monster back into the art studio. “Go that way!” Manny ordered Freddie to one side of the classroom while he went to the other side. They approached the tiny beast slowly, trying to corral him, but Kraydon was too small and fast.

  Behind them, the 3D printer bleeped and wonked. The machine was drizzling goo into the forms of Freddie’s two other monster drawings: Yapzilla (Nina) and Mega-Q (Quincy).

  “Oh shoot!” Freddie shouted.

  “Go turn that thing off!” Manny shouted to Freddie. “Before it’s too late!”

  Freddie spun around and caught his foot in the legs of an easel. He tripped, knocking over a shelf of art supplies. The place looked even worse than before they cleaned it up.

  Kraydon stared up at Manny, his teeny-tiny nostrils flaring as he grunted.

  “This little dude’s not getting away from me again . . . ,” Manny said, cornering Kraydon near the paint-splattered sink. “You’re about to get got.”

  As Freddie scrambled to his feet, the overhead lights started to flicker.

  “Come here, you little troublemaker,” Manny whispered, moving toward the critter.

  As Freddie reached the doorway to Snoozer’s office, the printer went berserk. Sparks flew from the electrical outlet, traveling up the power cord, and sending smoke out of the machine. The 3D printer rattled and let out a loud BEEP!

  Then the power shut off completely.

  The lights blacked out and everything went dark, except for a rectangular patch of dim dayl
ight coming in through the window. They heard the crunch-splat of something dropping to the floor, then another crunch-splat. Freddie stared in shock as two new little monsters stepped out of the shadows into sunlight.

  Yapzilla’s eyes darted back and forth, looking around the room. A thin blue volt of electricity zigzagged between the sluglike stalks protruding from Mega-Q’s head.

  Freddie was speechless.

  But Manny was not.

  “Holy freakin’ crudballs!” he exclaimed. “They’re alive, too!”

  4

  Kraydon’s tiny roar bellowed through the classroom and the floor trembled.

  Suddenly it didn’t sound so tiny.

  The boys had been so distracted by Yapzilla and Mega-Q that they’d forgotten about Kraydon. The monster was now standing in a puddle next to the sink. Its skin soaked up the paint water, swelling like a sponge. In a matter of seconds, Kraydon had doubled in size.

  He was now as big as a pug puppy. A very angry, very dangerous-looking pug puppy.

  “Did he just . . . grow?” Manny asked.

  “Uh-huh! He just sucked that puddle up like his skin was made of straws!” Freddie exclaimed, still in shock. He couldn’t believe this was really happening!

  The muscle monster took off running. Manny took off after him, trying to snatch him up, but the little monster juked to the right. Manny slipped on the wet floor and went flying forward as the little critter scampered out of reach. Full steam ahead, Kraydon bashed through the base of the art room door and left a jagged hole in his wake.

  Meanwhile, Freddie ran toward Yapzilla and Mega-Q. They scurried across his path, and he squealed as he tried to sidestep the newborn critters, so as not to trample them. Freddie toppled to the ground with a thud, as Yapzilla and Mega-Q escaped through the hole, too.

  “We have to get them back!” Freddie yelled, clambering to his feet.

  The boys darted into the dark, empty hallway after the monsters. The lights were off throughout the entire middle school. Freddie could hear banging coming from the basement as the janitors worked to get the electricity back on.