Zombie King and Other Scary Short Stories for Halloween (Mystery Underground) Read online

doing?” Caleb whispered, backing up clumsily on the uneven ground. He grabbed his sister’s arm, begging her to come with him.

  “Looking for her cubs, I think,” Katie said.

  The bear’s sniffling quickened, becoming a series of snorts. Its great head swiveled back and forth, and a lonely noise like a dog’s whimper came from its throat.

  “I don’t think she’s happy,” Caleb muttered.

  Katie shook her head. “Maybe we should play dead. Isn’t that what people say to do? Play dead if you encounter a bear.”

  “I’d rather play chicken and run,” Caleb admitted.

  Suddenly the bear looked at him. Golden eyes that burned like reflected sunlight met his gaze. He shivered and turned away, more afraid than he had ever been. The bear was a monster. It threw back its head and roared.

  “Let’s go with your idea,” Katie said. “Run!”

  Too late.

  Still roaring, the bear rose up on two legs to its full height. Its long shadow fell over the kids like an eclipse. The bear was huge. It dwarfed them. They were like toddlers teetering on unsteady legs before it.

  The bear exhaled loudly, spewing a funnel of stinging sand from its mouth like a dragon’s fire. The blast battered the Bennett kids to the ground.

  “K-Katie!” Caleb screamed, choking on sand. The stuff invaded his mouth, ears, and nose. He could barely breathe or see.

  Lying next to him, Katie struggled to stand and failed. She was covered in an avalanche of sand. She was sand. She looked like a sculpture on a beach.

  Caleb tried to reach for her but couldn’t lift his hand. He was covered in sand too, confined in a gritty cocoon. Soon he was gone and only sand remained.

  The bear closed its jaws, cutting off the flow of raging sand. When the air cleared, two new mounds occupied the space where the children had been. They were the bear’s children now, her lost cubs, safe until the wind scattered them across the dunes.

  When that happened, the bear would awaken again and claim new victims in the Sleeping Bear Doom. That was how the dunes grew several inches every year.

  The End

  Mystery Underground:

  Undead Uprising

  1. Ghost in the Graveyard ... Evans City, PA

  2. Tastes Like Spider ... Avon, OH

  3. Tea Party Poltergeists ... Hilton Head Island, SC

  4. Quicksilver Soda ... Ortonville, MI

  5. Dog Boy ... Colorado Springs, CO

  6. Monster Faces ... Atlanta, GA

  7. The Stuffing of Nightmares ... Knoxville, TN

  8. Voices from the Past ... Portland, OR

  9. The Blood Collector ... Boston, MA

  10. Three Tests ... Casper, WY

  11. Brains ... Louisville, KY

  12. Meet the Mummy ... St. Paul, MN

  13. Halloween Hunger ... New Orleans, LA

  Mystery Underground:

  California Creatures

  1. Tar Pit Terror ... Los Angeles, CA

  2. Where the Wildfires Are… Coloma, CA

  3. No. 13 Pencil… San Diego, CA

  4. Coyote Hollows … Death Valley, CA

  5. The Man in the Gray Suit… Malibu Beach, CA

  6. The Boot … South Lake Tahoe, CA

  7. The Red Mother … Redwood National Park, CA

  8. Superstitious Sister … Anaheim, CA

  9. What Makes the Earth Quake … San Bernardino, CA

  10. Toll to the Troll … San Francisco, CA

  11. Trick and Treat … Redding, CA

  12. Movie Monsters … Hollywood, CA

  13. The Rattle … Beverly Hills, CA

  Mystery Underground:

  Frightening Florida

  1. Deep Green Sea ... Pensacola, FL

  2. Secret of the Sinkhole … Gainesville, FL

  3. Monster Mansion … Orlando, FL

  4. Old George … Sanibel, FL

  5. The Pirate and the Prism … Key West, FL

  6. Mother’s Day … Daytona Beach, FL

  7. The Sarasota Slime … Sarasota, FL

  8. Bermuda and the Beast … Miami, FL

  9. Something’s Fishy About Fishing … Okeechobee, FL

  10. The Witching Hour … Tampa, FL

  11. The Surprised Guest … Panama City, FL

  12. Something Stinky This Way Comes … The Everglades, FL

  13. Exhausted Birthday … Cape Canaveral, FL

  Mystery Underground:

  Michigan Monsters

  1. Happy Hairy Birthday ... Walled Lake, MI

  2. Night of the Tulips ... Holland, MI

  3. Zombie King ... Midland, MI

  4. Monster Bed ... St. Joseph, MI

  5. Light’s Out Lighthouse ... Alpena, MI

  6. Screamer Stream ... Mio, MI

  7. The Box ... Mancelona, MI

  8. A Game of Bigfoot ... Marquette, MI

  9. We ... Lake George, MI

  10. The Catch ... East Tawas, MI

  11. Knight Scares ... Detroit, MI

  12. Field of Screams ... Ionia, MI

  13. New Troll in Town ... Newberry, MI

  Also by the Authors

  David Anthony and Charles David Clasman

  Superhero Kids

  Fighting Crime Before Bedtime

  #1: Alien Ice Cream

  #2: Bowling Over Halloween

  #3: Cherry Bomb Squad

  #4: Digging for Dinos

  #5: Easter Egg Haunt

  #6: Fowl Mouthwash

  #7: Guitar Rocket Star

  #8: Holiday Holdup

  #9: Ivy League All-Stars

  #10: Joey Down Under

  #11: Kung Fu Kitties

  #12: Lost Puppy Love

  #13: Monkey Monster Truck

  #14: Nursery Rhyme Crime

  HeroesA2Z.com

  Also by the Authors

  David Anthony and Charles David Clasman

  Monsters. Magic. Mystery.

  #1: Cauldron Cooker’s Night

  #2: Skull in the Birdcage

  #3: Early Winter’s Orb

  #4: Voyage to Silvermight

  #5: Trek Through Tangleroot

  #6: Hunt for Hollowdeep

  #7: The Ninespire Experiment

  #8: Aware of the Wolf

  Knightscares.com

  Connect with the Authors

  Charlie:

  [email protected]

  David:

  [email protected]

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  MysteryUnderground.com