Chapter 20
It was late when Mike piled all the Oozmas into Ms. Squibbles’s car — with Ms. Squibbles’s driving. After a long drive, Mike told her to pull into a dark parking lot. “Thanks, Mom!” Squishy said as the group climbed out and stretched.
Ms. Squibbles waved. “Have fun, kids! I’ll just be here listening to my tunes.” She rolled up her window, and the car began to vibrate with the thud of heavy metal music.
Art looked around. “So where are we?” he asked Mike.
All the Oozmas followed Mike as he walked toward a large gate and gazed upward. “The big leagues,” Mike said solemnly.
Everyone looked up and saw the sign: MONSTERS, INC.
“Holy roly-poly!” Don said, awestruck. Even Sulley was stunned.
Mike held up a pair of wire cutters and the Oozmas gasped. “We’re not stopping here,” Mike told them. Moments later, he had cut a big hole in the wire fence — right next to the No Trespassing sign.
“This is crazy! We’re gonna get arrested!” Squishy whispered as Mike led the group up a ladder and onto the roof of Monsters, Inc.
“Shh!” Mike said, leading them toward a big window.
As the group peered through the window, everyone’s eyes went wide. “Whoa!” someone exclaimed. They were looking down onto a real scare floor, full of Scarers going in and out of active doors to the human world.
“Take a good look, fellas,” Mike said, pointing to the Scarers below. “See what they all have in common?”
Squishy stared hard at the workers down on the scare floor. They were of different shapes, colors, and sizes. “No, not really,” Squishy said finally, feeling confused.
“Exactly!” Mike exclaimed. “There’s no one type of Scarer. The best Scarers use their differences to their advantage.”
“Wow,” Squishy said, watching a blobby Scarer expand himself to enormous size.
“Terri, look!” Terry called to his brother. They both stared as a three-headed Scarer came out from an active door.
Sulley was impressed, too. He watched the Scarers for a while, then glanced over at Mike with new respect. Maybe Mike was right.
Don gasped as he noticed an older monster on the floor. “Hey, look at that old fella racking up the big numbers!”
Mike smiled. “Don, that ‘old fella’ is Earl ‘The Terror’ Thompson!”
“What?” Sulley said, astounded. “Where?” Then he laughed. “Wow! That’s really him! I still have his rookie card!”
“Me too!” Mike said, and for the first time, they realized they had something in common. “You collect scare cards, huh?” Mike asked.
“Yep,” Sulley replied proudly. “Four hundred and fifty of ’em.”
“Impressive,” Mike said, nodding. “I have six thousand. Still in mint condition. But, you know, four-fifty’s pretty good, too.”
Squishy, inspired by what he saw on the floor, made a scary face and let out a roar. “Hey, look at me,” he said, “I’m Earl ‘The Terror’ Thompson!”
“Hey, that was pretty good!” Art said.
Mike and Sulley watched the Oozmas grow excited as they realized they might actually achieve their dreams.
Then Sulley turned to Mike with a sigh. “I’ve been a real jerk, haven’t I?”
“So have I,” Mike admitted. “But it’s not too late. We could be a great team. We just to need to start working together —”
“Hey! What are you doing up there?” a security guard yelled.
The entire group froze in surprise. Then Art panicked. “I can’t go back to jail!” he cried, and raced away across the rooftop. Mike and the other Oozmas followed.
“They’re right behind us!” Don cried as Sulley pulled him along. The gang hustled up a ladder, hoping to hide on a higher rooftop. But they were too slow.
“There they are, up there!” the security guard shouted. A whole group of guards was chasing them now. “Get ’em!”
Mike gasped as the guards climbed the ladder, hot on their tails and tentacles. Mike led the Oozmas to a ledge and jumped to a lower rooftop. Squishy was the last to jump. Terrified, he teetered on the ledge, then fell. Sulley reached out his long arm and caught him just in time. “Thanks, brother,” Squishy gasped.
Sulley put Squishy on his shoulders and ran. “Don’t mention it,” Sulley said as he caught up to Mike and the other Oozma Kappas.
It wasn’t long before Don was out of breath and falling behind. “I’m fine, really,” Don said, gasping. “It’s just a little heart attack.” Sulley picked Don up, too, and kept running.
“Stop right there!” a guard shouted. “Don’t move!” But Sulley, who was now carrying all the Oozmas, plowed through. He jumped to the ground and sprinted to the car.
“Mom! Start the car!” Squishy yelled as they ducked out through the fence.
Ms. Squibbles lowered her window and smiled. “What, dear?”
“Start the car!” Squishy howled. “THE CAR! Start the car!”
Ms. Squibbles smiled. “Oh, okay,” she said. Mike and the Oozmas piled in.
“Mom, go!” Squishy said as the guards climbed through the hole after them.
“Seat belts,” Ms. Squibbles reminded her son and his friends with a smile.
The Oozmas frantically buckled up as the guards moved closer. “Okay,” Squishy panted. “Go!”
“Does anyone want gum?” Ms. Squibbles asked.
“JUST DRIVE!” Squishy hollered. But it was too late. The guards had caught up to the car. Desperate, Mike reached his foot over to the gas pedal and floored it. The car screeched out of the Monsters, Inc., parking lot.
“AAAAHHH!” the Oozmas screamed as the car tore down the road. Then they all started laughing.
“That was awesome!” Terri said, and they looked back to see angry guards shaking their fists in the distance.
“Let’s break in somewhere else!” Art cried.
Back home at the Oozma Kappa house, the Oozmas had a completely different attitude from earlier that day. Inspired, the group started training for the Scare Games with a confidence and determination they’d never had before. Ms. Squibbles sewed them yellow-and-green sweaters, for their fraternity colors. When Sulley and Mike put on their sweaters and Oozma hats, they exchanged a thumbs-up. They were a team!
From then on, all the Oozmas were up at six a.m. They were out on the quad practicing scaring drills every day. “Scary feet! Scary feet!” Mike shouted to them as they slithered, raced, and crawled across the field.
In the distance, Johnny and Chet watched the Oozmas practicing and shook their heads. The third Scare Games event was Don’t Scare the Teen, and they were sure the Oozma Kappas didn’t have a chance.
第 20 章
天色已經(jīng)暗下來了,麥克張羅著讓OK會的兄弟們擠進史太太的小汽車里——史太太負責開車。汽車行駛了好久,終于到達了目的地,麥克讓史太太把車停到一個黑漆漆的停車場。“謝了,老媽!”史乖寶說著,隨大伙兒一起跳下車,舒展了一下筋骨。
史太太朝他們揮揮手:“好好玩,孩子們!我就在車里聽聽小曲兒。”她搖起車窗,小汽車便隨著重金屬音樂的“砰砰”聲震動起來。
阿拱環(huán)顧了一下四周,問麥克:“我們這是在哪兒?”
大家跟著麥克朝一扇大門走去,麥克抬頭凝視著門上的大字,神情莊重地回答:“業(yè)界翹楚。”
所有人都抬起頭,只見門上寫著:怪獸電力公司。
“我的神?。?rdquo;老唐充滿敬畏地感嘆道。就連毛怪都吃驚不已。
麥克拿出一把鋼絲鉗,大家都緊張地倒吸了一口氣。麥克對大家說:“我們要想辦法進去。”不一會兒,麥克就在鐵柵欄上剪出了一個大洞——就在“不得擅入”的告示牌旁邊。
“這太瘋狂了!我們會被抓起來的!”史乖寶低聲說道,這時麥克帶領(lǐng)大家爬上梯子,來到了怪獸電力公司的屋頂。
“噓!”麥克邊說邊帶領(lǐng)大家向一扇大窗戶走去。
大家透過窗戶向下望去,所有人都瞪大了眼睛。“哇哦!”有人忍不住叫出聲來。他們朝下看到的是真正的驚嚇層,許多驚嚇專員正從一扇扇通往人類世界的大門中進進出出。
“兄弟們,好好看看,”麥克指著下面的驚嚇專員們問道,“他們有什么共同點?”
史乖寶努力觀察著驚嚇層的工作人員,可是他們的身型、毛色和塊頭都各不相同。“嗯,好像沒有。”看了一會兒之后,史乖寶一臉疑惑地說道。
“這就對了!”麥克說,“世界上沒有兩個完全相同的驚嚇專員。優(yōu)秀的驚嚇專員應該懂得發(fā)揮自身所長。”
“哇哦。”史乖寶看見一位圓乎乎的驚嚇專員將自己的身體鼓脹起來,顯得體形異常龐大。
“泰瑞,快看!”泰銳大聲呼叫著他的兄弟。兄弟倆目不轉(zhuǎn)睛地盯著一位長著三個腦袋的驚嚇專員從一扇工作狀態(tài)的門里走出來。
毛怪也被深深地震撼了。他看了驚嚇專員們一會兒,又瞅瞅麥克,眼睛里帶著一絲從未有過的敬佩。也許麥克的堅持是對的。
老唐看到一只上了年紀的怪獸,不由得倒吸了一口氣。“嘿,看那個老家伙,他得分不少??!”
麥克笑了:“老唐,那個‘老家伙’可是‘恐怖者’厄爾·湯普森!”
“什么?”毛怪驚叫起來,“哪里?”接著毛怪大笑起來:“哇哦!真的是他!我還有他的新秀卡呢。”
“我也是!”麥克頭一次發(fā)現(xiàn)自己和毛怪竟然還有共同點,“你也收集驚嚇卡嗎?”麥克問道。
“當然啦,”毛怪自豪地回答,“我有450張呢。”
“不錯,”麥克點點頭說道:“我有6000張,都還是全新的。不過,450張也不錯啦。”
史乖寶看著驚嚇層上的一切,心里癢癢的,他做出一個嚇人的表情,大吼一聲:“嘿,看我,我是‘恐怖者’厄爾·湯普森!”
“嘿,不錯嘛!”阿拱說道。
麥克和毛怪看到OK會隊員們又一次變得斗志昂揚起來,大家也意識到他們也許確實有機會實現(xiàn)自己的夢想。
這時毛怪轉(zhuǎn)向麥克,輕輕嘆了口氣說:“我之前表現(xiàn)得很混蛋,是吧?”
“我也是,”麥克坦白地說,“但現(xiàn)在還不算太晚,我們可以成為一支強大的隊伍,大家只需要齊心協(xié)力——”
“喂!你們在那上面干嗎?”一名保安厲聲喝道。
大家被嚇得愣住了。阿拱慌了,“我可不能再去坐一次牢!”他大喊一聲,一溜煙從屋頂跑開了,麥克和其他人也緊跟上去。
“他們要追上來了!”老唐邊跑邊喊,毛怪一把拉住他向前沖去。大家手忙腳亂地爬上一架梯子,想躲到更高的屋頂上。但是,他們跑得太慢了。
“他們在那兒,在上面!”保安大喊一聲,全體保安都出動了。他們一路追趕,高喊著:“抓住他們!”
保安們爬上梯子,緊追不舍,連尾巴和觸角都用上了。麥克見此,倒吸一口冷氣。他帶領(lǐng)大家來到屋頂邊緣,跳到另一片稍低的屋頂上。史乖寶是最后一個跳的,由于太過害怕,他在邊緣處搖搖晃晃的,接著就掉了下去。好在毛怪伸出長長的手臂,及時抓住了史乖寶。“謝了,老兄。”史乖寶氣喘吁吁地說。
毛怪將史乖寶扛到自己肩上奔跑起來,“別客氣。”毛怪一邊回答,一邊趕上了麥克和其他OK會的成員。
不一會兒,老唐就累得喘不過氣來,掉隊了。“說真的,我沒事兒,”他喘著粗氣說,“就是心臟有些受不了。”毛怪又背起老唐向前跑去。
“給我站??!”身后傳來保安的喊聲,“別跑!”毛怪這時已經(jīng)把所有隊員都背到了身上,他沖破了阻攔,朝地上縱身一躍,全力向小汽車沖去。
“老媽!快開車!”一穿過柵欄,史乖寶就遠遠地喊了起來。
史太太搖下車窗,微笑著問道:“你說什么,寶貝兒?”
“快開車!”史乖寶吼道,“開車!快開車!”
史太太依舊微笑著說:“哦,好嘞。”大家一哄而上擠進車里。
“老媽,快走!”眼看保安們已經(jīng)跟著穿過了柵欄,史乖寶急忙催道。
“系好安全帶。”史太太微笑著提醒史乖寶和他的朋友們。
大家七手八腳地系上安全帶,保安們已經(jīng)越來越近了。史乖寶喘著氣說:“好了,快走!”
“有人要口香糖嗎?”史太太問道。
“快開車!”史乖寶號叫起來。但已經(jīng)來不及了,保安們追上了小汽車。情急之下,麥克一腳踏上油門,一踩到底。汽車尖叫著開出了怪獸電力公司的停車場。
車子一路狂奔,“啊啊啊!”大家高聲尖叫著,隨即又開懷大笑起來。
“我們真了不起!”泰瑞說道。大家轉(zhuǎn)過頭,看見保安們在遠處氣急敗壞地搖晃著拳頭。
阿拱興奮地說:“下次我們再闖闖別的地方看!”
回到OK會會所,每個人看起來都和早上完全不一樣了。大家受到了鼓勵,充滿了從未有過的自信和決心,開始為“驚嚇杯”做準備訓練。史太太為大家織了黃綠相間的毛衣,這是OK會的專屬顏色。毛怪和麥克穿上毛衣,戴上會帽,給彼此豎起了一個大拇指。他們是一個團隊了!
從那天起,OK會所有成員每天六點鐘就起床,來到四方坪練習驚嚇。大家在訓練場日復一日地練習著蜿蜒爬行、跑步和匍匐前進,而麥克則一遍又一遍地喊著:“下一招!下一招!”
不遠處,強哥和喳喳看著不停練習的OK會成員搖了搖頭。“驚嚇杯”第三場比賽的主題是“避開青少年”,他們覺得OK會肯定沒戲。