Chapter 24
Out on the quad, Sulley finally caught up with Dean Hardscrabble and quickly explained how he’d rigged the simulator. “You did what?” she asked, unbelieving.
“My team had nothing to do with it,” Sulley said. “It was all me ... I cheated.”
Dean Hardscrabble folded her bat-winged arms across her chest. “I want you off campus by tomorrow,” she ordered. “You are a disgrace to this university and your family name.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Sulley replied softly.
Suddenly, a security guard ran by. “Someone’s broken into the door lab!” he shouted.
Dean Hardscrabble immediately launched into the air and f lew toward the door tech building. Sulley watched her go, but then he realized that this news was no coincidence. “Oh no,” he murmured. It had to be Mike!
Meanwhile, in the lab, Mike placed a scream can in its station next to a door to the human world. He was determined to prove to himself and to everyone else that he was scary, and not with some fake sim-kid but with the real thing.
Mike could hear security guards shouting outside the lab. But he had blocked the door so they couldn’t enter. He turned the knob of the door in front of him and calmly stepped into the human world.
Seeing a child in bed, Mike quietly approached his target. He ruffled the curtains and crept alongside the bed, building his scare. Sensing something in the room, the child slowly sat up and looked around. Mike leaped toward her and ROARED!
The little girl looked at Mike. Still sleepy, she smiled at him and said, “You look funny.”
“What?” Mike asked, stunned. Then he heard someone cough. Mike looked around and saw that he was in a cabin full of beds. A banner on the wall read CAMP TEAMWORK.
Mike rolled his one eye in disbelief as the little girl began to wake all her bunkmates. “My imaginary friend is here!” she told them excitedly. “He’s a funny little green guy!” Mike gasped as the kids started coming closer.
Back in the monster world, Dean Hardscrabble had entered into the door lab and was guarding Mike’s door. “No one goes through that door until the Child Detection Agency team arrives!”
Sulley and the Oozmas were at the front of the crowd. Sulley was ready to plow through to get to Mike, but the Oozmas held him back. “James, wait!” Squishy said. “We can help.”
Don stepped forward. “Just leave it to old Don Carlton, ‘Master of Sales.’” Don confidently strolled over to Dean Hardscrabble. “Pardon me,” he said smoothly. “Today is your lucky day. How many times have you asked yourself —”
Dean Hardscrabble took one look at Don and said, “Arrest him.”
Sulley cringed as the door tech guards immediately pounced on Don. “UP AGAINST THE WALL, POPS!” one guard shouted as they tackled him.
In the confusion, Sulley noticed that the path to the door was clear. Dean Hardscrabble saw him out of the corner of her eye and screamed, “Sullivan! Don’t you dare!” But it was too late. Sulley slipped through the door before anyone could stop him.
Cautiously, Sulley crept through the dark cabin, which was now empty. “Mike? Mike?” he whispered. Looking up, he saw the camp’s banner, but there was no sign of Mike.
Then he heard voices outside and peeked through the window. A group of human kids were gathered around their camp counselors. Sulley heard one counselor tell a camp ranger, “They’re calling it an alien.”
“It was!” the kids clamored. “We saw a little green guy!”
Sulley saw the counselors’ f lashlights, so he ducked through a torn screen in a window. As he ran of f into the dark woods, a couple of the rangers spotted him. “Bear!” one of them shouted. “Bear in the camp!”
第 24 章
毛怪一路跑到四方坪才追上郝刻薄院長(zhǎng),他趕緊向院長(zhǎng)坦白了自己對(duì)模擬艙動(dòng)手腳的事。“你干了什么?”院長(zhǎng)難以置信地問(wèn)毛怪。
“我的團(tuán)隊(duì)和這件事無(wú)關(guān),”毛怪回答,“都是我干的……我作弊了。”
郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)將她那長(zhǎng)著蝙蝠翅膀的雙臂交叉抱在胸前。“我希望你在天亮之前離開(kāi)學(xué)校,”她命令道,“你不但玷污了怪獸大學(xué)的聲譽(yù),也玷污了你家族的聲譽(yù)。”
“是,院長(zhǎng)。”毛怪輕聲地回答。
突然一名保安從他們身邊跑了過(guò)去,一邊跑還一邊大聲喊著:“有人闖進(jìn)實(shí)驗(yàn)室了!”
郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)立即張開(kāi)翅膀騰空而起,朝傳送門(mén)科技樓飛去。毛怪看著院長(zhǎng)離開(kāi),突然意識(shí)到這并不是一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的巧合。“不會(huì)吧。”他喃喃自語(yǔ)道。一定是麥克!
與此同時(shí),實(shí)驗(yàn)室里的麥克已經(jīng)將一個(gè)尖叫收集罐安裝完畢,旁邊就是通往人類世界的大門(mén)。他下定決心要向自己和所有人證明他的驚嚇本領(lǐng),而且他要驚嚇的不是智能小孩,而是活生生的人類小孩。
麥克可以聽(tīng)到保安在實(shí)驗(yàn)室外大聲喊叫,但他將門(mén)牢牢堵住,任何人都無(wú)法進(jìn)來(lái)。他轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)著眼前的門(mén)把手,從容地踏進(jìn)了人類世界。
麥克看見(jiàn)一個(gè)孩子正在熟睡,就悄悄地接近他的目標(biāo)。他先是扯了扯窗簾,再來(lái)到床邊,積蓄著自己的驚嚇能量。孩子似乎覺(jué)察到房間里的動(dòng)靜,緩緩坐起身來(lái),環(huán)顧了一下四周。麥克趕緊跳到她面前,發(fā)出了一聲吼叫。
小女孩睡眼惺忪地看著麥克,臉上露出一絲微笑,對(duì)麥克說(shuō):“你長(zhǎng)得真有趣。”
“什么?”麥克被小女孩的話嚇了一跳。這時(shí)傳來(lái)一陣咳嗽聲。麥克朝四周看了看,發(fā)現(xiàn)自己置身于一間放滿床鋪的小屋。墻上寫(xiě)著“團(tuán)隊(duì)協(xié)作,快樂(lè)露營(yíng)”的標(biāo)語(yǔ)。
麥克難以置信地轉(zhuǎn)了轉(zhuǎn)他那只眼睛,而小女孩已經(jīng)開(kāi)始去叫醒她的小伙伴們了。她興奮地對(duì)大家說(shuō):“我想象中的朋友就是他!有趣的小綠豆!”孩子們朝他圍了上來(lái),麥克倒抽了一口氣。
怪獸世界里,郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)已經(jīng)來(lái)到實(shí)驗(yàn)室,正嚴(yán)守著麥克闖入的那扇通往人類世界的大門(mén):“在兒童探測(cè)救援隊(duì)到達(dá)之前,任何人不得入內(nèi)。”
毛怪和OK會(huì)隊(duì)員們站在人群的最前面。毛怪正打算直接破門(mén)而入去解救麥克,卻被大伙兒一把拉了回來(lái)。“等等,詹姆士!”史乖寶說(shuō)道,“我們會(huì)幫忙的。”
老唐挺身而出:“那些礙手礙腳的家伙就交給老唐·卡爾頓這個(gè)‘銷售大師’吧。”說(shuō)著,他自信滿滿地踱著步來(lái)到郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)面前。“不好意思打擾一下,”老唐流利地說(shuō)道,“今天你們真走運(yùn),以下這些問(wèn)題你們?cè)鴴行淖詥?wèn)過(guò)幾回——”
話還沒(méi)說(shuō)完,郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)就看了眼老唐,命令道:“抓住他。”
大樓保安們立刻向老唐猛撲過(guò)去,毛怪見(jiàn)狀,趕緊往后縮。保安們將他控制住,其中一個(gè)保安還大喊道:“靠墻站,老家伙!”
一片混亂中,毛怪發(fā)現(xiàn)此時(shí)沒(méi)有人在看守大門(mén)了。郝刻薄院長(zhǎng)見(jiàn)毛怪溜出了自己的視線,厲聲喊道:“蘇利文,我看你敢亂來(lái)!”但是一切都太晚了,毛怪已經(jīng)踏進(jìn)了人類世界,沒(méi)有人來(lái)得及阻止他。
毛怪小心翼翼地穿過(guò)幽暗的小屋,此時(shí)房間里已經(jīng)空無(wú)一人。“麥克?麥克?”他悄悄地問(wèn)道。毛怪抬起頭,看到了營(yíng)地的標(biāo)語(yǔ),卻不見(jiàn)麥克的蹤影。
這時(shí)窗外傳來(lái)一陣聲響。透過(guò)窗戶,毛怪看到一群人類孩子圍在營(yíng)地輔導(dǎo)員身邊。他隱約聽(tīng)到一位老師正告訴營(yíng)地警察:“孩子們說(shuō)看見(jiàn)了外星人。”
“真的有!”孩子們?nèi)氯缕饋?lái),“是一個(gè)綠色的小家伙!”
看到營(yíng)地輔導(dǎo)員拿著手電,毛怪趕緊避開(kāi)手電燈光的照射,躲到一扇窗戶下面。當(dāng)他跑進(jìn)黑暗的樹(shù)林時(shí),幾個(gè)營(yíng)地警察瞥見(jiàn)了他的身影。“有熊!”其中一個(gè)警察大喊起來(lái),“營(yíng)地有熊出沒(méi)!”