Read Horror Holiday for Free Online Page A

hand, dragging the caravan out of the swamp and sending Maud and her parents crashing to the ground.
    Mr Montague stood up and wiped the mud from his hands. “Thanks everyone,” he wheezed. “Good … er … team effort.”

    Maud got to her feet and climbed back up into the clearing. The mud had set in the morning sun. Maud could see her footprints from the night before, now formed into deep
craters. Further away were Warren’s and Wilf’s tracks, which became paw prints as they transformed and bounded off into the forest. Maud might have been worried – but thankfully,
her parents never noticed anything.
    Then she spotted that there was another row of tracks beyond those of the Wild brothers. Maud went over to examine them.
    She gasped. They’d been made by something about three times the size of a human foot. At the front were four long talons that tapered to razor-thin points. They looked like a
dinosaur’s footprint she’d seen once in a museum.
    Maud shuddered to think that whatever made these prints had passed so close to her while she slept.
    “Look at this,” shouted Penelope. She was standing behind Mr Wild’s truck, which was listing to one side. “Here’s something you won’t be able to blame on
me.”
    Maud raced over and looked at the tyres. Something had ripped them apart in neat, parallel slashes.
    “Not again!” shouted Mr Wild. He kicked the side of his truck and let out a terrifying roar. “It took me ages to fix it last time.”
    He went to kick the truck again, but Mrs Wild held him back. “That’s not going to help, dear,” she said.
    Mr Montague picked up a scrap of shredded rubber. “How very strange,” he said. “But not to worry. I can drive you to a garage and pick up some replacements if you
like.”
    “That’s very kind of you,” said Mrs Wild.
    “I’ll stay and keep an eye on the little ones,” said Mrs Montague.
    “Great,” said Mr Montague. He took a pair of clip-on sunglasses from his top pocket and clipped them on to the bridge of his glasses. Maud thought it made him look like a giant bug.
“Let’s hit the highway!”
    Mr and Mrs Wild exchanged a glance and climbed into the car.
    Mr Montague started up the engine, and Milly stuck her head out of the caravan window. “Brilliant! Are we going now?”
    “Not yet, petal,” answered Mr Montague. “We’re off to find a garage. We’ll be back soon.” He stuck ‘Born to be Wild’ in the CD-player, and they
set off down the track.
    Milly rolled her eyes, before slamming the window so hard the caravan wobbled.
    “I’ll go and check on her,” said Mrs Montague. “The rest of you play nicely.”
    “What do you think happened to the tyres?” asked Maud.
    “Isn’t it obvious?” said Penelope. “It was the Beast of Oddington.”

    Maud turned to see that Wilf and Warren had arrived back from their midnight romp, and were kneeling in the middle of the clearing, examining the clawprints. She wandered over
to them.
    “I can’t believe the Beast of Oddington came through here last night,” said Wilf. All his hair was standing on end.
    “What should we do?” asked Penelope.
    “I packed a couple of fishing rods in the truck,” said Wilf. “We could go down to the lake, if you like.”
    “I’d love to,” said Penelope. “But I’ve just remembered that fishing is totally lame.”
    “I should get on with my essay,” said Maud sadly.
    Penelope yawned. “Or we could do something completely monstrous instead. Like catching the Beast of Oddington.”
    Maud looked at Penelope in surprise. Catch the Beast? That could make a great essay. Maybe even one good enough to get full marks …
    “That sounds fun,” said Wilf, his voice wavering. “But I think I’d still rather go fishing.”
    “Just as I thought,” sneered Penelope. “The little puppy’s too frightened to come. Poor little bow-wow. Is he going to make a puddle on the floor when he sees the scary
Beast?”
    Maud made up her mind.