3. Yummy Mummy Fingers

Chapter 3 Yummy Mummy Fingers They ran through the dark fog. Brian was laughing like crazy. Bradley bumped into something and fell. He landed on a couch. The other three kids piled on top of him. Bradley's hand touched something furry, and he yelled, "It's a wolf!" They were all tangled up in each other's arms and legs. Bradley felt his Mount Rushmore box crunch.

Lucy started to laugh. "No, it's a fake-fur blanket!" she said. Nate gasped. "Is that fake, too?" he asked, pointing ahead of them. Out of the mist, a white ghost floated toward them. It was wearing a sheet with holes cut out for the eyes. The ghost was carrying a plate. "Have a yummy finger?" the ghost asked the kids. The plate held what looked like bloody human fingers! "I'm not eating any mummy's fingers!" Nate yelled. "He said yummy, not mummy," Brian said. "Besides, they're cookies!" He grabbed one and popped it in his mouth. "With raspberry frosting!" Bradley and Lucy each took one. "No thank you," Nate said politely. "Excuse me," Bradley said to the ghost. "Have you seen a bunch of other kids? They came in a while ago." The ghost laughed. "Follow the footprints," he said, then disappeared into the darkness.

The kids looked around. They saw more spiderwebs, and bats hanging from the ceiling. "That ghost didn't answer my question," Bradley said. "They never answer questions," Nate muttered.

Lucy giggled. "Ghosts are so rude!" she said. Just then another figure appeared in front of them. "Oh no, look!" Nate whispered. He scrunched back into the fake-fur blanket. The figure was wearing torn, dirty clothes, as if he had just crawled out of a grave. The space over his shoulders, where his head should have been, was empty. The zombie held out a basket. The kids looked inside. A dead-looking face stared back at them! Nate yelled and tried to hide behind Brian and Lucy.

Bradley gulped. The head was just a scary face painted on a volleyball. "Sir, have you seen some other kids?" he asked the zombie. "They came in before us." "Follow the green footprints," the zombie said. The voice came from inside his chest. Then he wandered away, carrying the head. "How can he see where he's going?" Brian whispered.

"They keep telling us to follow these dumb footprints!" Bradley said. "Why wouldn't he tell me where those other kids are?" "Because they ate them!" Nate wailed. "Nate, ghosts and witches and ogres aren't real," Bradley said. "These are all fake guys." "But what if zombies and ogres were real?" Nate insisted. "What if they really wanted to eat kids? They'd come to a fake haunted house like this one, and find lots of kids. Like us!" Suddenly they heard a loud squealing noise. "It sounds like a pig," Lucy said. "Oh no!" Nate said. "One of the kids was dressed as Miss Piggy. The ogre got her!" "What ogre?" Brian said. "The only ogre we saw was the one outside. And that was just some grown-up in a costume." "Can we leave now?" Nate asked. "I've had enough Halloween forever!" "We can't leave," Bradley said. "We have a mystery to solve!" "What mystery?" Nate asked. "Nate, a bunch of kids came in here before us," Bradley said. "Now they're all gone! What if