Calvin and Hobbes had soon loaded up their bags, and they were ready to roll.

They had packed comic books, cookies, potato chips, sleeping bags, tuna, pillows, pocket change, a small bag of airline peanuts, a magic marker, a Captain Napalm poster, more tuna, more comic books, extra clothes, a notepad, a piece of stale cheese and more tuna. Oh, and did I mention tuna?

They soon made it to the end of the block. Frowning, Calvin looked at the contents in his bag. "This is not going to last us till the night," he decided. "Hobbes, how much tuna and comic books did you bring?"

Hobbes opened his bag. It had only one comic book, and the rest of the contents included fifty cans of tuna.

"Survival of the Fiercest," he said simply. "I'm a tiger of priorities."

"Too bad packing a brain isn't on your list of priorities," Calvin snorted. "You expect me to live off of tuna fish?"

"No, I didn't actually think to pack food for you. I thought you'd be bright enough to pack your own tuna."

Calvin slapped his forehead and sighed. "Come on. It'll be getting dark in a few hours, and we still have to find a place without girls to stay in."

Hobbes agreed, and they set off.

Unfortunately, Calvin was very popular and well known in his neighborhood. In fact, he was extremely popular and well known, and as a result, no one would take him in. No matter how much he begged as time went on, he got nothing but a flat face whenever he asked, mainly because he was too close to the front doors.

He rubbed his pinkened nose as he went down the front walk of the last house they'd been to after walking for fifty-five blocks.

"I can't believe this!" Calvin said indignantly. "You cause one or two minor riots and a bull stampede, followed by several the water balloon bombs of '98, and the neighbors think you're a troublemaker."

"Gee, some people," Hobbes said, rolling his eyes.

Calvin ignored him and peered down the street. They were almost at the part of town where the sidewalks were cracked and the wind swept old newspapers down the streets. MR. SPEEDY DRY-CLEANING, CARTER'S COSTUMES, A-1 HARDWARE—the signs on the empty shops were all old faded.

Calvin sat down to massage his tired feet.

"Calvin, I refuse to sleep on the sidewalk. There must be a place for us somewhere."

Calvin didn't listen he was too busy sniffing a familiar smell in the air. "Do you smell that?"

Hobbes' keen sense of smell kicked in at that. He sniffed long and hard.

"Well?"

Hobbes held up his hand to keep him quiet. He sniffed a little more. He sniffed. He snorted. He nearly inhaled an entire monarch butterfly. He looked around to figure out where the smell was coming from. A large grin spread across his face.

"What is it?" Calvin asked impatiently.

"Tuna!" he cried.

"What?"

"Tuna! I smell it! Tuna is brewing in that part of town! Come on!"

"But we have an afternoon's worth of tuna right here! Get back here!"

But Hobbes ignored him and continued on after the wonderful aroma.

Calvin groaned and grabbed both of the bags. He hurried after him, but not as quickly.

Hobbes weaved through the deserted buildings and such until he spotted a place just ahead. It was an elementary school that was overgrown with grass and the playground falling apart. The windows were broken and the roof continued to creak and groan.

Even though Hobbes liked any place that served tuna, something told him that he oughta back away from it.

Calvin finally caught up to him, out of breath.

"You've got a lot of nerve leaving me to carry your luggage!" he snapped.

"Never mind," Hobbes said. "Let's get away from that building."

"Why? Isn't that where the smells are coming from?"

"Yes, and I think it all could be an elaborate plan to lure into that abandoned elementary school."

Calvin looked at the school across the street.

"Cool!" he said. "Let's foil the elaborate plan!"

He grabbed his bags and scurried across the street, or he would have had Hobbes not grabbed the bags that swung behind Calvin's back.

"Calvin, you don't know about that place, do you?" Hobbes snorted.

Calvin looked up. "Are you kidding? I hear that story twice a week in the cafeteria."

"Then you know about that thing?"

"Yeah, I know about the thing," Calvin snorted.

The thing that Calvin and Hobbes were talking about was a creature rumored to live in the school that terrorized the neighborhood. According to what they had heard, a new science teacher had arrived at the school. He was a bright young man, always jotting things down in his notebook and mumbling to himself. Some thought he was a genius, but others feared he was crazy. One day, he had been experimenting with some dangerous chemicals in the science lab after school. Suddenly, a cloud of toxic smoke exploded in his face, and he ran off and disappeared. It is said that a janitor was sweeping after school a few months later saw him again, only he was more deformed, and thus, the Teacher Creature was born. It had been seen throughout the neighborhood, scaring business away and ruining things for people. That's why this part of the neighborhood completely shut down, and now nobody can do anything.

"I don't care if the Grand Saint of the Hokey-Pokey is in there," Calvin snorted. "It's bound to have something cool in there! Besides, if we can get rid of the Creature Teacher, we can be heroes again! Just think of the fame! The glory! The absolute magnitude of money and gold!"

"I'll pass, thank you," Hobbes said. "I'm not interested in that stuff. I didn't sell my soul to the devil."

"Neither have I," Calvin protested.

"Yes, but you nearly did once."

"Well, it seemed like a good offer!"

Hobbes sighed and turned away in hopes of going somewhere else. "Come on, can't we live somewhere else? How about in the old dry-cleaning joint? We could live in the washing machines and sleep in the basins."

"Do I look like a sissy?" Calvin scoffed. He grabbed his bag and scurried over to the fence.

Hobbes groaned. He grabbed his bag o' tuna and made a run.

They hurried over the fence and across the overgrown playing field. The positioned a teeter-totter so that they could be flung through the window. They placed the bags on it and jumped onto the other end, sending the bags into the window, smashing it. Then Calvin got on and Hobbes sent him flying through.

Hobbes groaned as he hurried over to the window so Calvin could pull him in. He looked around the creepy building.

"I don't believe in Creatures. I don't believe in Creatures," he repeated, and he was lifted up and into the building.