Zombiefied! (11 page)

While the dogs were distracted, I carried Sophie through the large metal doors, stopping for a moment to put her down and shut them behind us. I drew all the bolts, just to be sure. The next set of doors — the ones we couldn't budge before — opened easily this time. At first I couldn't understand why, and then I remembered: I was super strong now.

It was darker in this room so I moved carefully. Weirdly, the rats were silent as they watched me carrying Sophie past their cages. At first I thought it was because I was one of them now, and somehow they
could sense it. But then I realised that we weren't alone. Something had followed us out, slipping along behind us, unseen and silent, as we made our escape. Carefully, I put Sophie down again. Then I turned to face it.

It was Corvus. I waved my arm at him.

‘Go away! Get lost, you creepy thing!' I hadn't forgot how he'd torn at the skin
on my neck. I felt around under my t-shirt, but I couldn't find where the bird had pecked me. The wound was gone. Did being a zombie mean I had some sort of healing ability? That would be handy! There was still a little blood on my neck so I wiped it with the inside of my shirt.

Corvus soared around the roof, squawking down at me. I ignored him and picked up Sophie again, then pushed through the last pair of doors into the tunnel. The bird slipped through before I could stop him. He flew ahead and vanished into the darkness.

In the tunnel I groped my way along slowly. I didn't want to trip and drop Sophie.

I had walked only a few steps when it happened: a bright-blue light suddenly flashed around me. It flickered a few times,
and then everything was glowing! The brick walls on either side of the tunnel were blue. The stone roof was purple. Sophie glowed with a bright-yellow light that seemed to come from somewhere inside her. It was amazing! But where was the light coming from?

I thought about what Mr Crumpet had said just after Corvus had bitten me. I was a half-zombie now, which meant I had speed, strength and
infrared vision
!

For a while my eyes kept jumping back and forth between ordinary and infrared vision. I'd need to practise before I'd be able to control it. But finally the infrared vision stayed on and I began to jog, and then to sprint. Sophie felt as light as a feather as I zoomed through the tunnels. It only took a couple of minutes before I reached the stone staircase that led to
Slender's cupboard. I raced up, two at a time. At the top, I could see an outline of daylight around the secret door. I put Sophie down and felt around the edges for a latch or handle, but couldn't find anything.

I was just about to try to break it down, when I realised I could smell something. Human skin. I sniffed around and traced the smell to a small latch on the wall beside the door. That must be how Mr Crumpet opened it from this side, I realised. I poked my fingers into the latch and pressed. Something clunked inside the wall and the door creaked open. Lifting Sophie carefully, I stepped into the cupboard.

The light was intense! I had to close my eyes. There was a weird feeling behind my lids, like something was sliding across my eyeballs. Then, when I opened my eyes
again, my normal vision was back. But now everything was so dark I could hardly see at all.

The cupboard door stood wide open, and moonlight flooded in through the windows of the classroom. I guessed that with infrared vision, even the tiniest bit of light was super bright. I was going to have to get better at controlling my new abilities.

I carried Sophie through the cupboard and put her down on the floor of Mr Slender's room. As I lowered her, she stirred.

‘What happened?'

‘It's OK,' I said. ‘We got away.'

She rubbed her head. ‘Ouch! Away from what? Where are we?'

‘You banged your head,' I told her. ‘Don't worry, I carried you out of the tunnel. We're safe now.'

‘The tunnel?' Sophie glared at me. ‘You're not still going on about that, are you? We've already searched for the tunnel, remember? It wasn't there!'

Oh man! Where was the gratitude?

But then a thought crept into my mind: maybe it was better if she couldn't remember. Maybe if people knew I was a zombie — even just a half-zombie — it would totally freak them out!

‘Yeah,' I said slowly. ‘You're right. You fell over in the . . . cupboard while we were searching for another secret door.'

‘I knew it!' She peered at me. ‘Your eyes look really red, like you've been crying. Were you upset that I got hurt?'

As if! I blinked and looked away. I hadn't
even thought about my eyes! Hopefully they weren't glowing as red as the zombie animals'. How was I going to explain that?

‘It's OK,' said Sophie, smiling a bit. ‘You can admit it! You were totally upset that I got hurt, weren't you?'

I had to force myself to say it. ‘Yes,' I muttered.

Sophie looked pleased. Then she winced. ‘Ouch! I must've fallen hard!' She rubbed her head. ‘How did you manage to pick me up?'

‘Well . . .' I thought fast. ‘I didn't exactly pick you up, I just kind of dragged you out here.'

‘That's why I'm all dirty!' Sophie dusted her knees.

‘Yeah,' I said. Then, because I was pretty keen to change the subject, I added, ‘Let's get out of here.'

I helped her to her feet, being careful not to reveal my new strength. With her arm draped over my shoulder, we reached the door. Just as I was about to turn the knob, it swung open. A figure loomed over us.

‘Aha! I've found you!'

‘Everyone's been searching for you,' said Mr Slender, as he peered down at us. ‘I hope you haven't been in any trouble?'

‘Umm . . .' I said, wishing I had time to think up a reason for our disappearance and wondering when people would notice Mr Crumpet was missing.

‘I fell,' said Sophie. ‘Look.' She reached over and flicked the light switch. Mr Slender gasped.

Sophie's hair dangled in clumps around her face and dried blood was smeared down her cheek. Suddenly, her knees seemed to give way. She moaned weakly.

‘I think I need some help here,' I lied, pretending to struggle under her weight.

Mr Slender grabbed Sophie by her other arm, and we steered her into the corridor. ‘Everyone's been worried about you both. What happened?'

‘We were looking for something,' I said, thinking fast. ‘But we couldn't find it so we were checking the cupboard in case it had been put away. Sophie climbed up the shelves, and that's when she fell.'

‘But . . .' said Mr Slender.

‘Is that Mum and Dad?' I interrupted. I didn't want to answer any more awkward questions!

‘Yes. Everyone's here,' said Mr Slender. His lips were in a thin line. I could see he didn't believe my excuse.

‘Benjamin!' Mum rushed up to us and flung her arms around me. I tried to wriggle free. I couldn't breathe.

‘Mum! Need air!' I gasped.

She crushed me tighter against her bosom. ‘My little Benny! I was so worried about you!'

I took a quick gulp of oxygen before I was buried in the folds of her dress again.

‘Where have you been? What happened?' she asked.

‘Nuublthindg. We'bre obay. Honeslhhtlky, id's ndo big deal.'

‘What? I can't understand a word you're saying!' Mum finally let me go.

‘We're fine, Mum!' I said.

‘Well! If that's the case, you are in so much trouble, young man!'

What? How did that work? ‘Actually, I think I've hurt my ankle,' I said quickly. I limped a bit.

Mum looked worried again. ‘Which one?'

‘Don't fall for it, Mum.' Michael appeared behind her. ‘It's Sophie who looks like she's had a run-in with Tank!'

‘What happened to her?' asked Dad.

‘SOPHIE!' screamed another voice as Sophie's parents came running down the hall.

‘I'm OK,' said Sophie. Then she added, ‘I fell, but Ben looked after me.'

Mrs Knight gazed at me with teary eyes. ‘Thanks, Ben! You're a good friend.'

‘It was nothing,' I said. I almost felt guilty; if it hadn't been for me, Sophie wouldn't have got hurt at all.

‘Sophie fell off the shelves inside my classroom cupboard,' said Mr Slender. He shot a meaningful look at Mr Knight.

Mr Knight glared at me. ‘What did I tell you about poking around old cupboards?'

‘Ummmm,' I said.

‘Leave the poor wee lad alone!' Before I could stop her, Mrs Knight squashed me against
her
bosom. ‘He's been through enough!'

I tried to fight my way free, but that only made things worse.

‘The main thing is that everyone is alive and well,' said Dad, as I gasped for air. ‘Let's go home.'

As we walked home, we were told the whole story. After it had got dark, Mum and Dad had rung Sophie's parents, and when they realised we weren't there all four of them had walked around, checking the back yards and the parks and all the other places we usually hang out. It was only when they were getting desperate that they finally rang the school and made their way there.

‘You know there are old tunnels under your school,' said Mr Knight, as we walked back through the dark streets toward their house. ‘I'm researching them for my next book.'

‘Oh really?' I said, trying to sound
casual. So
that's
why he had those maps in his bus.

‘They were constructed during the Spanish flu epidemic, around 1918. Seabrook was first built as a hospital, to quarantine sick people. But they needed a cold place to store the dead bodies so they dug out a morgue underneath. That's what the tunnels were used for.'

Sophie shivered. ‘Ewww!'

‘When the Spanish flu epidemic was over, they didn't really need the hospital anymore so they turned it into a school. A team of people was sent down to explore the tunnels, but they never returned. People started saying there were monsters or zombies living in the tunnels and in the end they were blocked off.'

‘Creepy!' I said. So that was why he had the pictures of zombies. But it still
didn't explain why he was so jumpy about people going in his bus. Or why he nearly strangled me in the yard!

Maybe he realised what I was thinking 'cause he added, ‘I'm trying to keep what I'm writing a secret so the kids at school don't find out about the tunnels and decide to take a look themselves. Poking around these old buildings isn't safe.'

‘So how did Sophie bang her head?' asked Mrs Knight.

I tried to keep my voice offhand. ‘I left her Fuzzil in Mr Slender's room during detention. He must have put it in the cupboard. We went in there to see if we could find it and Sophie tried to climb up the shelves, but then she slipped.'

‘I thought those little toys were supposed to be lucky!' said Mrs Knight.

‘Maybe they bring
bad
luck,' said Mum.

Everybody laughed, but I didn't. The Fuzzil
had
been lucky! Without it, I don't know what I would have done to save Sophie from the zombie dogs.

We stopped outside Sophie's house.

‘Thanks again, Ben,' said Mrs Knight. She gave me another quick hug.

Mr Knight ruffled my hair.

‘Wanna come over tomorrow?' asked Sophie. ‘I've got
Zombie Attack 3
, remember?'

I thought for a second. ‘Maybe we can just ride our bikes instead.'

Sophie looked at me like I'd gone crazy.

After we said goodbye, we headed home. Mum and Dad walked ahead, holding hands.

Suddenly, everything flashed blue. My eyes switched back and forth a couple of times before settling on infrared vision. It
was so weird! I could see Mum's and Dad's hearts glowing white inside their bodies. Yellow and pink light radiated out from inside their bodies. It looked awesome!

Suddenly, I saw a purplish light circling high above us. I gazed up at it. Corvus! The bird had followed me here!

Corvus flew silently overhead. I guessed he wanted to hang out with me, now that I was a zombie too. Hopefully, Mum would be OK with me having such a weird pet.

Michael sidled up to me. ‘I thought you'd disappeared for good.'

‘No such luck,' I told him. ‘I plan to hang around forever. You'll never get rid of me.'

‘Wanna bet? Race you home! On your marks . . . get set . . .' Suddenly, he tore off down the street.

‘Cheat!' I shouted. For a second I felt annoyed. Then I smiled; Michael was about to get a surprise.

By the time he jogged up to our house, I was sitting on the front step.

‘When did you get so fast?' he puffed.

‘I've been letting you win for years,' I lied.

He pulled a face and punched me in the arm. ‘Ouch!' He shook his hand. ‘Man! You're as hard as a rock!'

I tried not to smile. Life was going to be a lot more interesting as a zombie!