by C. M. Gray
‘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!
Benjamin Roy is now a zombie . . . well, a half-zombie to be precise.
The trouble is he can’t tell anyone about his new infrared vision and super-speed. Not even his best friend, Sophie. ’Cause he’s pretty sure the government or the police or, even worse, his parents will lock him up if they find out.
But then someone starts watching him. And following him.
Somebody knows his secret. And unless Ben can figure out who it is, he’ll have to start running. Or lurching really fast.
The adventure continues in January 2016 . . .
Copyright
The ABC ‘Wave’ device is a trademark of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used
under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.
First published in Australia in 2015
by HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks
a division of HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © C.M. Gray 2015
The right of C.M. Gray to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry:
Gray, C.M. author.
Zombiefied! / C.M. Gray.
978 0 7333 3421 4 (pbk.)
978 1 4607 0492 9 (ebook)
For primary school age.
Zombies — Juvenile fiction.
Suspense fiction.
A823.4
EPub Edition June 2015 ISBN 9781460704929
Cover design by Hazel Lam, HarperCollins Design Studio
Cover and internal illustrations by C.M. Gray