by Andrew Cope
When they all came to a sudden stop, Lara nearly cannoned into the zombie in front of her. You need brake lights on your bum! she thought as she skidded to a halt with her nose centimetres from his stripy pyjamas.
As though they had been given an order, the zombie squad all turned smartly to the right. Lara turned with them and saw that they were in front of the school.
Why have they stopped here? The gym’s much further down the road, by the playing fields.
Until now the zombie squad had walked in eerie silence, but as they marched through the school gates and up the drive, they began to chant one word over and over again. ‘Destroy! Destroy! Destroy!’
Lara looked around frantically as she marched beside them. What do I do? I can’t let them destroy the school! Ben, Sophie and Ollie love it here!
But the zombie squad never reached the building. At the top of the drive they turned left and headed for the school allotment. That was when Lara spotted three dark figures standing on the grass. One had ears like cup handles, one had no neck at all and the third had a hooked, beak-like nose. Dumbbell, Squat – and Harriet Hawk.
I knew you’d be around somewhere, Lara thought. After all, you’re the puppet master, pulling the strings to make this lot dance.
Lara caught a glint of teeth in the moonlight. Harriet Hawk was smiling. ‘Phase one of our test-run successfully completed,’ she crowed. ‘They came when they were called. Now let’s see if they will follow my orders and destroy the allotment.’
Lara gasped. Why did Harriet Hawk want her zombie squad to destroy the allotment? Things were getting more and more puzzling.
Trouble’s on the way, she thought. Mr and Mrs Cook won’t obey this order. They know how much work Ben, Sophie and Ollie have put into growing these vegetables.
But she was wrong. Mr and Mrs Cook waded in with the rest of the zombie squad. Lara stared, horrified, as they pulled down beanpoles, pulled up carrots and trampled on lettuces. Harriet Hawk had them well and truly brainwashed.
‘That mutt isn’t joining in,’ growled Squat.
Lara gulped as twenty zombie heads turned her way. The zombie squad glared at her for a few seconds and then everyone, including Mr and Mrs Cook, dropped the mangled vegetables they were holding, raised their arms and reeled towards her, twitching their outstretched fingers. ‘Destroy!’
Lara froze. Zombie attack! My worst nightmare! If I join in with trashing the allotment, they’ll think I’m one of them and leave me alone. But the children have worked so hard! I can’t obliterate Ollie’s onions, or batter Ben’s beetroots, or even shred Sophie’s spinach, although personally I can’t stand the stuff …
The zombie squad lurched closer. Their fingers reached for her. Quickly, she selected a patch of soil in the far corner of the allotment where only weeds were growing. ‘Destroy!’ she barked, digging down into the soil with her front paws. ‘Destroy!’
The zombie squad stopped. Their neck bones clicked as they all tilted their heads to watch her. Would they be fooled? After a long moment, they turned back to their own digging and Lara gave a sigh of relief. Phew! From Spy Dog to zombie dog. I deserve a pooch Oscar for that performance.
Shifting her position so that her rear end was pointing at Harriet Hawk, Lara stood over the pile of earth she had dug up and scrabbled at it with her front paws. A hail of mud and thistles flew out from between her back legs and sprayed all over the three baddies. Bullseye! That’s for Ben, Sophie and Ollie.
‘Stop!’ spluttered Harriet Hawk.
Lara stopped. So did the rest of the zombie squad. They stood there in the mud with blank faces, waiting for their next order. Lara copied them, trying not to look too pleased as she watched Harriet Hawk picking lumps of mud out of her hair.
‘Well, that proves it, boss,’ said Squat. ‘Your little test has worked. They’re zombies all right. Although I’m still not sure about that ugly mutt,’ he muttered, giving Lara a suspicious glare.
Me ugly? Have you looked in the mirror lately, chum?
‘Zombified is the word, Squat.’ Harriet Hawk smiled her cold smile. ‘If they had any control left over their own minds, they wouldn’t have destroyed their own children’s vegetable allotment.’
Lara stifled a gasp. That’s the connection! The people in the zombie squad all have children at this school!
‘I still don’t get it,’ said Dumbbell. He swept his arm across the destroyed allotment. ‘Why is it good that they did this?’
‘Because it shows that they will hurt their children when I order them to,’ explained Harriet Hawk.
Lara let out a low growl before she could stop herself. Harriet Hawk is going to make Mr and Mrs Cook hurt Ben, Sophie and Ollie! She just managed to stop her upper lip from curling up into a snarl as Squat gave her another suspicious look. But how will that make her into one of the richest, most powerful women in the world? I have to find out – and fast!
‘Go back to your homes, zombie squad,’ Harriet Hawk ordered. ‘Meet me at the gym tomorrow morning after your children have gone to school. It’s time to unleash my master plan!’
Time is running out, thought Lara as she shambled away with the zombie squad. I must find a way into that command centre tomorrow. Whatever it takes.
12. Fatal Attraction
It had been a very odd morning in the Cook household. Mr and Mrs Cook had woken up covered in dried mud and there was a trail of muddy footprints leading from the front door to their bedroom. Every time they tried to remember how they had got that way, they had been hit by painful headaches. Once they had cleaned themselves up, they had sat silently at the kitchen table, looking bewildered and clutching cups of coffee, while Ben and Sophie had raced around, getting themselves and Ollie ready for school. Lara had longed for the cheerful chaos of a normal school day.
The Cooks didn’t seem to want to move from the table so Lara and the pups walked the children to school. Lara knew that now was the time that the zombie mums and dads had been ordered back to the gym, so on the way back she made Star and Spud hide with her in a nearby hedge as twenty members of the zombie squad straggled in through the doors of Hawk’s Gym. The midnight destruction of the school vegetable allotment had taken its toll on them. They were all pale and bruised, their hands were covered in cuts and scratches, and some of them, Mr Cook included, were limping.
Lara winced in sympathy. She knew that Mr Cook had a blister the size of a plum on his heel. That’s what happens when you go for a walk in a black high-heeled shoe, four sizes too small for you.
‘What shall we do, Ma?’ yapped Star as the last of the zombies made their way into the gym.
‘Harriet Hawk said that today’s the day. So I’ll play-act being part of the zombie gang and work as an insider. See if there’s a way into the command room.’
‘And we can work our way round the outside looking for another entrance,’ suggested Star.
Lara nodded. ‘Don’t do anything dangerous, though.’
‘Don’t worry, Ma. We’ll find a way in. A fire door, an open window, even an air vent,’ yapped Star eagerly. ‘We’re only pups; we can squeeze through the tiniest spaces.’
Lara gave Spud’s fat tum a doubtful glance.
‘That’s all muscle,’ woofed Spud, looking offended.
‘You’re looking a lot slimmer, Ma,’ said Star.
Lara glanced down at herself and was surprised to see that Star was right – she had lost her pooch paunch.
‘Well, at least Hawk’s Gym is good for something,’ she woofed. ‘Or maybe it’s all the worrying I’ve been doing. I’d better head inside now before anyone notices I’m no
t with the parents. I hope we can find out what Harriet Hawk is planning; I have a feeling time is running out.’
‘We’ll do our best, Ma,’ woofed Spud and Star.
‘I know you will,’ barked Lara. ‘I’m very proud of you both. Look after each other!’
Harriet Hawk was looking extra pleased. Practice runs were over. Today was to be the real thing.
The zombies stood in the gym, ears glowing, awaiting their next instructions. Lara stood with them, being careful to stay absolutely still. Her eyes moved right and she watched Harriet Hawk punch a number into the keypad on the control-room door. She memorized the number, then her eyes quickly reverted straight ahead as Harriet Hawk glanced at the assembled crowd before disappearing through the door with her henchmen.
Lara knew she had no choice. I have to find out what’s going on in that room, she thought as she broke from the crowd and approached the metal door, sniffing intently, her ears pricked for danger. She jumped up on to her hind legs and punched the numbers into the lock. There was a beep as the lock lifted and she nosed her way through into the gym’s nerve centre.
Lara tiptoed down the metal staircase and crouched under a table. The room was full of laptops and huge video screens. Harriet Hawk, Dumbbell and Squat were huddled over one particular screen. Lara’s sticky-up ear was on full alert.
‘Let’s get this thing moving,’ she heard Harriet Hawk say. ‘Summon the children. It’s showtime!’
Spud and Star stayed hidden until Lara had disappeared inside the gym.
‘Ready to go, bro?’ whispered Star.
Spud swallowed and glanced around uneasily. ‘In a minute.’
‘What’s the problem?’
‘No problem,’ said Spud bravely. ‘But let’s keep our heads down, just in case.’ He began to commando-crawl through the grass towards the gym.
Star could see that Spud was worried about something. ‘We’ll be fine,’ she woofed as she crawled alongside him. ‘We’ve fought baddies before and always come out on top.’
‘It’s not Squat and Dumbbell I’m bothered about,’ admitted Spud. ‘We can outrun those two muscle-heads any day. But we can’t outrun that big bird.’ He glanced up at the flat roof of the gym. ‘Do you think it can see us right now?’ he whispered, with a shiver.
‘Harriet Hawk puts a hood over its head during the day, probably to keep it calm. I’m sure we’ll be fine,’ assured Star, her words more confident than her thoughts.
‘You’re right, sis.’ Spud’s tail began to wag and he set off at a steady trot with his tail held high. ‘We’re highly trained Spy Pups. Let’s get stuck into this adventure.’
Star shook her head as she followed him. ‘Brothers,’ she sighed.
The puppies made it as far as the side wall of the gym, checking for unlocked doors or open windows, when Star came to a halt.
‘Did you hear that?’ she whispered, rotating her sticky-up ear like a radar dish.
‘Was it that bird?’ yelped Spud, looking up at the sky.
‘No. It sounded like children. Lots of them.’
‘Yes, I hear them now,’ woofed Star. ‘And Mr Thompson, I think.’
The school teacher appeared first, his ear lobe glowing, his eyes glazed and his feet plodding purposefully towards Hawk’s Gym. Twenty children scurried behind, the little ones struggling to keep up.
‘Slow down, Mr T,’ panted Ollie, lagging towards the back.
‘Your parents need you,’ droned the teacher. ‘They are in great danger.’
The pups peered at the strange crowd.
‘It’s not only the parents that are in danger,’ woofed Spud. ‘Mr Thompson is leading the kids into the thick of it.’
‘But they can’t go into Hawk’s Gym,’ woofed Spud. ‘It’ll be like entering the lion’s den.’
‘The zombies’ den,’ gulped Star. ‘And I think zombies might be even worse than lions. We have to turn them back!’
The pups raced across the field and skidded to a halt in front of Ben, Sophie and Ollie.
‘Stop!’ yapped Spud, holding up his front paws. ‘It’s too dangerous!’
‘Out of the way, pups,’ ordered Ben. ‘We’re going in to rescue our parents! Lara told us that something weird is going on at the gym. And Mr Thompson says they’re in terrible danger. He says they’re asking for us.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Sophie. ‘They’ve been acting like zombies since they joined Hawk’s Gym. And all our friends are saying the same about their parents. And we want to find out what’s got into them.’
‘But that’s just it!’ yelped Star. ‘They’re not your parents when they’re in that gym. Harriet Hawk has them so zombified, she could even order them to turn on you!’
‘Sorry, Star – I can guess what you’re saying, but you won’t stop us,’ said Sophie. ‘I want my mum and dad back.’
‘Me too,’ said Ollie. ‘I don’t want to watch scary films any more. Or eat any more chocolate. And I want to be told to have a bath, and brush my teeth, and go to bed. A-and I want a cuddle.’
For a moment all the children were quiet, thinking about the cuddles they were missing. Then their sad expressions were replaced with looks of fierce determination.
‘Uh-oh,’ yapped Spud as the children lifted their heads and glared at Hawk’s Gym. ‘Nothing’s going to stop them now!’
Lara remained under the table, hardly daring to breathe. She didn’t need to watch the action because Squat was doing a fantastic commentary of what he could see on the big screen.
‘Mr Thompson is announcing it to the children,’ he grunted. ‘And here they come. Like kids to a candy shop.’
‘Zombie shop,’ giggled Dumbbell.
They watched as the children followed their teacher, pied-piper style, towards the gym.
‘Our hostages,’ purred Harriet Hawk. ‘This is even easier than I thought it would be.’
Hostages? thought Lara, still trying to piece the bits together. I’m still not quite sure what she’s doing but the more I discover, the worse it gets!
Lara peered out from under the table and caught a glimpse of the screen. She saw Mr Thompson striding towards the front entrance of the gym, a string of children close behind. Her heart sank.
Not good! Everyone I love most in the world, all under one roof with a dangerous super-baddie! Think, Lara, think. This is going to need all my Spy Dog powers!
Harriet Hawk and her henchmen seemed satisfied. ‘The children are here. Make sure the pool is secure,’ purred Harriet Hawk. Squat switched off the TV and the three baddies returned to the gym. Lara crept after them, her heart pounding and her mind racing
Mr Thompson was first into the gym, the children following behind.
‘Welcome, young ones,’ began Harriet Hawk. ‘Come to save your parents? How very noble.’
‘What have you done to them?’ demanded Ben, pointing at the adults standing in a large blue hole in the ground where the swimming pool used to be. ‘And why are their earlobes flashing?’
‘Come here, children,’ droned the parents in unison, holding out their arms for an awkward zombie hug.
Sophie’s best friend immediately ran towards the empty pool and clambered down the silver ladder to join her mum. The rest of the children followed, including Ben, Sophie and Ollie, until the blue rectangle was filled with children and their emotionless parents. Ollie looked up at his mum who stared blankly ahead. He jumped up and down waving his hands in front of her face.
Lara watched, a puzzled expression on her doggy face. Netball posts had been left round the edge of the empty pool. Dumbbell and Squat appeared with armfuls of cable and wo
und them round the posts, quickly fencing off the pool so it looked like a sunken wrestling ring.
‘What are you doing?’ shouted Ben.
‘Making you secure,’ purred Harriet Hawk. She looked down at the children, who stared back, confused. She nodded to Squat, who disappeared into the control room. A low hum began and the cables started to glow. Squat returned and threw a tennis ball at the cables – it exploded in a ball of fire. He smiled and gave a thumbs up to his boss.
‘Squat, if you would be so kind,’ she said.
Squat lumbered over to a large red wheel on the wall and started to turn it. Water erupted from the middle of the pool.
‘It’s filling up,’ began Sophie, making for one of the ladders.
‘Bad idea,’ yelled Harriet Hawk, pointing to the smouldering tennis ball. ‘Didn’t your zombie teacher tell you anything in science? The cables are electrified. And everyone knows that water and electricity don’t mix.’
Sophie stared up at the woman, her bottom lip trembling. ‘So we can’t get out?’
‘And the water’s getting higher,’ said Ollie. ‘I’ve got my ten-metres badge, but what happens when it gets deep?’
Harriet Hawk said nothing, her evil eyes and upturned lips saying it all.
Ben looked at the rising water, now around his knees. ‘Mum. Dad. Help us,’ he yelled, panic rising in his voice. He slapped his dad hard in the face but there was no reaction. Ollie thought it looked like good fun so he had a go too.
Harriet Hawk moved as close to the electric cables as she dared and peered into the rising tide of people. ‘Today is a very special day,’ she beamed. ‘After years of planning and preparation, my master plan finally goes into action.’
She picked up a remote control, switched on all the big screens around the gym and pointed at the screens. ‘Men and women are pounding on treadmills in my gyms all around the country. I’ve brainwashed them all. Eighty zombie squads in place, all made up of parents with children at the local schools. My brainwashed beauties. I call them my zombie army!’