Apocalypse Read online

  ‘What was that?’ Sophie interrupted my depressing thoughts.

  Up ahead, the two little kids had stopped. They seemed to be looking at something beside the road. Suddenly, a streak of bright blue light shot out from behind some shrubs. It lunged at the kids, knocking one sideways.

  ‘AAAGGHHHH!’ the ghost screamed and scrambled away, losing the sheet in the process. With a terrified yelp, the kids took off. The bright blue shape galloped after them.

  A couple of the other trick-or-treaters noticed but they just smiled and kept moving. I guessed they thought it was all part of the fun. I knew better.

  ‘HEY!’ I shouted, sprinting toward the blue figure. The only people that glowed bright blue under infrared were zombies. But as far as I knew, Sophie and I were the only two zombies in Seabrook, except for Miss Bumble the school librarian. I doubted she had turned her attention away from overdue books to suddenly start attacking small children.

  When librarians go savage

  The two kids split up: one tiny, bright orange figure raced up the front stairs of a nearby house, while the other vanished around a corner.

  The zombie paused and glanced back — had it heard me? Was it going to attack us? But instead, it bent down and snatched something off the ground before straightening up and bounding away. In a couple of seconds, it was gone.

  Sophie jogged up to me. ‘Why was that person . . .’

  ‘It’s a zombie.’ Without infrared, Sophie would only have seen what looked like an ordinary person attacking a couple of kids. ‘Somebody else has been infected.’

  ‘How can you be sure?’

  ‘Under infrared they were blue. I’m not sure who it was but they looked kinda familiar.’

  ‘They were too far away for me to recognise,’ Sophie agreed. Then, after a pause, she added, ‘If there’s another zombie out there, you know what it could mean, don’t you? That he hasn’t given up.’

  I knew exactly who she meant: Mr Bill. The man was what was known as a Lurker: one of the oldest and cleverest zombies. It was Mr Bill who had tried to create an army of zombies, starting with me. And when I’d refused to be part of his scheme, he’d tried to get rid of me, infecting Sophie in the process.

  Seabrook’s Lurker

  ‘I thought he was gone,’ Sophie said, looking around as if Mr Bill might suddenly reappear.

  ‘Me too.’ Apart from being a Lurker, Mr Bill happened to be the principal of Seabrook High, our school. A few weeks ago, he’d vanished. We assumed he’d left Seabrook when his plan hadn’t worked. Now it seemed we might be wrong.

  But Mr Bill was an old man who could only walk with the help of a cane. Could it really be him, leaping out from behind the shrubs then sprinting up the street? I doubted it. I thought it was more likely we’d seen a much younger zombie, which would mean that someone else in Seabrook had been transformed.

  ‘We can’t let a zombie run around attacking little kids,’ said Sophie worriedly.

  I nodded, gazing at the spot in the crowd where the undead figure had vanished. It didn’t matter if the zombie was Mr Bill or if it was someone else: we had to stop it. Unless we wanted the streets of Seabrook to be filled with real zombies, not just kids playing dress-ups.

  4

  Sophie’s street was just as crowded as mine had been. It was a relief when we stepped off the road onto her driveway.

  Sophie’s house looked deserted, but I knew that was because the Knights had installed special security shutters, which blocked out every bit of light that shone from their windows. Sophie’s parents were obsessed with security. Probably because, unlike just about everyone else, they knew zombies existed.

  Sophie pulled a key out of her pocket and opened the door. As we hurried inside, the door swung closed behind us and locks dropped into place. Mr and Mrs Knight sat at the dining table in front of their computers.

  ‘How did you go?’ asked Mrs Knight without looking up from her monitor.

  ‘We’ve got some bad news!’ Sophie blurted out. ‘We saw a zombie! It attacked a couple of little kids!’

  The Knights instantly spun around in their chairs and stared at us with their mouths open.

  ‘Are you sure?’ asked Mr Knight.

  ‘How do you know it was a zombie?’ asked Mrs Knight.

  ‘It was right in front of us,’ Sophie told them. ‘Ben saw it with his infrared vision, but when he shouted, it ran off.’

  The Knights had also discovered my secret a few weeks ago. You can bet they weren’t very happy when they found out their daughter was best friends with a zombie! Especially because they were employed by a government organisation called HAZMAT — Humans Against Zombies: Mobile Assault Team — so it was actually their job to fight zombies. The Knights had come to Seabrook a couple of years ago because they knew there was a horde operating in the area. When they’d figured out I was a zombie too, they were going to capture me. Luckily, I’d managed to talk them out of it. For now.

  Sophie poured us both a glass of water and handed one to me. We collapsed onto the sofa.

  ‘Was it just the one?’ asked Mrs Knight.

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘And you’re sure it wasn’t Miss Bumble?’

  The Knights knew about the zombie librarian. They weren’t happy about her either, but since she’d played a part in saving our lives recently, I guess they figured they couldn’t lock her up.

  ‘We didn’t see who it was,’ I said. ‘But it looked like a teenager. Someone our age or maybe a bit older.’

  Mr Knight leapt out of his chair and began pacing the room. He stopped in front of a long pinboard hanging on one wall. It was almost completely hidden by large sheets of paper covered in complicated graphs and charts. ‘And we were just studying the “soft targets” around Seabrook. The things an enemy is likely to sabotage—’

  ‘The electricity grid and the communications system,’ interrupted Mrs Knight.

  ‘That’s right,’ continued Mr Knight. ‘They’re our biggest weaknesses. This zombie could be the start of the larger assault we feared might be coming.’

  ‘I’ll contact HAZMAT immediately,’ said Mr Knight, tapping a few keys on his computer. In a couple of seconds, a man’s face appeared on the screen. The guy had a massive scar stretching from his hairline, past one eye and down under his chin. I couldn’t help staring.

  ‘This is Team Four,’ said Mr Knight. ‘Have we got a secure line?’

  ‘Just a minute.’ The man fiddled with something out of sight for a couple of seconds. ‘We’re secure. Go ahead, Team Four.’

  ‘We’ve had a sighting tonight. Not firsthand. Two witnesses.’

  ‘In Seabrook?’

  ‘Affirmative,’ said Mrs Knight.

  ‘Escalate your covert investigations.’

  ‘Any chance of backup?’

  ‘Not until there’s a reported attack,’ said the man. ‘We don’t have the resources to follow up on all alleged sightings. Keep us informed of any further developments.’

  ‘Will do.’ Mrs Knight turned back to us after the screen had gone black. ‘Dirk Hunt,’ she said, nodding her head back toward the screen. ‘HAZMAT Commander-in-Chief.’

  ‘Was the scar from a zombie attack?’ It looked like the guy had just about been eaten alive!

  Mr Knight chuckled. ‘Almost! If the rumours are true, it was from a lion. When he’s not hunting zombies, he travels around big-game hunting, armed only with a knife.’

  ‘Was he serious? HAZMAT aren’t going to do anything? There’s a zombie in Seabrook and it’s attacking little kids!’ I could feel my undead heart pounding in my chest — if there was an outbreak in Seabrook and HAZMAT did nothing about it, the town could be overrun! Especially since Seabrook was actually an island with only a single bridge connecting it to the mainland. There would be no escape from a horde of rampaging zombies! I swallowed my water in one gulp.

  Mr Knight sighed. ‘I know this is hard to understand, but HAZMAT can’t investigate every time a person think
s they saw something. They’re focused on the bigger picture. At the moment . . .’ He glanced around as though someone else might be listening. ‘At the moment, HAZMAT scientists are developing a cure. Just imagine! If we have an antidote, it won’t matter if the apocalypse happens. We’ll be able to transform the infected back into human beings!’

  ‘If we have a cure . . .’ I began.

  ‘It’s not ready yet,’ Mrs Knight said. ‘Years ago, one of our scientists created a few doses but he vanished, leaving only muddled notes behind. We’ve been trying to crack the formula ever since.’

  ‘And I think we’re getting close,’ added Mr Knight.

  A cure would mean Sophie and I would be able to transform back into ordinary people.

  ‘But we need to do something,’ Mrs Knight said.

  ‘We could help!’ I said quickly. ‘Couldn’t we, Soph?’

  I turned toward her, but Sophie’s spot on the couch was empty.

  ‘It could be dangerous!’ Mr Knight frowned. ‘No, the best place for you is at home, safe and sound. We’ll suit up and gather some weapons . . .’

  Mr Knight’s voice droned on but I wasn’t listening. Sophie’s water was untouched. Why had she suddenly vanished? Where had she gone?

  ‘I guess you’re right,’ I said when Mr Knight paused for breath. ‘It’s too dangerous for kids.’

  ‘Well, I must say I’m glad you’re mature enough to realise that, Ben.’ Mr Knight looked relieved.

  ‘Yup, well, it’s getting late. I’d better head home.’ I gave him a tight smile as I gathered up our glasses and carried them into the kitchen then slipped into the hallway.

  ‘Sophie?’ I whispered. The bathroom door was open but the room was empty. Had she gone back outside?

  I crept along the passageway until I reached her bedroom door. It was shut. I knocked gently. ‘Sophie? Are you in there?’

  Silence.

  I turned the knob and pushed the door open. Light from the hallway flooded across the messy desk and the neatly made bed. The room seemed empty.

  I was turning to go when I heard a faint sound: the rustle of plastic. It came from the wardrobe.

  ‘Soph?’ A shiver crept down my spine. I reached up and grasped the handle then slid the wardrobe door open.

  There was a sudden movement and then a low cry. ‘AAAAGGGHH! Don’t look at me!’

  5

  Sophie was sitting hunched over at the bottom of her wardrobe. Lolly wrappers were scattered around her on the floor. Her face was buried in her hands but I could see she was chewing fast.

  ‘Soph? What are you doing in here?’

  ‘I’m hideous!’ she wailed. ‘Don’t look!’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  She kept one hand over her face and with the other she grabbed a bunch of lollies and stuffed them in her mouth. ‘I can’t stop eating them!’ Her cheeks bulged and she chewed furiously. ‘I can usually control it, but it’s too hard with all the Halloween candy around!’

  Finally, she turned to face me. Sweat was beading across her forehead and a bit of pink dribble was running down her chin. ‘It’s like I can’t get enough! No matter how much sweet stuff I eat, I want more! This morning, I ate a whole packet of biscuits, and when Mum asked me about it, I blamed it on Dad!’ Suddenly she burst into tears.

  ‘But, Sophie . . . you know it’s not your fault.’

  ‘That’s not the worst of it! The other day I went to the dentist and I got three fillings! Three! I don’t want to be a zombie! The trade-off isn’t worth it. My powers aren’t as good as yours.’

  ‘What?! I know your infrared vision doesn’t seem to work, but you’re way faster than you used to be.’ I remembered Sophie shaking my brother until his teeth chattered. ‘You must have super-strength too, after the way you picked up Michael tonight.’

  Sophie covered her face with her hands again. ‘What good are superpowers if my parents don’t want me to have them?! I can’t even use them properly anyway!’

  That was true. The Knights didn’t even like the fact that their daughter was friends with a zombie, so I guessed they were pretty unhappy about her being one, even if she only craved lollies. I didn’t crave lollies, I craved brains. But I knew I would have to kill someone to get them and I wasn’t going to do that. Now, I hardly thought about brains at all.

  ‘Maybe if you don’t eat them for a while, you won’t want them so much,’ I suggested. ‘You’ll get used to not eating them.’

  ‘That’s easy for you to say! You crave brains and that’s just gross.’ Sophie made a spewing face. ‘But who doesn’t like lollies? Plus, they’re everywhere! I can’t get away from them!’

  I nodded. Sophie hadn’t been a zombie for long, so I guessed she just needed practice at resisting temptation; she needed more willpower. But I wasn’t going to tell her that. I wasn’t completely stupid. ‘I think it’ll get easier,’ I said instead. ‘Let’s clean up this mess. I’ll take the rubbish with me so your parents don’t know how much you’ve eaten.’

  ‘Thanks,’ said Sophie.

  We started grabbing handfuls of the empty wrappers and stuffing them into a plastic bag. Suddenly I stopped. There was something that had bugged me about what we’d seen tonight, something that didn’t make sense. The zombie could easily have caught the kids it was chasing, so why didn’t it?

  ‘The zombie wasn’t trying to catch the kids, it was after their lollies!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Remember it bent down and grabbed something off the ground? They must’ve dropped their lollies when they ran away. It stopped to pick them up, which explains why it didn’t chase the kids anymore. That zombie is exactly like you!’

  ‘So whoever it was, they were injected with the serum too!’

  We both turned and gazed at the darkened window. The shutters blocked any view of outside. All we could see were our own pale faces staring back at us from the glass.

  ‘Who was it?’ I wondered. Seabrook wasn’t a big place, so whoever it was, we would know them.

  ‘It doesn’t matter who it is,’ said Sophie, chewing the head off a red python. ‘If it’s attacking little kids, it’s dangerous. And for all we know, there might be more than one. Maybe others have been infected too.’

  She had a point. How many other kids had been infected tonight? How many more would be attacked if we did nothing about it?

  ‘We’ve got to find it,’ I said. ‘HAZMAT aren’t going to help. We have to track it down and get it off the streets. And any others we find.’

  ‘But how can we stop it if we don’t even know who it is? Or where it is?’

  ‘Good question. It won’t be easy. And it’s OK if you’d rather not come with me.’

  Sophie snorted. ‘As if! Of course I’m coming!’

  ‘The good thing is that we’re already undead,’ I said, trying not to show my relief. ‘There isn’t much more it can do to us.’

  ‘Except make us really dead,’ sighed Sophie. ‘How are we going to do this? Mum and Dad will never let me go back out tonight.’

  ‘More kids will be infected by tomorrow.’

  Sophie stuffed the rest of the snake into her mouth. ‘Operation Window?’

  I nodded. ‘Operation Window.’

  6

  ‘I guess I’ll be heading off, then,’ I said loudly as I wandered into the hallway. ‘Thanks, Mr and Mrs Knight.’

  ‘Bye, Ben.’ Mrs Knight’s voice floated out from somewhere near the back of the house.

  Suddenly, Mr Knight reappeared. He was dressed in combat gear and had a gun holstered at his waist.

  ‘Wow! You look . . .’

  ‘No need to be intimidated, Ben,’ said Mr Knight in a reassuring tone. ‘This weapon isn’t lethal.’ He un-holstered the gun strapped around his middle and held it out for me to examine. ‘You remember — it’s a Zombie Blaster. Designed to stun, not kill.’

  ‘I guess that makes sense,’ I said, gazing at the dull, black weapon in his hands, ‘since you�
��ll be shooting it at the undead.’

  Mr Knight returned the weapon to his holster. ‘And Ben,’ he added as he opened the front door for me, ‘you did the right thing by telling us. This is a job for professionals. I don’t want you kids to get into any trouble.’

  ‘Sure,’ I said awkwardly. Then, mostly so I didn’t have to look Mr Knight in the eye, I called out, ‘See you, Soph!’

  ‘Yep, see you tomorrow,’ she shouted back.

  I gave Mr Knight a quick wave and jogged down the front steps. On the street, the crowd had thinned out a bit, which was good, ’cause I didn’t want anyone to notice what I was going to do next.

  When I was sure the door had closed behind me, I slipped around to the side of the house, under Sophie’s window. As usual, no light was visible, but I could hear Mrs Knight’s voice.

  ‘Did you brush your teeth after all those lollies?’

  ‘Yep.’ Sophie’s voice was somewhere near her bed. Maybe she’d already crawled under the covers so her parents wouldn’t notice she was still dressed. ‘What are you wearing, Mum?’

  ‘This? Oh, it’s just my updated uniform,’ came Mrs Knight’s reply. ‘We’re going out to see if we can track down the zombie you saw. You need to stay here,’ she added firmly, and in a few seconds her heavy boots were treading down the hallway.

  I waited silently for another couple of minutes before the floor creaked and Sophie’s shutters opened. ‘Are you there?’ she whispered.

  Instead of answering, I flicked my infrared vision on and off so my eyes flashed red.

  ‘Don’t do that! It still scares me to death!’

  ‘You can do it too,’ I said.

  ‘That’s not the point!’ Sophie swung one leg then the other over the windowsill. She sat on the ledge for a second, gazing at the street. I guessed she was waiting until the coast was clear. When she jumped, she landed on the dirt beside me. Slung over her shoulder was her trick-or-treat backpack. ‘It’s just not normal!’