Outbreak (11 page)

‘Mr Bill!' I breathed. ‘But you were . . . we . . .'

‘Well done, Ben!' Mr Bill's voice echoed around the room. ‘Thanks to you and Sophie, I'm free again.'

‘What?' I gazed at Sophie's motionless form in horror. We'd been tricked!

‘It was a bit inconvenient when Slender pounced on me,' added Mr Bill. ‘Of course I could have defeated him easily, but when I tried to bite him, I discovered he was wearing some sort of armour. It was coated in poison and the moment my
tongue touched it, I couldn't move. A new invention from HAZMAT, I assume? Well, that was an irritating surprise. Without it, he wouldn't have stood a chance. But my state of shock gave him an edge, and he managed to shove me into one of those little cells.'

So
that
was why Slender had tried to make me bite him! He'd been trying to poison me too! ‘
You're
the Lurker?' My mind boggled.

‘That's what HAZMAT calls me. To others I'm known as the Master. And to everyone else, well, quite simply, I'm their worst nightmare.' He smiled and for the first time I noticed his teeth. They were big and yellow and chipped. I shuddered when I thought about what — or
who
— they must've bitten.

‘I'm old. Much older than the others. So when you and Sophie wandered into my clutches, I realised my best chance was to use stealth instead of strength. I've lived for so long, you see,' he sighed heavily. Then his tone changed. ‘But why am I telling you this? Soon you will all be dead, or perhaps, if you are lucky, undead.'

‘Open the door!' I shouted.

The headmaster gave a little smile. ‘Why would I do that? No, it's much wiser to leave you safely locked away. Soon Sophie will wake up. She will be very, very hungry. And when that happens, nothing will protect you. Together, Sophie and Nurse Nellie will defeat you, Ben, and kill the remaining humans.'

‘Why are you doing this?' yelled Mum. ‘I thought you were the headmaster. Who
are
you really?!'

‘Who am I?' The headmaster chuckled. ‘Believe it or not, you already know my real name. I'm William Seabrook.'

Everyone gasped. I was stunned too. Could he really be the lost scientist, the brave man we'd heard about only earlier that day?

The headmaster continued, ‘All those years ago when I entered the tunnels with the other scientists, we were blind to the danger. None of us knew that Nurse Nellie stalked those dark chambers. The first we saw of her was when she attacked one of the men. Then he bit those around him. Only a few of us were still alive when Nurse Nellie reappeared. By then, I knew my best chance was to befriend her. She knew how to survive in the tunnels. Soon, it was only she and I.'

He
paused and his eyes rested on me. ‘We returned above ground and it didn't take me
long to “convince” the headmaster to leave. I mentioned it to you, Ben. Were you not
paying attention?

I told you he went mad and was last seen just before dusk, running
from the building wearing only a hat. Of course, the reason I know that for sure is
because I was watching him from one of the windows. I scared him away, you see, so
Nurse Nellie and I could live here, near the tunnels, where we felt safest until the
time came for us to move upstairs.'

‘But what about the other headmasters?' I asked. Why hadn't anyone stopped him?

‘What other headmasters? If only you could look again at the paintings, and this time, be a bit more observant. The truth was there all along, right in front of your eyes. The man in all the paintings is the same person: ME! Every few decades I had to pretend to retire and then I would simply rehire myself as the new headmaster. All it needed was a change of wardrobe and perhaps a new beard or a moustache. It was easy, actually. So easy I started giving away clues. Did none of you pick up on my name? Bill is a shortened form of William. And of course, you already know me as the Master: the
head
master.'

His eyes slid over me and rested on the Knights. ‘But I am finished hiding. Until now, the undead were forced to conceal themselves among the living. But today the hunted have become the hunters.'

‘We've got Nurse Nellie! Your plan won't work!' I yelled.

The headmaster laughed. ‘It already
has
worked! She has served her purpose. Go ahead! Kill her if you can! Sophie will be my
new
servant.'

Everybody turned back to Sophie, and at that moment, she groaned. Her eyes twitched then opened.

‘That is my cue to exit! Tally-ho!' said the headmaster. The little window on the door slid shut and all was silent.

With Mr Bill gone, our attention turned to Sophie. Everybody watched her anxiously. Reluctantly, I picked up the Zombie Blaster. Would I need to shoot my best friend?

‘Soph,' I said quietly.

She sat up and clutched her head.

‘It's OK,' I said. ‘You're OK now.'

Sophie turned her bloodshot eyes to me. I gazed into them. Did they seem empty? Cold? I poised, ready to spring if she tried to attack. ‘Nurse Nellie gave you an injection to turn you into a zombie.'

Was an injection of the strange elixir the same as being bitten by a zombie? Would Sophie become a half zombie like me? Perhaps she would be worse . . .

Mrs Knight sobbed.

Slowly, Sophie turned and surveyed the room, a bit of dribble running down her chin. She opened her mouth and leant closer to me. ‘I'm
hungry!
'

I gulped.

‘Have you got . . . a biscuit?'

‘Ummm,' I said. This was an unexpected request. ‘Maybe?'

Sophie paused as though she was thinking hard. Then she said, ‘Or some chocolate?'

‘Sophie!' cried Mrs Knight, and started sobbing, which I thought was kinda weird, 'cause it looked to me like Sophie was going to be OK.

Chocolate . . . biscuits . . . mints . . .

‘Mum! Have you got some lollies? Mints, maybe?' Sophie sounded desperate for something sweet to eat. Mrs Knight nodded, smiling through her tears. ‘Let's get home. You can have some there.'

‘Why are you guys in sick bay?' asked Sophie, as though she'd just noticed.

‘Good question.' I headed for the door.
‘Let's get out of here.'

We were still examining the lock when an argument broke out amongst our parents.

‘This doesn't change anything! Ben's a zombie and it's our job to bring him in!' Mr Knight was saying.

‘WHAT?!' yelled Mum. ‘You can't arrest our son!'

‘We won't be arresting him. You don't
arrest
zombies!' said Mr Knight.

‘What would you do with him, then?' asked Dad.

‘We would detain him indefinitely — in a secure medical facility.'

‘Lock him up in a military hospital?!' cried Mum.

‘But . . .' I couldn't believe it. ‘I just rescued you!'

‘We would've escaped anyway,' said Mr Knight flatly.

Dad looked furious. ‘If you try and take my son away . . .'

At that moment, there was a noise outside sick bay. Was the headmaster back? Every eye swung nervously to the door as the little hatch was thrown open and a face appeared.

‘Hello?!' It was Miss Bumble, the librarian.

Everybody started shouting at once.

‘Can you open it?'

‘Let us out!'

‘Is there a key in the lock?'

‘WAIT!' I yelled, pushing my way to the front and peering through the window at Miss Bumble. ‘When we get out of here, the Knights are
going to send me away. They're saying that all zombies should be locked up in a medical laboratory.'

Miss Bumble gazed around at our faces. ‘They're not going to take me away though, are they, Ben? Or Mr Slender?'

We were stunned into silence. Mr Slender was a zombie now too? How had that happened?

Miss Bumble nodded slowly. ‘The headmaster found him before I did. I guess he figured that if there was a zombie wandering around the school, there would be less chance of anyone escaping.'

‘Nom! Nom! Nom!' said Mr Slender's voice from somewhere behind Miss Bumble. ‘Nom! Nom!
Nom!
'