Outbreak (4 page)

‘Just pop your name here.' Nurse Nellie pushed an open ledger across her desk toward me.

I scribbled my name in the first space and Sophie jotted hers down underneath it.

‘Have either of you been to sick bay before?' asked Nurse Nellie.

‘Um, no,' I said, wondering how we could escape without making Nurse Nellie suspicious. We had to get out of there and find Michael. Sure, I didn't always like my brother, but I didn't want anything really bad to happen to him either.

Nurse Nellie led us into sick bay, which turned out to be a huge room lined on either side with hospital beds. I guessed when kids got sick at school, it all happened at once.

‘This used to be a ward in the old hospital,' Nurse Nellie explained. She handed me a box of bandages. ‘Reroll them as neatly as you can. Sophie, you can clean the bedrails.'

Nurse Nellie gave Sophie a cloth then bustled to the other end of the room. She disappeared through another doorway,
reappearing almost instantly with a large bottle of blue medicine. She unscrewed the lid and pulled out a small tin from the pocket of her starched uniform. ‘I've always found adding a little sugar to the medicine makes it much easier to swallow,' she said, tipping some white powder from the tin into the blue liquid.

While she was distracted, Sophie turned to me and whispered, ‘How are we going to get out of here?'

I thought fast. If Nurse Nellie was anything like Mum, all we had to do was ‘accidentally' mess things up. She wouldn't want our help for long after that.

‘Watch me,' I said softly. Working quickly, I unrolled the bandages and then bunched them into rough piles. ‘Nurse Nellie? Is this how you do it?'

Nurse Nellie glanced over. ‘Noooo! Oh, dear! More
neatly
. Oh, don't worry, I . . . I'll finish!'

‘But I really want to help!' I told her, fiddling with the bandages so they looked even worse.

‘Stop!' Nurse Nellie put the bottle of medicine down and rushed over, looking panicky. She took the box of bandages from my hands. ‘Perhaps you can, er . . . help Sophie?'

‘Great! This is
such
hard work!' Sophie was sprawled across the head of the bed, rubbing the frame. The sheets were scrunched up around her feet.

‘Your dirty shoes!' cried Nurse Nellie. ‘Now I'll have to change the sheets!'

‘Oh, sorry,' said Sophie. She slid her feet off the bed, leaving a pair of long black marks on the white fabric.

‘You know, Nurse Nellie, just being here, talking to you, has made me realise how good it is to help,' I told her.

‘Yes!' added Sophie. ‘We love helping!'

‘Well . . . er . . .' Nurse Nellie stared at the stained sheet. ‘That's wonderful?!'

‘We mightn't be much good at it yet, but it's OK not to be perfect. Every day is a second chance, right?'

Thank you, Princess Sparkle.

Nurse Nellie's eyebrows shot up.

‘We don't want to spend another minute being less than useful. Starting now.' This stuff was too priceless. I glanced around the room. ‘Maybe we could scrub the walls?'

Nurse Nellie looked around fearfully. ‘I don't think . . .'

‘Or reorganise your medicine cupboard? We're happy to stay here
the whole day
if you need us. After all, there's no elevator
to success, you have to take the stairs.' I gave Nurse Nellie my biggest, cheesiest grin.

‘Er, perhaps you've done enough . . .'

I sensed we were almost there. ‘At the very least we could provide some relaxing music? We could sit beside you and hum a song. What about “If You're Happy And You Know It”?'

‘Oh, no,' said Nurse Nellie quickly.

‘“You Are My Sunshine”? “Kumbaya”?'

‘No! No! There's no music in sick bay.' Nurse Nellie looked alarmed now. ‘You both seem to have learnt your lesson,' she added quickly. ‘You can go now.'

‘Well, only if you're sure . . .' I said, trying not to sound too keen to get out of there.

Nurse Nellie nodded anxiously. ‘Yes! You've been a great help! I'll tell Mr Bill you've gone back to class. Off you go!'

‘OK then, bye!' said Sophie as we headed for the door. The moment we were outside, we took off.

We sprinted around the corner and past the portraits and stopped. There, dead ahead, at the other end of a long hallway, was a familiar figure.

‘I'VE GOT YOU NOW!' shouted Slender, rushing toward us.

Sophie and I spun around. We raced past Nurse Nellie's desk and back into sick bay.

The room was empty.

Sophie stopped behind me. ‘Nurse Nellie must be in the headmaster's office.'

I hurried toward one of the windows. ‘These have bars on them! We're trapped!'

‘What about this one?' Sophie led the way to the open window behind Nurse Nellie's desk in the outer room. We stuck our heads out the window for a look. ‘We're
on the first floor! It's too high!' Sophie wailed.

The ground was covered in a bed of leaves. It would be safe for me to jump, but Sophie wasn't half zombie.

‘I'll go first,' I said. Before she could argue, I shoved the window open wider, vaulted over the windowsill and landed lightly in the garden bed.

‘Come on!' I shouted up to Sophie, holding my arms out. ‘I'll catch you!'

She scrambled up onto the ledge, and with a tiny scream, leapt off. She landed on my head then toppled into the leaves.

‘You were supposed to catch me!' she said angrily as I dragged her to her feet.

‘You were supposed to jump into my arms!'

We sprinted along the side of the building. I glanced back. A head was just vanishing back inside the upstairs window as we raced around a corner. Slender was onto us.

Sophie and I crept through the grounds until we reached the bike rack. Neither of us ever bothered to lock up our bikes and in a couple of seconds we were pedalling hard out through the school gates.

Sophie's house was closest. Without saying a word, we both headed toward it.

As we rode, unanswered questions raced through my mind. Where was Michael now? Who had kidnapped him, and
why
?

The bus parked out the front of Sophie's house came into view as we turned into her street.

‘Dad will be home,' she said, pedalling faster so she was level with me. ‘But he should be in the bus, working.'

We silently glided up her neighbour's driveway and across the grass, then around the side of Sophie's house. ‘We'll leave the bikes here,' Sophie whispered, ‘so Dad won't see them if he comes out of the bus.'

We slipped along the fence and around into the back yard.

‘There's a spare key hidden here.'

Sophie rolled aside a rock that lay near the back door. Under it, poked into the ground, was a key. She pulled it out and dusted it off, then slotted it into the lock. The back door swung open.

We crept through the laundry and into the hallway. Sophie led the way toward her bedroom. We didn't take any chances,
tiptoeing until the door of Sophie's bedroom was shut behind us.

‘Phew.' Sophie slumped down onto her bed.

I sat in the chair in front of her desk. From there, I could see the old yellow bus parked out near the street. The door was closed. Mr Knight was inside. We were safe, for now.

‘So where could he be?' Sophie asked finally.

‘He's in the bus,' I told her.

‘Not my dad —
Michael
! He can't have just disappeared. Where has he gone?'

I shook my head. Who would want him? Mum and Dad weren't rich; they wouldn't be able to pay a ransom. The only reason anyone would kidnap him was because of me. But I wasn't going to suggest
that
again.

‘It's something to do with you,' said Sophie suddenly. ‘It's because you're a zombie.'

‘A half zombie,' I corrected her, relieved she finally thought the same as I did.

Most people don't know there's a difference between a full zombie and a half zombie, but there is, and it's a
big
one.

Full-zombie

A full zombie attacks people. It's driven by an uncontrollable instinct to kill. But a half zombie resists the urge to eat brains. Even though sometimes I've felt like doing it, I haven't attacked anyone. Yet. ‘I wonder why . . .' I began.