Outbreak (9 page)

We walked on in silence for a while. Through some of the doorways on either side, I could make out the dark shapes of old furniture. A few of the rooms seemed to lead to other hallways and I had the creepy feeling that someone might jump out from one of them and attack us.

Just as this exact thought crossed my mind,
someone jumped out from inside one of them and attacked us!

I shoved Sophie behind me and spun around to confront our attacker. The figure came at me with their hands up, fingers
spread wide as if to grab me. This was no zombie — they glowed bright orange in my infrared vision, which meant they were warmblooded: human.

I ducked, slipping around behind them.

It had to be a member of HAZMAT. But it wasn't Mr Knight, so who was it?

The attacker turned to face me again, weaving from side to side. They wore a strange helmet and over their arms and legs they had some sort of armour, like an exoskeleton. But beneath it, their clothes stuck out. The shirt and trousers looked familiar.

‘Mr Slender, is that you?!' Was he a member of HAZMAT? That would explain why he'd chased us!

‘You wanna bite, don't ya?' snarled Slender, shoving his arm in my face. ‘You wanna taste this?'

The normal, boring teacher I'd known for years was gone. Suddenly, I missed him.

‘No thanks,' I pushed his arm away. Why was he doing this? It was embarrassing for both of us.

He pulled off his helmet and kept dancing around like a boxer, jabbing at me with his fists.

‘I don't want to hurt you,' I said honestly.

‘C'mon, zombie! I know you like the taste of sweet, sweet flesh!'

Sweet, sweet flesh? Gross! I dodged his fist. ‘I'm not hungry right now,' I said, trying to calm him down. But it only seemed to make him madder.

‘You're not hungry
right now
, hey? You wanna save me up for later, Brain Muncher?'
His eyes flickered to Sophie. ‘Already got your next victim lined up?'

‘Sophie?' He must be joking.

‘I've been watching you,' Mr Slender continued. ‘I knew it was you all along! First you infected the dogs and then Mr Crumpet.'

‘What?' This guy had it all wrong!

‘And now you've attacked your own brother! Well, not on my watch! It stops here, Brain Muncher . . . it all stops here!'

I dodged a few more punches. ‘I thought we'd locked you out!'

‘Ha! I nipped back through the school. There's another entrance to these hidden rooms and I've been exploring them for years,
using them to find out all your dark secrets, just waiting for you to make the wrong move.'

Trying to convince him I wasn't evil didn't seem to be working, but if he'd been sneaking around the school all this time, maybe he'd discovered something about the real Lurker.

I decided to play along. ‘OK! OK! So you've figured out my secret!'

‘Ha!' he cried triumphantly. ‘I knew it!'

‘But I bet you haven't found my lair . . .' I dodged another punch as Sophie gave me a puzzled look.

‘Oh! Yes I have, Brain Muncher!' shouted Mr Slender with pride. ‘I found that months ago.'

‘I don't believe it . . .' I said, wondering if he would fall for it. I added my best evil laugh: ‘MWAHAHA!'

He came at me again with both arms swinging. I ducked then moved sideways. My reactions were so much faster than his and my eyesight so much better that he didn't have a chance. Still, I wanted him to tell me everything he knew about the real Lurker, so I let him think he was wearing me down.

‘I bet you thought it was a funny place to keep your victims!' Mr Slender said.

‘Where? I doubt you even know,' I said, dodging another blow.

‘Ha! You wish! I've known about that lair of yours ever since I discovered the bones of one of your victims there! It's—'

There was a sudden flash of movement.

Slender crumpled before my eyes.

Sophie stood behind him with the metal torch raised above her head, ready to hit him again.

‘You were taking too long,' she said simply. ‘My parents' lives are at stake here!'

‘Right,' I said, silently vowing never to get in her way again.

Mr Slender was out cold but breathing steadily. We dragged him into one of the side rooms and shut the gate, locking him in.

We set off again, but before we'd gone far, the hallway ended in a T-junction.

‘Which way?' asked Sophie. We peered first down the right-hand corridor, then the left. They both looked the same to me.

‘Look!' said Sophie suddenly. She shone the torch on the wooden floor a short distance down the left hallway. Something sparkled in the faint, red beam.

‘Glitter!' I breathed. We both knew what that meant: Michael had been here.

We turned left and continued on. Once more, gas lanterns lit the way. It was too light for infrared so I switched back to normal vision.

Here, more doorways lined the walls. Up ahead, the lanterns were clustered around one particular doorway.

When we approached, a strange sight greeted our eyes as a weak voice sobbed, ‘Thank goodness you're here!'

Mr Bill stood behind a barred gate. His face was very pale and his hair stuck out in all directions. ‘You need to call the police!' he said desperately.

‘Who did this to you?' I asked. Who would kidnap a helpless old man?

‘Don't go through there!' cried the headmaster, pointing to an old door set into the opposite wall of the corridor. ‘There's someone . . .
something
in
there! It's not human! It's not right in the head!' He tapped his temple meaningfully before suddenly singing:

Sophie and I exchanged a worried look.

‘I think he's gone a bit nuts,' Sophie whispered. She gazed at the door he'd pointed to. I knew what she was thinking: what could be behind it? What had tipped the headmaster over the edge?

‘We need to get him out of here,' I told her in a low voice, although there was no danger that Mr Bill would hear us; he had wandered over to the back wall of his cell and seemed to be talking to the bricks.

‘Do you think that's a good idea?' asked Sophie worriedly. ‘What if he gets lost in the hallways?'

‘I'll be able to find him,' I told her. Trailing someone was easy with my zombie sense of smell. ‘He'll be safer out of this cell. He's a sitting duck if the Lurker finds him here. There's the key,' I added, pointing to where it hung on a hook in the wall.

Sophie pulled it off and inserted it into the lock. ‘Come on, Mr Bill.'

But the headmaster didn't seem to want to leave his prison. He
clutched the bars and moaned, ‘It's not safe! It's not safe!'

I unhooked his fingers one at a time and Sophie pulled him out. He was
very weak
and collapsed to the floor a few times before I managed to prop him upright.
I turned him toward the hallway we'd just come along.

‘Here,' said Sophie. She switched on the torch and thrust it into the
headmaster's hands. ‘Follow the light.'

Mr Bill gazed at the red beam in amazement. ‘There it is! Look!' he cried, pointing to the round patch of light on the floor. ‘I'll catch it!' He scurried after the red light then stopped in confusion when it moved forward too. ‘Come back here! Come here!'

He ran forward again, chasing the beam, until he rounded a corner and was gone.

‘I hope he'll be OK,' muttered Sophie.

I silently agreed, wondering if we'd done the right thing. But there was no time to worry about that now. We had to find my
family. And that meant we had to face whatever waited behind the door. ‘Are you ready?' I turned to Sophie.

She nodded.

Together, we pushed it. The door swung open silently on well-oiled hinges.

We stepped through the doorway and into the Gallery of Portraits. Behind us, the picture of William Seabrook swung back into place.

‘I can't believe it!' Sophie whispered, staring at the portrait. ‘The painting is a secret door!'

I examined the gilt frame. A tiny section of it doubled as a latch. I guessed this was how Slender had found his way around to us when we'd locked him out at the other staircase.

‘But where do we go from here?' I asked. I'd been hoping the hallway would lead us to my brother. But now we were back at square one.

‘Isn't it obvious?' asked Sophie. She led me around a corner then waved toward a familiar pair of doors. They were shut, but a faint beam of light crept out from under them.

Sick bay.

Could it really be the Lurker's lair?

‘On the count of three,' I whispered as we crept forward and stood, side-by-side, both of us with a hand on one of the doors.

‘One . . . two . . . three . . .'

Sick bay looked exactly as it had earlier that day.

Except for one thing: there were people tied down to the beds.

‘Mum! Dad!' screamed Sophie. She raced across to where the Knights lay next to each other.

‘Sophie!' Mrs Knight sobbed. ‘What are you doing here? It's not safe, you can't—'

‘It's OK. I'm with Ben!' Sophie fumbled with the heavy, stiff ropes.

‘What?!' screamed Mrs Knight. ‘He's a . . . he's one of
them!
'

But I was too relieved to see my own family to be worried about what Mrs Knight was saying.

Mum looked like she was going to cry when I ran to her. Thick ropes bound her wrists and ankles, but luckily she didn't seem to be injured.

I immediately started trying to untie her.

‘Dude!' It was Michael. He lay on the bed between our parents. ‘Did you follow the glitter?'

I nodded.

‘Mum and Dad did too, when they came looking for us! What did I tell you? Glitter's awesome!'

‘Are you OK, Ben?' Dad asked me. His face was pale and tense. I guessed he was pretty worried.

‘I'm fine,' I told him. ‘Let's get you guys untied and get out of here.'

Mum and Dad exchanged a glance. ‘I don't think it's going to be as easy as all that. There's somebody here who thinks . . . well, that . . .'

‘They're a zombie?'

‘You know?' Mum sounded confused. I took a deep breath. There was no easy way to say it but I guessed it was time to
tell my parents the truth. ‘Mum, Dad, this might come as a shock, but
I'm
a zombie.'

There were a few seconds of silence then Mum shook her head. ‘Ben! Zombies aren't real! The person who kidnapped us really needs help. They're insane!'

‘Really, Mum—'

‘This isn't the time to joke around,' Dad interrupted. ‘It isn't funny, Ben. We're in actual danger here.'

‘I know! That's why I'm trying to untie . . .'

I stopped. There was a sound from beyond the sick bay doors. Footsteps . . .

‘Hide!' hissed Mum.

I ducked behind the nearest bed, while Sophie slipped under the table in the middle of the room.

The door swung open and a figure appeared. I tried not to gasp.