Zombiefied! Read Online Free Page A

locker door and rummaged around inside, waiting for him to leave.
    He stood there watching me until I’d grabbed a couple of books and closed the door again.
    â€˜Off you go,’ he said, still glaring at me. ‘And don’t forget: detention in my room after school.’
    I had no choice. I had to go to class.
    The rest of the afternoon dragged. By the time we were in History, our last class of the day, I was sick of being angry at Sophie. I threw her a note:

    She threw one back:

    I wrote:

    I heard her gasp when she opened it. A minute later, another tiny wad of paper hit my back. When the teacher wasn’t looking, I picked it up.

    Detention was always held in Mr Slender’s room. Nobody knew why he always supervised detention, but I’m pretty sure it was because he enjoyed watching people suffer.
    I sat at the back of the room, watching the hands of the clock inching around, and secretly reading the emergency zombie comic I kept in my bag. It was an old copy of Worm Eaten, which was one of my all-time favourites. I was supposed to be doingmy homework, but, really, what was the point? I mean, it’s not like I’d be doing my homework at home if I was there!
    Mr Slender sat at the front of the room, watching us from under his eyelids. Occasionally, some kid would think he was asleep and whisper to the person beside them. These kids had obviously never been in detention before. They didn’t know that with Mr Slender, if you made one false move, you got a bit of chalk thrown at your head. Or, if you were really unlucky, the duster.
    Finally, the clock struck four. Just to be extra mean, Mr Slender pretended to keep sleeping. At five past four, he opened his eyes.
    â€˜I hope never to see any of you in here again,’ he said, which was the line he always used at the end of detention.
    I rushed out as fast as I could. Sophiewas sitting on the floor near the lockers. She stood up as I walked over to her, while the other kids ran past me to freedom.
    â€˜How come you had detention?’ she asked.
    â€˜Long story,’ I said. ‘I think it would be easier if I just showed you.’
    I glanced around. The place looked deserted. I grabbed Sophie’s arm and pulled her into the smaller hallway, toward the old staircase.
    â€˜Where are we going?’ she asked.
    â€˜You’ll see,’ I said.
    We stopped outside the toilets.
    â€˜You’re not going to make me go into the boys’ loos, are you?’ She looked around as I fiddled with the panel that opened to the janitor’s storeroom.
    I was worried someone would come down the hallway and see us. I couldpretend I was coming out of the toilets, but Sophie couldn’t. The girls’ bathroom was in a completely different part of the building.
    â€˜You wait in here,’ I said, opening the door to the boys’ toilets and pushing her inside. ‘It’ll look suspicious if anyone sees you down here.’
    â€˜I can’t go in there!’
    â€˜Don’t worry,’ I told her. ‘No one will know.’
    Sophie started to say something, then she caught sight of a urinal. ‘Yuck! Is that what I think it is?’
    I nodded. ‘Yup.’
    â€˜But . . . but . . . everyone can see you! That’s disgusting!’

    I left Sophie staring in horror at the urinal while Islipped back out into the hallway. I searched around the panel for a while before I found a tiny catch on one side. The metal was stiff, but finally it clicked beneath my finger. The door creaked open.
    I poked my head back into the toilets. ‘C’mon,’ I said to Sophie.
    She looked happy to be getting out of there.
    Sophie followed me into the hallway, and looked at the open panel in surprise.
    â€˜I didn’t even know this was here,’ she said.
    â€˜Me neither,’ I said. ‘But that’s not the really weird thing. Check this out.’ I stepped inside the cupboard and began poking