The End: Surviving the Apocalypse Read Online Free Page B

return address. Who would be sending her things? All her friends were online and the only address they had for her was www.ninjaofnineb.com.
    She went to her room and tore off the packaging while dinner was cooking. Inside was the book she’d ordered so long ago, she’d forgotten about it – the companion to her favorite online game: Apocalypse Z: How to Stay Alive When the Dead Rise . She was so excited about the book, she almost forgot to start her pandemic plan after eating, and then what would the Kindy Koalas do in the event of a zombie outbreak?

Chapter Five
    “Chapter five challenged you to evacuate the house with all your essentials in under a minute. My first go was ninety-three seconds but I bet I can get it lower. And wait till I finish the chapter on psychological preparation! I’ll be ultra-sane and ready for anything.”
    Q was telling Hannah all about Apocalypse Z during cooking class. They were making scones. Q was making an army of scone-dough monsters.
    “Don’t you ever just watch TV?” Hannah said. She finished her last, perfect sphere of dough. Mrs Mason walked over, took the girl’s oven tray, glared at Q and moved on.
    “I skipped through chapter four,” Q continued. “It’s not like I needed to read that one. I invented my first martial art when I was twelve. I still have a shed full of sharpened shovels.”
    “You don’t believe in all that monster stuff, do you?” Hannah asked.
    “Of course not,” Q said. “Because that would be pretty weird, and I’m sure not weird.” She finished the last tentacle and considered her mob of ghouls.
    “What happened to Rabbit and never giving up on your fate?” Hannah said.
    Q hadn’t forgotten. She had come to her senses, that was all. “He wouldn’t want someone like me,” Q said.
    “I dunno,” said Hannah. “You’re pretty weird, and he’s pretty weird. You’re a perfect match.”
    Q sighed. “Destinies are like noses, Hannah,” Q said. “People only get one. Besides, I betrayed mine a long time ago.”
    “You might have ADHD like Michael,” Hannah said. “Mum doesn’t let him have sugar any more.”
    Q grunted. She would have come back with a witty retort but couldn’t talk with the jam spoon wedged in her mouth.
    Mrs Mason returned and jabbed a finger at the miniature vampire on Q’s tray. “Do you think that’s suitable for a kindergarten class?” she asked.
    Q swallowed her mouthful of jam. “I considered that, Mrs Mason. That’s why I’ve given the vampire a row of lower teeth as well as fangs. If he bites anyone, he’ll leave a happy face in their jugular.”
    The teacher grunted. “Mr Macklin said he’d asked you to help on the pandemic plan. I had hoped it meant you were finally taking this placement seriously.”
    “Yes, Mrs Mason.” As the woman turned to go, Q picked up one of her dough creatures and waved it at her back. “Grr! Argh!”
    The bell rang. The class packed up their things to go and Q began wiping down the tables in the wet area, knocking her bag from the back of a chair. The Apocalypse Z book slipped out and fell to the floor. Q retrieved it before Mrs Mason could confiscate it. She read the motto printed beneath the title.
    Never give up.
    It was what she always told the Lethal Littlies. What would they say if they saw her standing alone in the middle of a deserted kitchen classroom, passively watching her second chance at fate walk away? Probably they’d say something like, “You’ve got jam on your face,” but that wasn’t the point. If there was one thing Q hated, it was a quitter. And if there was a second thing she hated, it was a hypocrite.
    She picked up her bag. “You’re right, Apocalypse Z ,” Q said. “There’s something I need to do.”
    *
    “Whatcha you doing in there, Quinny? You’ve been locked up all night.”
    Her father stood in the doorway of the study, a glass of scotch in one hand, the other pressed against the doorframe to steady