chapter Thirty - five
I continued ducking behind tables, narrowly escap-ing detection by the zombies, but time was running out. In a few moments there would be no tables left to duck behind.
Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide.
I reached the wall. The zombies inched closer. It was time to make a stand.
I stood up.
"Over here," I called. I meant to say it loudly, bravely, but my quaking words were a near whisper.
"Mmmm." The zombie moan was a few feet away.
"Hhh!" I let out a tiny, involuntary gasp. The zombie six feet from me spun around. "Here I am," I said with a bit more conviction.
The uberzombie quickly closed the distance between us and corralled me with arms heavy like cement.
I punched him in the nose.
"Yeee!" he screamed, but he didn't let go. His grip was unrelenting.
The rap on the nose didn't work on uberzombies, I guessed. "Way to go, Principal Tart," I said out loud. He had beaten me.
The uberzombie's mouth opened hungrily. His lips moved in, and his rancid breath drifted up my nostrils, attacking my senses. The end was near. This time for sure.
When I become a zombie. I'll find Sybil, and well roam the school together, best friends forever.
I consoled myself with the peace in that thought. The room began to spin as the zombie's saliva trickled down my shoulder Then his icy teeth touched my flesh.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something zipping across the room at a tremendous speed. It hit us with fierce intensity. I went sprawling to the floor, but the thing had latched onto the zombie, and they went airborne, traveling twenty feet through the air before crashing into a wall. They slid to the floor. The thing rose, standing over the zombie. It let out a ferocious wail. "Aiiiiiiiuii!"
The thing was Sybil. Her complexion was kelly green, her rage-filled eyes a crimson sea.
Slowly, the uberzombie got up. He was joined by the others. Sybil bared her zombie teeth as they surrounded her. Not once did she look in my direction, but I knew I had been right. Even as a zombie, she wouldn't attack me. Her sense memories were of an abiding friendship that would last forever.
As the uberzombies moved in, she crouched low, like a lioness ready to pounce. I didn't wait to see the fight. I understood what I needed to do. Sybil had saved me so that I could save her. I slipped out of the cafeteria. The attack was vicious--growls and screams, and the sound of ripping flesh.
I cried like a baby as I headed for the subbasement. Moving
away from the ferocious battle, I thought of all the wonderful things Sybil had done for me over the years. But this took the cake. My throat ached as 1 sobbed out loud. I did not look back.
I pulled open the door leading to the subbasement The moment I did, I heard the most unwelcome sound. More zombies. Loud zombie moans and shrieks were coming from down the stairs. 1 peered down the darkened staircase. There must be hundreds of them down there, I thought. Then I remembered Sybil, and started down.
I reached the bottom. Before me lay a long, narrow corridor with deeply creviced walls. The corridor, lit only by a few low-wattage bulbs, was empty.
"Woooooeeeeeohh!" A zombie wailed from somewhere up ahead. My legs were shaking as I continued in the direction of the sound. There was a door at the end. The boiler room.
The sounds were getting louder.
"Where are they?" I whispered. It was as if the corridor was crawling with zombies, and yet I didn't see any.
"Ooooooooh!" I jumped. The sound was just above me. I looked up and spotted the ventilating duct vent. The zombie moans and cries were carrying from upstairs through the duct. There were no zombies here.
"Oh, my goodness," I whispered as I slumped against the wall. I let out a long, slow sigh of relief. I was safe ... for now.
I reached the door at the end of the corridor. A sign on the old metal door read:
BOILER ROOM
Custodial Staff Only!
I held my breath, and pushed in.
The boiler room was as dimly lit as the corridor. As I entered, I was assailed by the dank and pungent odor of mold and mildew.
Baron and Milton were seated in folding chairs across the room in front of the huge metal boiler. They didn't see me at first, but as I stepped into the room, their heads lifted. Slowly, both boys rose. Baron's lips parted.
"Hello, beautiful."
I couldn't believe my ears.
"What are you doing here?" chimed Milton.
My eyes widened. "You're not zombies. You're not zombies!" I cried as my heart sang out with relief. I raced across the room, threw my arms around Milton, who was the closest to me, and hugged him.
"Get offa me!" he squawked. "Of course we're not zombies." He pushed me away.
"Is someone gonna hug me?" Baron asked.
I looked into his smiling eyes and threw my arms around him.
"That's what I'm talkin' about," he said, grinning. I thought I'd never see that smile again.
"What are you doing here?" Milton again.
"I came for the antidote. What are you doing here?"
Baron explained that when Principal Taft stumbled upon their lab, he was so happy to discover what they were doing, he officially enlisted them to create the new antidote. He brought them here, where they could work undetected.
"So, you're not prisoners?" I said.
"Course not. We're free as birds. We go home every night," said Milton.
"And every day we work on the new antidote. It'll be ready in a few days," added Baron.
"We don't have that long," I said gravely. "Besides, as soon as you give him the antidote, he's going to turn you into zombies."
I told them the entire story. "He doesn't want to turn the students back. That would spoil his plan. The only reason he wants an antidote is insurance in case he ever needs it."
As the meaning behind what I'd said sank in, Baron and Milton started getting angry.
Milton pounded his fists into his thighs. "He suckered us!" he snapped. "I told you not to trust him!"
"No, you didn't. You said he was going to make us superstars."
"0h. Right. Dude, if only the original antidote had worked, we would be superstars."
"Maybe it did." The words drifted up from deep in my soul. Baron and Milton turned to me, and I spoke the truth I'd been hanging on to for so long. "You were right. I didn't use it on Dirk."
"I knew it!" cried Milton, jumping up and down.
"Chill, dude!" A stunned Baron turned to me. "Why?" he asked. "I trusted you."
"I know." I heard the betrayal in his voice, and wished I could hide somewhere under a rock.
"I was afraid if Dirk turned back he wouldn't be my boyfriend anymore. I'm so sorry." My voice cracked, and yet there was a welcome weightlessness about me as I unburdened myself with the truth.
"It's okay!" Baron said tenderly.
"No, it's not okay!" Milton blurted. "We could have been heroes already."
"He's right. I betrayed your trust," I said.
Baron looked into my eyes and nodded. "Yes, you did," he said. "But it sounds like you've been beating yourself up over this. No sense in us beating you up, too."
"It was so stupid of me. The boy of my dreams was right in front of me, and I was wasting my time trying to be like ... Amanda."
Baron perked up. "Boy of your dreams? Who's that?"
"Who do ya think?" I held my breath, looked into his gorgeous hazel eyes, waiting for a response.
A Cheshire cat grin appeared on his face. "Moi?" he asked.
I nodded. "I'm really sorry, Baron."
"I forgive you."
"Well, I don't!" Milton screeched.
"Milton! Can't you see me and Margot are having a moment here?" His eyes bored into Milton. It was probably the harshest he'd ever sounded to his friend. Milton quieted.
He turned back to me. "He forgives you, too. He's just having a hard time showing it right now."
"You held Sybil's hand," I suddenly said. The hurt I'd felt seeing them that day in the pit room was still there.
Baron's grin turned sheepish. "Just trying to get your attention, beautiful"
"Well, you got it," I said. I moved in and kissed him on the mouth--and he kissed back. His lips were warm and soft against mine. My first real kiss, with a boy I cared about. My heart fluttered ... fortunately my stomach did not.
Thunk... Thunk...
Someone was knocking at the boiler room door. We three faced the door and realized it wasn't knocking. Zombies were throwing their bodies against the door. The zombies had found us.
"Do you have any more of the original antidote?" I asked, hoping Principal Taft had lied.
"Yeah, plenty," said Milton.
"Great! Excellent! If we can squirt it into their mouths, we can turn them back to normal."
"We don't even know if it works," said Baron.
"I believe in it. I believe in you." I turned to Milton. "Where is it?"
"At home."
"Dude!" cried Baron.
Milton stamped his foot like a child. "She said it didn't work!"
"Are you sure you have a four-point-oh GPA?" asked Baron.
"She said it didn't work!" Milton squawked.
Thunk... Thunk...
"Guys, pretty soon they're going to figure out how to open that door. We've gotta get out of here."
"There is no other way out," said Milton. He stared at the door.
I looked up. In the wall, high above us, was the grate to the ventilation duct.
"Yes, there is." I climbed up onto a chair. As I began fiddling with the grate over the duct, my ankle roared with pain. "I need some help here."
"Manual labor is not my thing," said Milton.
Baron sighed. "We should leave him behind." He got on the chair, standing next to me. The touch of his skin against mine sent waves of icy chills dancing along my arms, giving me gooseflesh. His touch was electric.
How come I never noticed it before?
He removed the grate. It dropped to the floor with a loud clang.
"Now what?" called Milton, eyeing the opening in the wall with trepidation.
"We exit through the ventilating ducts," I replied.
"We don't know what's in there. We don't even know where it goes." Milton's eyes were still on the opening.
Thunk...
The door was starting to give.
"You're right, Milton," I said, a soft urging in my voice. "But it's our only chance. If we stay, the zombies will get us. But if we're able to get to the antidote, you'll be a hero."
He brightened a little.
"I guess," he said. He still wasn't certain about my plan. But we had to try it.
Baron helped me into the duct. Then he and Milton shimmied in after me. The zombie sounds were louder here, as if the ducts were teeming with zombies. But I knew better ... at least, I hoped I did.