chapter Nine
I could hardly believe my eyes. The place was crawl-crawling with zombies. Zombies. It was a ridiculous thing to imagine, something out of a horror flick, and yet it seemed to be true.
"There's so many of them,"Sybil whispered.
It was then I noticed the zombies moving sluggishly through the halls were still among their normal circle of friends: popular zombies, Goth zombies, nerd zombies, all roaming in their close-knit groups.
"They're still hanging in their cliques," I said.
"I can see that." There was a hint of outrage in Sybil's voice. "Being a zombie hasn't changed anything around here."
"I guess not."
Isolated screams erupted from all parts of the building as the remaining living students were set upon by the zombies. I saw a lone student in the stairwell under attack by stoner nerd zombies. We passed a classroom where a teacher was struggling on the floor beneath a horde of loser zombies. I surmised
that after you were attacked by a clique, you became a card-carrying member of that clique.
I glanced at Sybil. Fear was once again rising in her eyes. "They're turning everyone into zombies," she said.
"Not us. We just need to stay together and stick with the plan," I whispered. "Act like them." 1 began walking like a zombie toward the south exit.
"Where are you going?" Sybil called. Her voice rang out in the corridor.
Slowly the zombies turned their attention to her.
"Stop talking! Moan, zombie walk, and follow me," I whispered out of the corner of my mouth.
Sybil stared at me with a faraway look in her eyes. My words weren''t making any sense to her. Her sanity was slipping away. More zombies emerged from their catatonic state and began slowly advancing on her.
"Oh, my!" She gasped.
"Don't panic. Put a vacant stare on your face and zombie walk."
The zombies were getting closer.
I continued zombie walking toward the exit door as a pack of nerd zombies advanced on Sybil. I have to let her go r I thought. There is no way I'm going to let them turn me into a nerd.
Visions of Amanda snubbing me in the bathroom flashed through my mind. The nerve of her! She didn't want the Twigettes to bite, me because I would have become an it-girl zombie. Even as a zombie, she couldn't stand for that to happen. I made up my mind right then that if the it-girls didn't bite me, there was no way I was settling for a bite from a lesser zombie.
I continued putting distance between myself, Sybil, and
the zombies. I glanced back and saw her frozen to the spot, practically surrounded by snarling, moaning zombies--Goth zombies, loser zombies.
Uh-uhl No way! I do not want to become a Goth--although, black is slimming.
Yet as peeved as I was with Sybil over the Dirk thing, I knew I couldn't just walk away. We'd come too far together for me to do that.
'Oh, all right!" I said with a sigh.
Stiffly, I walked back toward the pack of zombies that surrounded her. I pushed past an emo zombie, took Sybil's hand, and yanked her along.
"You do not want that emo to bite you. You hate that kind of music." Sybil nodded. I didn't know if I was getting through to her, but she allowed me to pull her along. The zombies followed. "Zombie walk, Sybil. It's our only chance."
That seemed to snap her out of her fog, and she began walking stiffly beside me, shuffling her feet. She glanced back over her shoulder. "They're still following us."
"That's because you're not acting like a zombie. Put a vacant stare on your face, as if someone just told a joke and you have no idea what they're talking about."
Her face contorted. "Is this vacant enough?"
"No, you look annoyed."
More zombies joined the group following us. They seemed to be coming from everywhere.
"Think back to chemistry class. Remember the look on my face the first time I saw the periodic table of elements?"
Sybil thought for a moment, then her face went blank. "Like this?"
"Yes, exactly! Now just keep walking Not too fast." A
part of me wanted to run. But how far would we get? Zombies
were coming at us from every direction. Our only chance was to fool them into believing we were zombies like them. If that didn't work, we were about to join the living dead.
Just then the PA system squawked.
"Hellooo, and a fabulous Friday morning to the Knights of Salesian High." Principal Taft's morning announcement echoed throughout the school.
The zombies around us all stopped as if they were listening. Sybil and I were forgotten. We reached the exit door.
"They're not going to attack," Sybil said. She stood stone-still, keeping her face expressionless, and spoke softly. "We need to zombie walk out of here and right to the police station."
"Not yet. I'm not going anywhere until I find out why Principal Taft is normal like us. Maybe he knows something," I started zombie walking away from the exit. "You coming?"
"Where?" Her voice was filled with trepidation.
"To Principal Taft's office. There's someone in this school who doesn't seem to be afraid of the zombies, and I'd like to know why."