Read Online Undead (9780545473460) by Kirsty McKay - Free Book Online Page A

was quiet. Apart from a hissing noise: the deep fryers, I think, or maybe water running in the kitchen.” His face gets a dreamy look. “It was rather lovely, actually.”
    â€œOh, idyllic.” Smitty swoons.
    â€œThen what?” I lean forward.
    â€œThen I walked out into the café.” He blinks. “And there they all were, lying across the tables. Completely still. Like Mr. Taylor.” He swallows, and I watch the white lump in his throat move up and down, barely covered by his weird, translucent skin. “Like everyone had fallen asleep.”
    â€œIt must have been terrifying,” I say.
    â€œNo!” His eyes flash and the corners of his mouth turn up in a slow smile. “It was wonderful! They were lying there, helpless. Imagine it . . .” He leans close. “I could do anything! They couldn’t stop me!”
    â€œYou are a real head case, Petey,” Smitty sighs.
    â€œUm, right,” I say to Pete. “So what did you do?”
    â€œNothing. It was only wonderful for a moment, then it
was
horrible.” He shudders. “They started waking up. Mr. Taylor first — I was standing there, watching the others, and he appeared behind me. He grabbed my shoulder. I turned around, and there he was. His face was grotesque, distorted — he was making the most unearthly sound. He caught me and pulled me toward him. His mouth was open — he was trying to bite me!”
    â€œHardcore.” I shake my head. “What did you do?”
    â€œI still had
PCWorld
in my hand. I rolled it up and shoved it in his mouth, then I ran.”
    â€œHa-ha!” Smitty laughs. “You’ve got some moves, Petey-poo.”
    â€œYou left the café?” I say.
    Pete nods. “Ran to the gas station. It was locked, so I went around the back and found the toilets.”
    Something’s not right. I look down the aisle. Alice is lying across two of the seats halfway up the bus, covered in about five ski jackets. “Did you see Alice before you left?” I whisper.
    â€œNo,” Pete replies.
    â€œShe says when she came out of the café bathrooms, only Mr. Taylor was standing. And when we looked through the binoculars, we could still see everyone lying on the tables.”
    â€œWell?”
    â€œYou said, ‘they’ started waking up.” Smitty says, catching my drift. “Who else woke up before you left?”
    Pete shifts uncomfortably. “I don’t know. I didn’t see, exactly. I just heard a noise — a groaning — coming from a direction that wasn’t Mr. Taylor.” He wrinkles his face. “Then there was a crash — like a door slamming. I didn’t stick around to find out who or where or why.”
    â€œCould it have been Alice you heard — coming out of the bathrooms?” I ask.
    â€œPossibly, if she banged the door. But I don’t think it was her groaning, unless her voice dropped a few octaves.”
    It doesn’t make sense. Alice said that everyone was passed out on the tables or on the floor. Maybe Pete was mistaken. Or maybe there was someone Alice missed, who came to life, then collapsed again? Or they’d left the building and we simply hadn’t seen them yet?
    â€œThanks for the bandage, anyway.” Pete gives me a tight smile, gets up, and walks back down the aisle.
    Smitty waits a moment. “Believe him?”
    I think about it. “Believe Alice?”
    He shrugs. “Either way, we’re stuck in a bus with a bunch of nutcases. That’s school trips for you.”
    * * *
    We take turns sleeping. I’m on first watch, too wired to rest. It’s too cold to leave the hatch open, so I don an extra fleece and ski jacket and brazen it out on the roof for an hour. The snow is light and my leg is too cold to hurt. The flames from the gas station have died down to a glow, but the acrid tang of the smoke remains. The alarm that rang out so