Zombiekins 2(14)

And now, after all they had shared together, his toy had done this to Knuckles. Stanley felt like he was going to be sick . . . .

But suddenly a jolt of terror brought him to his senses. He had to get out of there, and fast—before the same thing happened to him!

He turned to flee—but the door creaked open behind him with a blinding flash that froze him to the spot!





21



“THERE YOU ARE. I’VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER for you.”

When Stanley’s eyes blinked back into focus, Miranda was standing in the doorway with her hand on the light switch.

“Don’t come in!” he warned her. “Run! Save yourself!”

“What are you talking about?” Miranda asked.

“Look. . .” Stanley said, pointing to the gaping cadaver in the corner. But he couldn’t bear to look himself.

“Yeah, so?” Miranda said. “What’s the big deal?”

“WHAT’S THE BIG DEAL?!?” Stanley gasped. “How can you SAY such a thing? I mean, I know you never liked him, but—”

“What are you talking about?” Miranda asked.

“What am I talking about?” Stanley shouted. He never expected Miranda could be so coldhearted. “Just look at him!”

That’s when he happened to sneak a peek over his shoulder himself. . . .

Oops.

It wasn’t Knuckles after all. It was only Cross-Section Guy from Health Class.

Stanley felt pretty foolish.

“Er, yeahhhhhh, just look at him,” he repeated, trying to cover up his mistake. “I mean, look what somebody did to his vitals.”





Cross-Section Guy had a brain jammed into his stomach cavity, a clump of intestines spilling out of his skull, and a balled-up pair of old gym socks where his heart should’ve been.

“Whatever,” Miranda said, like she wasn’t going to waste her time arguing with a nutcase. “Hurry up. We better check on Felicity.”

Miranda tossed him his backpack—typically she had thought to bring it along—and together they headed for the school cafeteria.

“What were you crawling around in the dark for anyway?” Miranda asked as they weaved through the lunchtime crowds.

“Um, no reason,” Stanley mumbled.





22





THE LUNCHROOM WAS FULL BY THE TIME STANLEY and Miranda arrived, but they had no trouble finding Felicity. She was sitting in front of a huge mound of food and a crowd of classmates were gathered around, watching her stuff one sandwich from the pile after another into her mouth: bologna, egg salad, peanut butter and jam, liverwurst and grape jelly . . . .

Kathleen and Fiona kept bringing more food and Felicity kept wolfing it down. She leaned forward and gobbled a tray of cold french fries without using her hands, like a pig rooting in a trough. She crunched and swallowed a turkey leg, bones and all. She tipped back a carton of coffee creamer and emptied it in a few gulps. Then she ate the carton.

Stanley and Miranda sat at a corner table by themselves. But when Stanley went to take out his lunch, there was nothing in his bag except the Widow’s taffy. He had been so busy disposing of the evidence of Fetch’s crime spree that morning, he must have forgotten to pack a lunch.

“Great,” Stanley muttered. “First I accidentally turn Felicity into a zombie, now this.”

“Listen, I’ve been thinking this over,” said Miranda. “I bet this is all part of some game. You know how some dolls cry, or pee, or call you Mommy? Well, this one turns you into a zombie. It’s supposed to be just for fun. ”

“You think so?” Stanley asked.

“I’m sure of it,” Miranda insisted. “And if I’m right, then there has to be some antidote that will turn Felicity back to normal once the game is over.”

“Great!” Stanley said. “But how do we find out what it is?”

“Didn’t the Widow say Zombiekins came with instructions? There must be something about the antidote in there.”

Stanley gulped a piece of unchewed taffy down the wrong way.





“Um . . . er . . . yeah . . . uhhhhhhh . . . ” he explained.

“Don’t tell me you threw away the instructions? Oh, Stanley . . . ”

“How was I supposed to know it turned kids into insatiable monsters?”

Over at Felicity’s table, Butch handed Kathleen something blue and hairy in a plastic bag.

“I found this at the back of my desk!” he announced. “I think it’s from first term!”





Kathleen took the hairy blue sandwich from the bag and held it up with two fingers. Felicity craned forward like a baby bird and snatched it out of Kathleen’s hand, accidentally nipping her finger, then gulped it down without chewing. (The sandwich, not the finger.)