It Spells Z-O-M-B-I-E! Read online

  “Abby!” Emily said sharply. “What are you doing?”

  Abby glanced up; her pinprick pupils returned to their normal size. “I downloaded the app,” she said.

  “You what?” Emily shrieked. She lunged for Abby’s phone, but Abby was too fast.

  “Don’t you see? It’s the only way!” Abby argued. “We have to play it to figure out what it’s doing to our friends. And if I can win—if I can beat this stupid app, once and for all, maybe we can save them! Isn’t that what you want?”

  “Of course it is,” Emily snapped. “But you’re just guessing that the app will give you clues. You don’t even know if you can beat it! The stakes are too high!”

  “They’re too high not to try,” Abby shot back. “I’d do anything for Jake. And Max and—and especially Leah. Anything!”

  The fight suddenly drained out of Emily. She sat down and buried her head in her hands. “I know you would,” she whispered. “I would too. I’m just worried. What if the app changes you into a zombie?”

  Abby crossed the room and sat next to Emily on the couch. “I’m going to be extra careful,” Abby promised as she put her arm around Emily’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze. “If it looks like I’m getting close to losing, I’ll turn my phone off. I’ll destroy it if I have to.”

  The thought gave Emily a small, bright spark of hope. The others didn’t know what the app could do, she realized. But Abby does. And she can use that knowledge to protect herself.

  “Okay,” Emily finally gave in. “I don’t have any better ideas. Let’s see what this app is really about.”

  “Let’s do it,” Abby agreed. She pulled out her phone and started tapping at the screen.

  Emily didn’t really want to watch—but she couldn’t bear to look away. The app, she soon realized, was pretty different from the board game. It opened with a rotating maze—no, it was a map—and as it spun around, the path became clearer to Emily.

  The words flashed across the screen in vibrating, bright red letters.

  WE’RE WAITING FOR YOU!

  “That’s really creepy,” Emily said. “Where do you think it leads?”

  “I don’t know—but you’d have to be an idiot to follow a map in some stupid app,” Abby replied. “You couldn’t pay me to go check it out.”

  “I wonder if that’s where all those kids were headed,” Emily said.

  Abby jabbed her finger at the screen. “Enough with the stupid map,” she said impatiently. “I want to get to the game already!”

  As if on command, the map faded away, replaced by a whirling red-and-black circle. Emily blinked, and it was gone. A series of familiar yet terrible letters arranged themselves at the top of the screen: Z-O-M-B-I-E and then disappeared, leaving only spaces. The screen shifted again, this time showing Abby’s ordinary, everyday living room—with one big exception.

  There was a zombie sitting on the back of the couch, right behind them!

  The girls screamed and leaped up. Emily spun around, her heart pounding—only to discover that there was no zombie after all. It was just a special effect in the app.

  Abby burst out laughing. “For a second I believed it was real!” she babbled. “Didn’t you? I mean, it seemed so real! I was convinced there was a zombie looming over us!”

  Emily rubbed the back of her neck, which was tingling. “It was really just an effect, right?” she said. “But—is that the game? Virtual zombies sneak up on you and you have to—what?”

  “Destroy them,” Abby said confidently. “Like that loser over there!”

  Emily snuck a peek at the screen and realized that another zombie was looming in the corner. With one quick motion, Abby swiped her finger across its neck. The zombie’s head fell off. It rolled around the floor as the zombie collapsed, flickered, and disappeared.

  “Yes!” Abby shrieked in triumph. “I did it! I killed a zombie!”

  “Way to go!” Emily cheered.

  A Z was added to the first letter space at the top of Abby’s screen. Then that spinning red-and-black circle appeared again, for a moment longer this time.

  “The app must be having trouble loading,” Abby said. “Come on, come on, come on already!”

  “Over there!” Emily cried, pointing. A new zombie was lumbering in from the kitchen.

  “Pow!” Abby joked as she jabbed it with her finger. The zombie crumpled, flickered, and disappeared. The letter O was added, and then the red-and-black circle started spinning again.

  “Just when I really get into this game, it has trouble loading,” Abby complained. “I mean, what is this, the beta version or something?”

  “Are you okay?” Emily asked all of a sudden.

  Abby looked up from her phone and blinked. “Yeah. Why?”

  “Your words . . . they sounded a little slurred,” Emily said.

  “No they didn’t,” Abby said. “I’m fine. Look! Another one!”

  But Emily just couldn’t get excited about the app—not like Abby. A flood of nervous energy washed over her. She jumped up and started to pace as Abby began tapping at her phone screen again.

  “Do you have to do that?” Abby asked without looking up from the screen.

  “Do what?” asked Emily.

  “Pace around the room. It’s really distracting,” Abby replied.

  “Sorry. I’m just kind of nervous,” Emily said.

  Abby grimaced. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I forgot how much you hate zombies. This game must be torture for you.”

  “Well . . . maybe a little,” Emily replied.

  “I’ll play in my room,” Abby told her. “Just stay in the living room and chill. No need for you to worry about zombies. I’ll come back in a few.”

  “You sure?” Emily asked, unable to hide the hope in her voice.

  But Abby was already disappearing down the hall.

  In some ways, it was better when Abby was gone. Emily didn’t feel that creeping sense of doom that a zombie—even a virtual one—was lurking right behind her. But in other ways, it was much, much worse. She couldn’t stop wondering how Abby was doing in the game; she couldn’t stop worrying about Leah and Jake and Max and Veronica and who knows how many other unsuspecting kids from Riverdale Middle School.

  Emily wandered over to the window. There were more zombies—a dozen, maybe two—wandering down the street. Even behind the closed front door, she could hear their zombified moaning and groaning. Their steps were somehow both aimless and purposeful; it was almost like they were on autopilot. Like they didn’t know where they were going, but some part of them knew exactly how to get there.

  Emily suddenly remembered the map in the game. Could they—

  Then she shook her head. They don’t have their phones, she reminded herself. How can they follow a map they don’t have access to anymore?

  Unless . . . she thought slowly, unless they don’t need their phones.

  Was such a thing even possible? Had the app, somehow, burned the information into their brains so that the zombie kids didn’t even have to think about it?

  “The red circle,” Emily whispered. What if it wasn’t a signal that the game was having trouble loading?

  What if it was hypnotizing the players?

  Emily didn’t know much about hypnosis, but she knew enough to piece together what might be happening. That spinning circle could be lulling the players into a zombie stupor, taking over their brains with mind control. Maybe it could even—Emily cringed at the thought—download information directly into their brains. The map, for example. What else? Is that what made it possible for zombies to turn other people into zombies?

  If that’s the case, the app won’t need to exist for long, Emily fretted. As soon as there are enough zombies, they’ll be able to infect everyone else . . . until there’s no one left.

  Emily was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of footsteps behind her.

  “Did you beat the game, Abby?” she asked, still staring out the window. “Listen to
this—I just had the craziest thought—Abby? Is that you?”

  There was no answer.

  But the footsteps stopped.

  In the silence, Emily could hear her heartbeat thundering in her ears. “Abby?” she repeated, her voice a hoarse whisper.

  Still no answer.

  Emily forced herself to muster all her courage and turn around. She sucked in her breath. It was Abby, all right—

  Or maybe it used to be Abby—

  Because the girl standing behind Emily had gray skin, peeling scabs, and pinprick pupils—with a spinning red circle glinting in each one!

  Abby lost, Emily thought. Or maybe she never stood a chance of winning.

  But Emily didn’t have time to dwell on that. Not now, and not with what she suspected the app could really do. She pushed past Abby—Zombie Abby was a little slow at first, almost like she was still unsure about how she had changed.

  And in that regard, Emily surprised herself, too. That frozen fear, that total paralysis, vanished—just like that. Her heart was pumping hard, and all her muscles were tensed, ready to fight, ready to flee—ready to do whatever it took to survive.

  Zombie Abby snapped to attention as she got ready too. She lunged at Emily, but Emily was faster. Emily ducked away and raced into the kitchen, with Abby right behind her.

  I have to get out of here, Emily thought frantically. But the front door wasn’t safe—there was practically a parade of zombies marching down the street, and any one of them could catch her. Could transform her into—into—into one of them.

  No, the back door was her only option. At this point, all Emily could do was hope that no zombies had stumbled into Abby’s backyard. There was a forbidden shortcut through the nature preserve that would get Emily pretty close to her own house. Technically, Emily wasn’t supposed to go into the nature preserve, but would anyone know if she did? If Emily could get into the nature preserve, she’d be home in less than a minute. And then she would be safe. . . . She hoped.

  But first, Emily had to come up with a plan—and she had to protect herself. There was a small pantry next to the kitchen. She dashed into the pantry, slammed the doors, and locked them from the inside.

  The windowless pantry was pitch-black with both doors closed. Emily reached overhead for the dangling chain and pulled it, filling the small room with light. It was very quiet in there, surrounded by boxes of cereal, bags of sugar, and stacks of canned goods. I could hide in here, Emily thought suddenly. There’s enough to eat to last for a long time.

  But just as quickly, Emily dismissed the thought. How could she stay hiding in the pantry with no clue about what was going on in the real world? She had to believe that there was still a chance to stop this before it got worse. And right now, Emily was certain she knew more about what was happening than anyone else.

  Emily sighed, a long, jagged rush of air, as she paced back and forth in the small pantry. On the other side of the doors, she could hear Zombie Abby groaning and twisting the doorknobs. Think. Think. Think, Emily told herself, trying not to be distracted. Emily already knew how she would escape from Abby’s house. She’d try to get out through the back door—she was pretty fast. If she ran as hard as she could, she could scale the fence, dash through the nature preserve, and be at her own house in no time.

  But what about Abby?

  Yes, Abby was a zombie now—but she was still Emily’s friend. And she was utterly defenseless; there was nothing Abby could do to protect herself from the zombie hordes who were marching, marching, marching to—well, Emily didn’t need to know exactly where they were going to have a very bad feeling about the situation. If the zombie kids somehow took Abby away, would Emily ever be able to find her again?

  Abby has to stay in her house—for her own safety, Emily decided. If Emily could figure out what was really going on—if she could find a way to cure the zombie kids—

  Not if, when, Emily vowed. And when I do, I’ll come back for Abby, and she’ll be right here, safe and sound.

  But right where? Somewhere in the house, of course—but with all the windows on the first floor, it would be easy for the zombies to see Abby. It would even be easy for them to break a window and drag her out if they were determined enough.

  Emily glanced around the pantry. Without windows, the zombies wouldn’t know that Abby was there. But Emily wasn’t sure that she could secure the pantry doors enough to prevent Abby from leaving . . . or zombies from getting in.

  The basement! Emily suddenly thought. Why hadn’t it occurred to her sooner? The basement was the most secure place she could think of. Abby would be safe there—as safe as she could possibly be with an army of zombies on the move right outside her front door.

  Now all Emily had to do was figure out how to get Abby down to the basement. She needed a plan. She needed time.

  If there was a way to lure Abby to the basement—to trick her into going downstairs, then locking the door behind her . . . Emily thought.

  Then it hit her: She could be the lure.

  Zombie Abby wants to make me like her, Emily said. If I make her think that I’m going down to the basement . . .

  There were about a hundred things that could go wrong with Emily’s plan.

  But it was the best she could do.

  First, though, Emily had to figure out how to get out of the pantry without Abby attacking her.

  Emily tiptoed across the pantry floor and pressed her ear against the door. She could hear . . . nothing. It was strangely silent. She hadn’t noticed that Abby must have given up on trying to get into the pantry.

  But that didn’t mean Abby wasn’t waiting quietly just outside the door. Emily would just have to take a risk—and face the consequences either way.

  Emily would face them prepared. She scoured the pantry shelves for something, anything, she could use to protect herself. If Emily chose the wrong door—if Zombie Abby lunged at her—

  Well, the least Emily could do was be ready.

  The only problem was that the pantry was not exactly set up for self-defense—let alone fighting zombies. The best Emily could do was a box of cereal in one hand and a can of soup in the other. It was so pathetic she almost laughed out loud—she could so clearly imagine cracking up with Abby over this—

  Later, she promised herself. Emily needed to believe that there would be a time when this nightmare had faded to a distant memory, and she and Abby could laugh about it. Together.

  Emily approached the door. Her shaking hand reached for the doorknob. She twisted it slowly, hoping it wouldn’t squeak or creak or make any sound at all. Then, inch by inch, Emily eased open the door—

  And stared straight into Abby’s red-ringed eyes!

  Quick as a flash, Emily averted her gaze. She knew that nothing good could come of making eye contact with Abby—not now. Not when her pupils were contracted to miniscule black dots in the middle of her unblinking eyes.

  Abby let out a terrible sound, a choking sort of gurgle deep in her throat, as she lunged at Emily. But Emily was ready for her. She flung the box of cereal at Abby; hundreds of pieces of puffed rice flew through the air and pelted Abby in the face. Zombie Abby was caught off guard. She stumbled backward, swatting at her face as she doubled over. It was clear that she didn’t even have enough brain function left to know what was going on. From the way Abby responded, Emily might as well have loosened a hive of angry bees at her.

  It would’ve been heartbreaking to witness if Emily didn’t have so many other worries pressing on her. She darted out of the pantry, pushing past Abby and running through the house until she reached the entrance to the basement. Emily paused for a moment, listening, then she opened the basement door and dropped the can of soup.

  Thunk.

  Thunk.

  Thunk.

  The can of soup rolled down the stairs, one step at a time. It sounded for all the world like someone descending the staircase.

  Zombie Abby must’ve thought so too.

  Emily cou
ld hear Abby’s footsteps crunching over the puffed rice cereal as she approached. Emily braced herself, ready to bolt.

  Steady, she told herself. Steady.

  Then Zombie Abby turned the corner and spotted Emily. She immediately started moving faster—every fiber of Emily’s body wanted to run, wanted to hide, but she forced herself to stand there, unmoving, unflinching, ready for whatever happened next.

  Abby was just inches away—

  Was reaching for her—

  In one fast, sudden motion Emily ducked under Abby’s outstretched arm. Abby was unable to grab Emily and instead kept moving down into the basement. On the top stair, Zombie Abby turned around, perhaps realizing that she had missed her target—but it was too late. Abby slammed the door shut.

  And locked it.

  A nervous laugh escaped Emily’s lips; she could hardly believe it had worked! But the door was locked, she checked and double-checked just to make sure. Abby would be safe from the other zombies until Emily could come back for her.

  Slam!

  All of a sudden, the door shook. Zombie Abby, on the other side of it, seemed to have figured out what Emily had done. And it was clear she would try anything to escape.

  Slam!

  “I’m sorry, Abby,” Emily called through the door. “I’ll be back for you as soon as I can. I promise.”

  Slam!

  Emily took that as her cue to get out of there—fast. She dashed through the house as Abby continued to throw herself against the basement door. A brief worry flickered through Emily’s head. What if the door didn’t hold? What if Abby was able to escape, after all?

  The thought only made Emily run faster.

  Before she burst into the backyard, though, Emily pressed her face against the window and scanned the area for zombies. She didn’t see anyone outside. There was just a tall oak tree, its blazing crimson leaves fluttering in the wind before they drifted, one by one, to the ground.

  How could it be such a beautiful day when the whole world was falling apart?

  After another minute, Emily was convinced that the coast was clear. She shoved open the back door, stepped into the sunshine, and started to run. Fifty feet to the fence—