neither.”
“Have you seen the others?” Lydia asked. “Did Miss Edwards get away?”
I shook my head. “Mr Blake attacked her and she became… one of them.”
“He got Daniel, too,” said Lydia. “So that means there are three of those things out there.”
“Two, actually,” I said, wiping the sticky remains of an eyeball from my cheek. “Miss Edwards isn’t a problem any more.”
“What about Callum?”
I almost laughed. “He’s having a great time!”
“What?!”
“He thinks it’s all a set up by Mr Blake and Miss Edwards to scare us,” I said. “Like some sort of ultimate campfire horror story.”
“Moron!”
Callum might have been my best mate, but on this occasion, I couldn’t disagree.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked. “We can’t stay in here forever.”
Lydia thought for a moment. “Have you got your phone?”
I rummaged through my pockets, but they were empty. “I must have dropped it when I was fighting with Miss Edwards. How about you?”
“I have, but the battery’s dead. And I think Amy left hers in the tent before we went out.”
“Callum’s got his phone with him,” I said, suddenly remembering the flash as he took the picture of me. “But he’s probably skipping along the beach, looking for fairies.”
“We’ll have to try and get back to the tents, then,” said Lydia. “If we can find Amy’s phone, we can call — ”
SMASH!
We ducked as the shed window exploded inwards, showering us with broken glass. I could see someone moving around outside.
“It’s Mr Blake!” I hissed. The teacher’s arm forced its way through the lethal shards and a bloodied hand groped in the air to try and find us.
“Perfect!” said Lydia. “That’s better than getting to a phone!”
I stared at her. “How is a zombie finding us better than calling for help?!”
“He might have the minibus keys in his pocket!”
It took me a second to take in what Lydia was suggesting. “You want to ask him for his keys?”
“Not ask him, dimwit,” Lydia snapped, ducking as Mr Blake’s fingers brushed against her hair. “We’ll have to take them from him by force.”
“Then we’ll need weapons.”
I took the torch and swung it around the inside of the shed. Hanging on the walls were an assortment of tools. I chose a hefty gardening fork as Lydia gripped the handles of her trusty shears.
“Let’s do it!”
We burst out of the shed together, screaming at the tops of our voices. I don’t know what the screams added to the attack — but it seemed to make us feel better.
I ploughed into Mr Blake, shoulder first, sending him staggering backwards. I’d hoped to knock him to the ground, but he managed to stay on his feet and lunged at Lydia, hand outstretched. I heard her shears snap closed with a SHLINK, and four pink fingers dropped to the grass before us.
I stared at the detached digits in horror, almost expecting them to squirm around with lives of their own — but, of course, they didn’t. They just lay there, spattered in blood. Mr Blake was gazing at his stump of a hand, wiggling his thumb from side to side as a mixture of blood and black goo streamed from where his fingers should have been. Then he attacked again.
This time, Mr Blake didn’t get close enough for Lydia to use her shears. I stabbed him hard in the chest with my fork, the metal prongs sinking into his flesh and grating against the bones of his ribs. I pushed hard against the handle, knocking the teacher off his feet and onto his back.
I jumped onto Mr Blake’s stomach and put all my weight onto the fork.
“Now!” I shouted to Lydia. “Get the keys!”
Lydia dropped to her knees and began to search through Mr Blake’s trouser pockets. The creature beneath me finally roared in anger and tried to force himself up, but every movement just caused the fork