ZOM-B Baby (11 page)
Authors: Darren Shan
I make my way west, along the north bank of the river, no delays, no detours, no sightseeing. It’s early afternoon when I cross Westminster Bridge and catch sight of County Hall. Nowhere has ever looked so inviting or felt so much like home, not even my old flat where I lived with Mum and Dad.
I don’t beat about the bush. Ignoring the high-pitched noises coming out of the speakers dotted around the place – they deter normal zombies, but not a girl on a mission like me – I hobble down Belvedere Road, let myself into the
building and make straight for Dr Oystein’s small lab, where the Groove Tubes are housed. I have a feeling I’ll find him there, and I’m right. He’s working on something when I enter without knocking, running tests, studying the contents of a test tube.
The doctor doesn’t look up, unaware that his privacy has been disturbed. I don’t announce myself. Instead I strip and dump my clothes on the floor, then limp to the nearest Tube, smiling warmly at the thought of immersing myself and blissing out, of emerging whole and fresh in a few weeks.
There’s a ladder close to the Groove Tube. I climb up and in. I hold on to the sides of the cylinder, half submerged. I think about saying nothing, grinning as I imagine the perturbed look on Dr Oystein’s face when he turns from his work later and spots me. But I can’t hold my tongue.
‘Doc,’ I call.
The doctor looks up and his eyes widen. ‘
B?
’ he gasps.
I smirk at him, let go of the sides and slip beneath the surface of the liquid. As I’m falling, just before I go under, I shout out playfully — ‘I’m in!’
To be continued …
DARREN SHAN
is the bestselling author of the young adult series Cirque Du Freak, The Demonata and The Saga of Larten Crepsley, as well as the stand-alone book The Thin Executioner. Shan’s books are sold on every continent and in thirty-one languages, and have been bestsellers in the US, Britain, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Hungary, Japan, Taiwan and the UAE. In total, they have sold over 25 million copies worldwide. Shan divides his time between his homes in Ireland and London
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Zom-B Baby
Copyright © 2013 by Home of the Damned Limited
Illustrations © Warren Pleece
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Epub Edition © SEPTEMBER 2013 ISBN: 9781443415224
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
First published in Great Britain in 2013
by Simon & Schuster UK Ltd
A CBS Company
FIRST CANADIAN EDITION
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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