The Saga Of Tom Stinson (Book 1): Summer School Zombocalypse Read Online Free Page A

help.”
    Principal Davies didn’t listen. His eyes had glazed over. “It must be some sort of biological agent that makes people crazy. Right?”
    The boy on the bed began to convulse. “Help me Jack. Hold him down.” the nurse pleaded.
    He ignored her. Using the voice that he addressed the school with, he said, “You can’t leave. There’s safety in numbers and I called the police. Help is on the way.”
    Tom pointed to the window. “Out there? Haven’t you seen what’s actually happening? The police are already here, but they can’t help us.”
    The principal stared past him out the window.
    “ No,” Tom said. “They are all on the other side of the school where the plane crashed. Didn’t you hear the sirens?”
    “ Help me!” the nurse cried.
    The principal’s eyes slid over to the nurse. Tom pushed past him toward the door to see if there was any options for an escape. The principal grabbed him as he passed and snapped him around. “Don’t open that. Are you crazy?”
    “ We need to find some place to hide. The library has to be the safest place. We’re definitely not safe here with him in the room. You don’t know what happens to them.”
    “ Look mister, I’m the adult here, and you’ll do what I say. It’s too dangerous out there. You can’t go.”
    Tom struggled, unable to break free. “Let go. Don’t you see? She needs your help. Don’t you hear her? Help her.”
    “ They are fine. Go sit down in the corner. Now’s not the time to cause trouble. We’re waiting for help.”
    Tom stomped on the principal’s foot and kicked him as hard as he could in the shin. Principal Davies howled, let go of Tom and hopped about cursing.
    “ Stop it. Stop it now.” Tom scooped up the crutch and pointed it at the principal. “I’m not afraid to hit you. Don’t grab me again.”
    Still on one foot, the principal lunged at him. “I knew you would be trouble. See it from my point of view. You are a disrespectful, rule-flouting know-it-all whose over confidence will land him in jail one day.”
    This time Tom was ready; he sidestepped and swung the crutch. There was a satisfying smack as the wood cracked across the back of the principal’s head. “Stop!” he ordered.
    The principal sprawled across the floor and held his hands up to protect himself; blood trickled down the back of his neck. He rolled over and tried to stand up. “You can’t hit me. I’m the principal. I’ll be the judge of what we do.”
    Tom held the crutch in defense. “Yeah? You’re not supposed to freak out. You’re supposed to help.”
    The boy’s body became still. The nurse felt for a pulse. “He’s dead, Jack.”
    The principal pondered his blood covered hand, his shoulders slumped and his arms hung loosely at his sides. “I’m sorry,” he said to the boy on the bed. “It’s my fault. I tried, but I just don’t understand what happened to you. None of this should be happening.”
    Tremors rippled across the blood soaked sheet covering the dead boy. Sounds that Tom had never heard before emanated from the body. Tom backed up into the window. How could there be any sound or movement if he wasn’t breathing?
    The nurse gasped and ran to the door; tears streaked the makeup down her face. Tom saw fear in her puffy eyes. The principal snapped upright, thrust his arm out and charged. He pushed her away from the door. The door shut with a bang, and he turned the lock. “Don’t open that. They’ll get in here.”
    “ They are in here already,” Tom said.
    On the bed, the boy’s arms rose up and flailed in the air; his eyes pushed right out of their sockets. Transformed. His face was like a pile of thrown up Chow Mein and grape juice with a toothy puss filled hole for a mouth.
    Tom shook his head no. The principal blocked his way out. The boy on the bed had turned. Out of the window it was two floors down. “This is worse than my classroom. He’s one of them.”
    It didn’t matter. This was why people