by Darren Shan
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 …
About the Author
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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Also by Darren Shan
ZOM-B
ZOM-B UNDERGROUND
ZOM-B CITY
ZOM-B ANGELS
And, coming soon
ZOM-B GLADIATOR
Copyright
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
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FIRST CANADIAN EDITION
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