by Amanda Ashby
“So is that what you’ve been telling people?”
“What do you mean? Why would I be telling people anything?” Mia stared at her blankly before finally grabbing the ballot that Samantha was still waving around. For a moment she studied it before finally looking up in astonishment. “I’ve been nominated for prom queen? ”
“Oh my God,” Candice yelped from next to her. “Did you just say ‘prom queen’?”
“That’s what it says.” Mia held up the ballot. “Though how it happened, I have no idea.”
“Oh, don’t play dumb, Mia. You were obviously gunning for this all along, but if you think for one minute you can come in here and steal my crown, then you’ve got another think coming. And you can start taking down all those stupid posters, too.”
“Posters?” Mia blinked as she glanced around and realized that practically every senior locker was plastered with flyers saying Vote Mia for Queen.
“I don’t know what you did to suddenly make yourself the focus of everyone’s attention, but I can tell you that it’s not going to work.” Samantha flicked back a lock of golden hair and then glanced at Mia like she was something on the bottom of her shoe.
“Well, if that’s the case, then I don’t why you are even bothering to talk to me,” Mia replied.
“I couldn’t agree more, and normally I wouldn’t bother to waste my time.” Samantha gave a dismissive shrug as she unzipped her Coach purse and pulled out a box of chocolate truffles. “However, I needed to give you these, so I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone. Actually, speaking of birds, can you smell that?”
“Smell what?” Candice’s nose twitched.
“Chicken.” Samantha leaned forward and sniffed Mia’s arm. “Something smells like chicken. I might go to the cafeteria and see if they have any.” Then, without saying another word, Samantha turned on her ridiculously high heels and strutted off in the other direction as Mia and Candice turned to each other.
“Wow,” they both said at the same time before Candice widened her eyes.
“Hey, I wonder if this has something to do with the spell you did yesterday? Perhaps it didn’t just make Rob love you, it made everyone love you? You know, next time we go back there, I think I’d better get one for myself, because if it can make you prom queen, imagine what it could do for my health issues?” Candice’s voice was thoughtful as she ripped open another packet of beef jerky.
“Mia, can I talk to you for a moment? We have a problem,” a vaguely familiar voice said, and she spun around to where Chase Miller was standing. He was wearing the same jeans he’d had on yesterday, though the retro T-shirt and the bags under his green eyes both seemed fresh.
“Hey, it’s New Boy. I didn’t know you were friends with him. Actually, I didn’t know he was friends with anyone. He doesn’t strike me as a talker,” Candice pronounced as she waved her beef jerky at him. Then she turned back to Mia and said, “Mind you, I guess talking is overrated, and he sure is tasty looking. I wonder if he has some cookies for you, too?”
“Uh, Mia, this really is important.” Chase gave an urgent cough, and Mia wished Candice wasn’t talking in such a loud voice.
“I’m thinking Fig Newtons,” Candice continued, oblivious to Chase’s embarrassment. “Don’t ask me why, but he just looks like that sort of guy. Oh, and Mia, don’t forget to remind him to vote for you.”
“You realize he’s right here and can hear you?” Mia said to Candice.
But before she could reply, Chase said, “It’s about yesterday. You know the incantation for the spell you gave me—”
“Hey, he knows about the spell?” Candice interrupted in surprise. “Are you sure that’s wise? I mean, yes, he’s cute, but you know what they say about the quiet ones—”
What? Chase Miller wasn’t cute. He was too tall, his hair was too short, and not to mention the fact that he was crazy. Of course he hid it well under his unassuming exterior, but now that Mia knew the truth about him, he wasn’t fooling anyone.
“The point is,” Chase cut in, “we have a problem. I used the two pages of incantation you gave me along with a reversal potion, and the virus should’ve been stopped, but for some reason it didn’t work.”
“Two pages of incantation? I thought there were three?” Candice frowned for a moment. “Because remember it took us a while to decipher her writing. She should think about doing those things on a computer in future. There would be a lot less margin for error.”
“You’re right.” Mia nodded before turning to Chase. “Are you sure I only gave you two?” she asked.
“I’m positive,” Chase assured her in a tight voice.
“Oh.” Mia frowned. “Well, I wonder where the other one is, then?”
“Probably in your bag,” Candice suggested. “It’s always such a mess in there you can never find anything. Remember I looked it up on the Internet once because I was worried that you might’ve had some kind of strange ‘messy’ disease?” Then she turned to Chase and gave him a reassuring smile. “But it’s okay—apparently she’s just really untidy.”
Mia shot Chase a rueful glance as she pulled open her bag and dug around until she found the extra piece of paper. “Actually, Candice is right—I was getting confused. It’s been a bit of a stressful week with this whole Samantha-trying-to-steal-my-prom-date thing. I guess I just made a mistake.”
“Look, could I speak to you privately for a minute?” He glanced over to where Candice was engrossed in her beef jerky.
“But didn’t you say yesterday that you would leave me alone now?” she reminded him. “Besides, class starts in ten minutes and I really want to try and catch Rob.”
“Yes, well yesterday I thought this thing was containable, but since you forgot to give me the complete incantation we have a problem.”
Mia rolled her eyes and dropped her voice so it was little above a whisper. “Please tell me you’re not still thinking about this zombie business. I mean, yes, I think my spell did do something because everyone is being really nice to me. I can even see why Grace likes being popular so much, because it’s cool when people give you things. But honestly, you’ve got to stop with this crazy idea. These are just regular kids with a healthy disposable income that they want to spend on food for moi.”
“Just give me five minutes so I can show you something.”
“Do we really have to do this again?”
“Please, Mia, I just need five minutes,” he said desperately in a low voice, cautiously glancing around him.
“Okay, fine.” She let out a sigh before turning back to Candice. “Look, I’ve got to talk to Chase about, er, biology—but I’ll see you in class. Save me a seat?”
“Not so fast.” Candice narrowed her eyes. “I want to know what’s going on between you and . . . Oh, is that a steak sub I can smell? You guys go ahead, I’m just going to the cafeteria to see what’s for lunch.” Candice trotted off in the other direction.
Okay, that was odd. Candice really had to slow down with the vitamin supplements because they were obviously wreaking havoc on her hormones.
“Well?” She folded her arms once Candice had gone.
“Actually, I don’t think the hallway is the best place to talk about it. Let’s go in here.” Chase headed toward an empty classroom, and Mia rolled her eyes and reluctantly followed him. Once they were inside, he locked the door and pulled his laptop out of his backpack.
“Okay, so what’s this all about?” she demanded as she watched him bite into his full bottom lip in concentration.
“In a nutshell, the zombie virus you released has moved into the second stage, which means it is no longer reversible, and by lunchtime on Thursday it will become fully active.”
“Ugh, okay, that’s enough.” Mia held up her hands. “Look, I know I humored you yesterday, but that was because I was preoccupied about Rob. The thing is, you can’t keep talking about zombies as if they’re real. I mean, seriously, how can you expect me to believe that every single student
—”
“And teacher,” Chase interjected.
“Fine. That every single student and teacher who was at the senior assembly will turn into a zombie come twelve o’clock Thursday. It’s ridiculous.”
“Look.” He took a controlled breath and seemed to clench his jaw. “I know this is a lot to take in and I know you don’t want to believe me, but it’s true. Would it help if I gave you some proof?”
“What, like eating my brains or something? No thanks,” she retorted before frowning. “And anyway, you were at the senior assembly. I saw you standing at the back rolling your eyes while Rob gave his speech for being football player of the year, which by the way, was very rude of you.”
Chase didn’t look remotely apologetic as he shrugged. “Yes, you’re right, I was there.”
“So, if I really did turn everyone into zombies, then why aren’t you trying to eat me?” she demanded as Chase ran a frustrated hand through his short hair. Ha! Try and answer that, crazy boy.
“I explained how the virus works. Right now everyone is only in stage two. They don’t start eating flesh until they hit stage four. As for me, I’m immune to the virus in any form.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that handy,” she replied.
“Actually.” He tightened his jaw and Mia blinked in surprise. If she didn’t know better, she would almost say that he was mad. “ ‘Convenient’ is the last thing I would call it. I’ve got a mutant gene, which we think came down through my mom’s side. It means that while I can still be killed by a zombie, I can’t be infected with the virus, no matter how it is transmitted, nor can I carry it. Unfortunately, less than one percent of the population has the gene and scientists haven’t worked out a way to transfer it to anyone else yet.”
“And me? Am I going to turn into a zombie?”
“No.” Chase shook his head. “You were the one who did the incantation, which makes you immune, too.”
“Fine, so I turned everyone into zombies except for you and me, which means you can’t prove it. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to class.”
“Mia.” He gently grabbed her arm just as she headed for the door and pointed to the laptop. “If you want proof, come and take a look at this. It’s an outbreak that we contained last month.”
Mia stared at the screen and let out a long groan. “Chase, this isn’t proof. It’s a YouTube clip.”
“That’s right. Some idiot filmed us while we were trying to fight. We keep shutting these things down, but someone keeps posting them again. Still, at least I can show you what a zombie looks like.”
“You don’t expect me to believe that this video is—gross, what is that girl doing?”
He leaned in closer to the screen and Mia tried to ignore the way his shoulder brushed hers. For a psycho, he sure smelled nice. “That’s what happens when the virus reaches stage four and the person becomes a zombie. The heart is effectively killed and the body is controlled by muscle spasms, which is what makes them walk funny.”
“I’m not talking about the walk. It looks like blondie there is eating someone’s arm.” Mia pulled a face. Whoever had made this thing was a total sicko but brilliant with special effects.
“Yes, that’s what zombies tend to do. Eat flesh. Though not brains. That’s just an urban myth.” He waited until the video had finished before playing another one. This one was equally bad, and Mia felt her eyes widen as she watched a group of ten so-called zombies attack some salesclerks at a mall. Those guys could really scream. And they sure must’ve blown their budget on ketchup.
Then she caught sight of Chase and a few other men suddenly come in and drag the zombies away. Okay, so this was starting to creep her out a little, and Mia shuddered as she saw a link to another clip.
“What’s that one?” She pointed, but Chase just covered the keyboard with his hand.
“You don’t need to see that one.”
“That’s right, because you know it’s not going to change my mind about this. I mean, yes, I admit that my spell might’ve done something, but whatever it was, it’s all good. I’ve been nominated for prom queen and you should see all the booty I’ve got in my locker. They love me. Rob loves me. It’s a win/win.”
“No.” Chase sighed as he looked at her sadly. “I’m afraid that’s not the reason they’re being so nice to you.”
“Oh, really?” She bristled. “I might not be the most popular girl at this school, but it’s not like everyone hates me, either—well, apart from Samantha Griffin, of course. But the point is, why would you think it more likely that they are zombies than that they just like me?”
“Because I’ve seen it happen before.” He clenched his fists into two tight balls. “The reason you’ve become the focus of everyone’s attention is because they want to fatten you up.”
“Excuse me?” Mia’s hand automatically flew to her stomach as she tried to remember the last time she had done some crunches. She had a prom dress to fit into still, and three days of misery eating to combat. “I’m not sure I follow.”
“Mia, you unleashed the zombie virus, and that makes you the queen.”
“Great, so I’m queen of the zombies. What does that even mean? Will I be able to command them all in their zombie quest to take over the world?”
“Not exactly.” He hit play on the final YouTube clip, and she watched hundreds of slow-moving freaks rip apart a middle-aged woman—limb by blood-soaked limb. “I’m sorry, Mia, being a queen isn’t a good thing. It just makes you first up on the menu.”
six
Mia let out a jagged breath as the YouTube clip ended. “You’re not lying, are you?” she finally said as she tried to keep her panic from rising.
“I’m sorry.” Chase shook his head.
“How did this even happen?” She blinked at him. “I mean, one minute I was doing a love spell and the next minute I’m turning myself into an all-you-can-eat zombie buffet? Maybe Grace is right and it’s because I tried to go against the forces of nature to date Rob? After all, she’s been popular since she was born, but no one’s ever tried to eat her before.”
“That’s the part I don’t understand,” Chase admitted as he ran a hand across his smooth jaw. “Normally to work a spell like this, you need incredible focus and concentration, which comes from years of training,” Chase said in a soft voice, which somehow managed to calm her down a bit. “Which is why I’m not sure how you managed to achieve it.”
“Well, Candice and I did do yoga for a few weeks. Mind you, that was a little boring so we swapped to Tae Bo. Oh, though I am a Taurus, and we’re pretty stubborn—maybe that was it?”
Chase didn’t look convinced.
“The thing I still don’t understand is, if zombies are real, then how come we don’t know about them? I mean, those YouTube clips for a start. Why is it never reported in the news?” Mia wrinkled her nose.
“Because the department always covers up. Trust me, it’s in no one’s interest to know the truth about what is really out there.”
“But how do they even do it? I can barely hide it from my mom when I miss my curfew by ten minutes.”
“It really depends on the situation. Sometimes it’s blamed on fires, natural disasters, or occasionally a pandemic—which, when you think about it, isn’t really too far from the truth. As for people who have survived attacks and the families of those who have been killed or infected, the department uses memory-adjustment techniques. It’s sort of like what they do in that movie Men in Black, but without the electronic gadgets.”
“But that’s impossible.” She stared at him. This day was getting more surreal by the minute.
“You’d actually be surprised at how easy it is. Who really wants to believe that there are zombies or dragons out in the world?”
“There are dragons?” Mia blinked, and Chase raised an eyebrow as if to prove his point.
“See, people believe what they want to believe.”
“So why didn’t that work on you?” she asked.
/> “I guess I don’t believe the same things as everyone else.” He shrugged, but before she could say anything else, there was a pounding noise, and Mia looked up to see about twenty faces pressed up to the glass panel in the door.
“W-what are they all doing?”
“At a guess, I’d say they’re looking for you,” he said in his matter-of-fact voice as she suddenly realized why he had locked the door.
“Oh my God.” Her alarm turned into blind panic as she reached out and instinctively clutched at his arm. It felt oddly reassuring and she edged closer to him. “It’s started? In the movies these things always happen at night. Night is a much better time. Now is not so good.”
“It’s all right. They’re not here to eat you—not yet, anyway. You’re the zombie queen, which means you’re like a magnet for them. As the virus progresses, the pull will get stronger. They’re here because you’re here. Apparently you are giving off some sort of pheromone. I’ve heard it smells like chicken.”
“Chicken? So that explains why Rob and Samantha both were trying to smell me.” Mia shut her eyes for a minute and tried to imagine she was somewhere else. Preferably in a place where she hadn’t turned everyone into zombies and they weren’t now looking at her like she was a drumstick. Unfortunately, when she opened them again, she was still in an empty classroom with twenty seniors drooling at her from the other side of the door. Popularity definitely had its drawbacks.
“Okay,” she said in a low voice as she realized she was still holding on to Chase’s arm. She quickly let it go. Smelling of chicken obviously made a person react strangely. “So I think it’s probably time we did that reversal spell. Just tell me what you need to do and I’m there. One hundred percent. Because the sooner I stop being on the menu, the better.”
Chase seemed to be fixated on something on the wall. “Um, well, it’s a bit more complicated than that.”
Mia jumped up and stood in between him and his wall viewing so that he could concentrate on what she was saying. “What do you mean?”
“Remember I explained to you yesterday about how the virus worked? Well, it’s moved into stage two, and unfortunately, it’s now impossible to reverse.”
