British Zombie Breakout: Part Three Read Free Page B

tape over her mouth had little effect,
other than to make her feel even more frightened. The van kept
going straight but it stopped after only a few minutes. It turned a
single corner, just before it came to a standstill, like they'd
pulled into a side road. The rear doors flew open, they were hauled
out and then hustled into a dark building and along three or four
corridors. Each man had a torch with which they lighted their way
downstairs into a basement, dragging the kids along with them.
Apart from the one in uniform, the other men kept on their ski
masks.
    In a room
smelling of damp, they were shoved against a wall. One of the men
put his torch down on a table. It shone enough light against the
blank wall that Steve and Alex could see the man making a signal
for them to sit down on the floor. In his hand he held a
rectangular object on which he pressed a button. It gave off a high
pitched whine and blue sparks sizzled between two spikes on the end
of it. The kids wasted no time in sitting down. A smell of ozone
wafted towards them and the man laughed at the expressions on their
faces. He stayed with them, while the uniformed man and the other
two stood outside the door to the room.
    Alex thought
Steve looked scared but he didn't look too badly knocked around,
which was about how she felt. The man in the fake soldier's uniform
spoke into a radio but Alex didn't recognise the language. Then
nothing much happened for about ten minutes, while Alex and Steve
felt the cold seeping through their clothes. Alex shivered and
tried to change her cramped position, which prompted taser man to
demonstrate his device again. A second radio message came through
and the men stubbed out their cigarettes, gesturing and arguing
amongst themselves over what to do with their captives. The
uniformed one turned to Alex and Steve, saying two words only in
English, 'No move!' He jabbed his finger downwards. To reinforce
the point, taser man waved his device in their faces before joining
the other men as they ran off down the corridor.
    Steve and Alex
heard the sound of the men's feet, apparently going further up into
the building, rather than back to the van. After the footsteps
faded to nothing, the kids waited, listening to the drip of water
somewhere in the darkened half of the room. Alex counted three
hundred drips, then she strained to push herself up onto her feet.
If she kept her eyes away from the torch, she could see some way
into the darkness. The room had the look of a laundry, with a
metal-topped table and a line of large machines glinting in the
shadows. It felt old and damp and Alex could see her breath in the
torchlight.
    Steve made a
noise and Alex turned to look at him. He was still kneeling on the
floor. She turned her back to him and carefully felt for his face.
Taking the edge of the tape, she pulled it back from his mouth.
    'Well done!' he
said, changing places to remove her piece of tape.
    Relieved to
have her mouth uncovered once more, Alex took a deep breath of the
dank air and immediately regretted doing so.
    'Cigarette
smoke and mould. What a vile combination!'
    'Never mind the
smell, we've got to get out of here.'
    'You really
think they're not coming back?'
     

Chapter 6: Brute Strength
    For a few
moments they stood still, holding their breaths but the only thing
either one heard was the drip, drip of the water and the thump of
their own hearts.
    Steve answered
Alex's question. 'I don't think so.'
    'Thank goodness
they didn't bind our legs.'
    'Didn't need to
when they could zap us with the taser.'
    'That's what it
was! Don't they have wires that shoot out?'
    'Not the sort
that guy had, they just press the spikes against you and it knocks
you out. Or if you're unlucky it gives you a heart attack.'
    'Nice! I'm even
more glad they've gone now.'
    'We need to get
out of here. Mum will be worried sick.'
    'Getting these
things off our wrists would be a good move. Why couldn't they have
put them on with our hands in front of