Zom-B Underground by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online Page A

cells. We always go with him individually. Nobody ever gets to see where the other zom heads are housed. We could all be quartered in the same corridor, or in completely different parts of the complex—we’ve no idea.
    They could leave us with each other the whole time–like me, the others don’t need to sleep–but Tiberius thinks they’re trying to institutionalize us, to make us easier to control.
    I try to discuss the attacks and the outside situation again, but nobody wants totalk about that. They’ve been through it all before and are reluctant to rehash old arguments. It doesn’t matter that all of the theories are fresh to me. They’ve been together for months now, and even though they’re not tight like real friends, they share a bond that I’m not yet a true part of. They’re not going to break their rules just to please the new zom head on the block.
    Even Mark, the friendliest of the lot, gets prickly when I push him.
    “Just leave it, B,” he mutters. “What’s the point? We can’t do anything about it. If they want to tell us, they will. If they don’t, they won’t, and all the guessing in the world won’t get us any closer to the truth.”
    Mark’s the runt of the litter. The others tease him and pick on him, even Cathy. They call him Worm and mock him for not being allowed to join the zom heads when they experiment on reviveds. Mark takes it as best he can, laughs along with them, only occasionally grimaces when they go too far.
    Danny tested me on my second day in zom HQ. Tossed a casual insult my way to see how I’d react.
    “Say that again and you’ll be picking the remains of your teeth out of your mouth,” I told him, ready to back up the words with action if pushed. But Danny’s no fool. He saw that I was serious and judged me a genuine threat, even though I’m a girl and he’s bigger than me. Nobody’s given me grief since then.
    Rage is the undisputed leader of the pack. He’s a big old bruiser–easy to see how he got his nickname–but clever too, reads a lot, excels at the more difficult video games, knows about all sorts of things. Reminds me a bit of my dad, a bully but sharp. It’s hard to get the better of people like that. You can’t beat them up and you can’t outsmart them. Rage doesn’t seem to be as violent as my dad, but he’s not somebody you provoke lightly because there’s always the chance that he’ll snap and smash you up.
    Having said that, he acts like a toad whenever any of the scientists or soldiers come to see us. I thought the others were exaggerating when they were winding him up that first day, but I soon see that they’re not. He’s like a fanboy when Josh or his team is on the scene.
    Dr. Cerveris came this morning to run some routine tests on us, eyes, ears, that sort of thing. We get tested regularly, usually by nurses or low-level doctors. But today we were treated to a visit by the high and mighty one himself.
    “Hey, Dr. Cerveris, how you been?” Rage beamed, running over to him like an eager puppy.
    “Very well, thank you,” the doctor replied, then asked Rage how things were going. Once they’d dispensed with the small talk, Rage barked at the rest of us and ordered us to line up. He walked down the line with Dr. Cerveris, glaring at us, making sure nobody said anything untoward or threatened the doctor in any way.
    “Are those okay?” Rage asked when Dr. Cerveris came to the Turk and paused to study his painted finger bones.
    “Yes,” the doctor said. “I was just curious to see what he had drawn.” He smiled at Gokhan. “You have an artistic eye.”
    “Art’s my favorite subject, innit?” Gokhan replied.
    “We’ll have to give you oils and canvas, to see if your skills have been affected by your altered circumstances.”
    “I dunno about that,” Gokhan pouted. “I’m not really into proper painting.”
    “You’ll do whatever the hell the doctor tells you to do!” Rage roared, and shoved Gokhan in the