Outbreak by C.M. Gray Page B

‘The food isn’t going to run away.’
    â€˜It can’t run anywhere now!’ Michael chomped his teeth so I could see the toastand jam all mushed up in his mouth. It was so gross.
    Mum tried a smaller sip. ‘Ahhhh, that’s better. Report cards are due this afternoon. I don’t want anyone “forgetting” to bring theirs home like last time.’
    Michael’s mouth dropped open and I got a second look at his breakfast. He lifted up his eyebrows with his usual ‘innocent’ expression. ‘That was a complete accident!’
    â€˜Hmmm,’ said Mum, in her I-don’t-buy-it voice.
    I watched silently, hoping Michael would get into trouble.
    Dad wandered in, dressed in his overalls. He worked as a mechanic at a garage in town. ‘Everybody looks happy this morning,’ he said, reaching for the coffee jar.
    â€˜Last day of school,’ Mum explained.
    â€˜Aaaahhhhh! When I was at school, on the last day a few of us put glue on everyone’s chairs. Except ours, of course, we weren’t stupid enough to sabotage our own.’
    â€˜And I bet nobody could guess who did it,’ said Mum.
    â€˜They didn’t have a clue.’ Dad winked at me.
    I wasn’t sure if I believed him or not.
    â€˜Sabotaging things is just the sort of thing I don’t want them to do, especially when they’re about to get their report cards.’ Mum opened the fridge and took out our lunchboxes. ‘Time to get moving. You don’t want to be late on the last day.’
    I still had cereal left but I gobbled it down in a couple of mouthfuls and dumped my bowl in the sink. I was starting to feel excited. Two weeks of holidays!
    But if I had known what was going to happen before the end of the day, I probably would have crawled right back into bed and pulled the covers over my head.

3
    â€˜Bye, Mum. See ya, Dad.’ I slung my bag onto my back. Outside, the sun was warm and a few birds were chirping in the trees. I grabbed my bike from the shed, and in a flash, I was racing down our driveway for the last time before the holidays!
    I tore past cars parked along the road. I lived just a few blocks from Sophie, so I always stopped at her place on the way to school. Sophie’s house stood out from all the others, ’cause it had a big old bus parked in the front yard. It’d been there since the Knights arrived in town a couple of years ago. Now it was used as Mr Knight’s office. He’d covered all thewindows so you couldn’t see inside it, which was kinda weird, but he wasn’t exactly a normal guy.

    Mr Knight. No kidding - this is actually one of his aprons.
    I pulled into their driveway. Usually Sophie was sitting on the steps waiting for me, but she wasn’t there today.
    Mrs Knight appeared at the front door. She looked like she was heading to her job at Seabrook Nursing Home. ‘Hi, Ben,’ she said, jogging down the stairs and making for the car parked in their driveway. ‘Sophie’s inside helping her dad. Go on in if you like.’
    â€˜OK.’ I dumped my bike on the grass.
    Mr Knight and Sophie were just inside the front door. Sophie was standing at the foot of a ladder. Mr Knight was a fewrungs up, fiddling with something on the ceiling.
    â€˜Battery,’ said Mr Knight.
    Sophie handed him a small, rectangular object.
    â€˜Oops! Sorry!’ said Mr Knight as the battery fell with a clunk to the floor. ‘Oh, hi, Ben.’
    â€˜Hi,’ I answered, picking it up and handing it back.
    â€˜New batteries for the smoke alarms,’ he explained, as he pushed the battery into place and clicked the cover closed.
    â€˜A smoke alarm at the front door and another one at the back door is a bit over the top, Dad,’ Sophie grumbled.
    â€˜Well, Soph, as I’ve said to you before, you can never be too careful.’
    Sophie rolled her eyes and mouthed the words ‘you can never be too