The Flinkwater Factor by Pete Hautman Page B

flesh, the bots draw the normal skin together, seal it, shut themselves down, then drop off like a scab.”
    â€œEww!”
    â€œThe professor said he was having trouble getting the bots to turn themselves off. I wonder where he is.”
    â€œHe probably forgot you were coming and went home. He is a little absentminded.”
    Billy turned the monitor up to maximum magni­fication so that we could see the individual bots. Now they looked like a cluster of red ants crawling over each other. “They’re pretty active,” he said.
    I leaned closer to him, pressing my shoulder against his. “What are they doing?”
    â€œMy guess is there’s some energy source in the middle of that blob. Pretty soon they’ll run out of food and stop moving.”
    â€œThat’s amazing,” I said, trying to make my voice husky.
    He looked at me, then drew back and said, “Do you have a cold?”
    â€œNo!”
    â€œYour voice sounds funny.”
    I batted my eyes. “Billy  . . . do you remember the time we spent here last spring?”
    He looked blank.
    â€œWhen we built the nanobot that spun around all on its own?”
    â€œOh!” His eyes lit up. “That was fun. You were there?”
    â€œI was your lab partner!”
    â€œOh.”
    I pressed closer to him. “You’re the smartest boy I know.”
    â€œReally?” He liked that. I could tell. I licked my lips and ran my hand through my hair and batted my eyes some more. Maybe that was too much, but I wanted to be sure he was thinking about me and not about nanobots. I tipped my head and stared into his eyes. His pupils had gotten bigger. I could smellhis breath—a little peanut-buttery, but not bad.
    It was working. I had hypnotized him with my feminine charms. Our faces were only about ten inches apart. Slowly, dreamlike, our lips moved closer—
    â€œNnngh! Urr! Gack!”
    Billy and I flew apart as if the air between us had exploded.
    â€œHgnak! Heek! Awwng!”
    We jumped to our feet and looked around wildly, searching for the source of the horrible choking, gasping noises.
    â€œAwwwwwnnnnnnnnn!” A groaning, gasping ginormity of a moan, like the last drawn-out gasp of a dying ogre. My heart had stopped—literally, I think—and every hair on my body was quivering.
    â€œDid you hear that?” I whispered.
    Billy, eyes wide, nodded.

36

    Zombie
    For a few seconds there was silence, then came a scraping, foot-dragging sound.
    â€œI think it’s coming from over there,” Billy whispered, pointing at the lab bench at the far end of the room.
    My mouth was too dry to speak.
    Billy said, “Maybe we should get out of here.”
    That sounded like a good idea to me. Except I couldn’t move. It was like one of those dreams where you’re paralyzed—except I wasn’t asleep. I just couldn’t make my legs move. Billy seemed to be having the same problem.
    We heard more scraping, another groaning gasp, and a creature rose up from behind the bench. It staggered to its feet and stood swaying, waving its arms and howling.
    â€œHwaargh! Ghurk!”
    I knew what it was right away by its staggering gait and the horrible sounds. But most of all I knew it from the red, oozing wounds covering its ruin of a face.
    â€œZombie!” I screamed.
    Billy was screaming too, and suddenly we were both running for the door.
    The zombie came after us, grunting and groaning, its limbs flailing spastically. Billy and I grabbed the door handle at the same moment—but the door wouldn’t budge. It took a second for me to realize that I was pulling while Billy was pushing, but when I switched to pushing he started pulling. Behind us, the zombie let out a horrific shriek. I looked back just as it fell face-first to the floor, writhing and wriggling and moaning piteously.
    Billy let go of the door handle. I pushed the door open.
    â€œCome on !” I