Free My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish by Mo O’Hara Page B

outsmart our evil big brothers, they are still two feet taller and usually able to squash us if they want to. I watched Pradeep getting squashed and knew my own squashing was just a matter of time. “Forty-five seconds left and still five numbers to enter on my password code,” Sanj gloated. “There’s no way to stop me now. I’ll have a whole world of zombie fish slaves! You lose, I win, na-na na-na-na.”
    â€œAnd you so lose!” Mark said as he caught up with me and grabbed me around my arms so I couldn’t move.

    I looked Mark right in the eye, and that’s when I released my secret weapon. I opened my mouth and Frankie jumped out, slapping his tail hard across Mark’s face until he fell backward into the mosquito net I’d been trapped under earlier. I quickly rolled the net around him as Frankie fell to the floor and skidded along its watery surface, skating toward Sanj.
    â€œLook out, Frankie!” Pradeep yelled as Sanj stomped his feet, trying to squash Frankie. But Frankie bounced off the top of Sanj’s boot, leaped over his head and landed on the laptop.
    Ten seconds, read the clock. Frankie flipped around on the keyboard, thwacking keys with his tail and dodging Sanj’s fist. The clock ticked on:
    7 …
    6 …
    5 …
    Thwack, thwack, thwack on the keys.
    4 …
    3 …
    2 …
    Tap tap, tap.
    1 …
    And then it froze.
    Sanj stared at the screen. “Impossible,” he said. “How could a fish type in code?” Sanj collapsed on the floor talking to himself.

    â€œYeah, you’d have to be a stupid little moron to be outwitted by a couple of little kids and a fish,” I said. “Right, Frankie?”
    That’s when I saw the goldfish.
    â€œFishy not swishy?!” Sami struggled in the trash can, pointing to Frankie lying motionless on the laptop keyboard.
    â€œNo, Frankie, you can’t!” I said. “Quick, we need to get him in some water!”
    Pradeep ran to get the jug off the floor and filled it from the tap.
    I gently placed Frankie in the water as Pradeep pulled Sami out of the trash can. She hugged him around the knees.
    Sanj was still mumbling to himself on the floor. “How could he do that? How could the fish figure it out?”
    Sami toddled over to Sanj and dumped the trash can on his head. “Naughty Sanj!” she said.
    The lunch ladies who Frankie had hypnotized burst into the science lab with Gladys right behind them. “I don’t know what they’re doing,” she said. “Betty just put some eggs on a plate and Carol grabbed a moldy bread roll and they headed up here. We’ve stunned all the teachers and students now anyway. Although nobody can reach Mr. Walker. Ethel and Mildred have him cornered behind the salad bar—”
    â€œI think Frankie must have summoned them somehow,” I interrupted, “and sent them a message with what he needs. Look!”
    â€œOh, he doesn’t look good, does he? Poor fish. Looks famished. No wonder he wanted eggs and bread, but why the moldy ones?”
    â€œThey’re green!” Pradeep and I said at the same time. I realized I talk at the same time as a lot of people. Gotta work on that. I checked no one else was about to speak before I added, “He only likes green food.”
    I took the eggs and moldy rolls and crumbled them into the jug. Frankie shook slightly, then his mouth opened and closed. He started gobbling up egg bits and moldy bread. He looked up at me from his jug, winked, and swished his tail.
    â€œGood to have you back, Frankie,” I said, patting him gently on his top fin. “We just need your help with one more thing,” I added, before Pradeep and I whispered the next stage of our plan.

 

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    We tied Sanj in the mosquito netting too and let Frankie zombify him and Mark so they wouldn’t try to escape. Then we went down to the basement and