The Book of Unread

The Book of Unread
Hi reader. You have been an ENORMOUS help to me. And you
know how? Because I can tell you all of my secrets without anyone
knowing. You’ve been like, my best friend since this whole zombie
apocalypse started and I’m glad that you have stuck with me ever
since. Not even my mum would be able to contain what I tell her,
literally.
Anyway, we've started looking for the rest of the team. And I don’t
know how in the world this happened but.
But… JEN AND MICHAEL HAVE ALREADY MADE
UP!!! Can you believe that I was only gone for like, two days and
this happened?! But, I can safely say that this dilemma is o icially
closed. Anyway, now that that’s over, we can finally get down to
business. And when I say business, I mean business. So basically,
Mike knows this industry that is filled with books. Books. I mean,
who doesn’t love books? I do. So that’s why, from seeing my excited
face, Jen said that we can stay for TWO WEEKS. Two weeks.
This is going to be the best two weeks of my life! Who knows how
much knowledge is in there? Maybe there’ll be books about
infection. Either way, this is going to be epic.

TWO DAYS LATER .
We’ve finally made it. It’s like a gigantic tent, but not gigantic,
enormous! Suddenly, we heard a ra le. Then, someone emerged
from the shadows. It was a boy. And he was our age. And by our
age, I mean mine, Adriana’s and Mike’s age. ‘’Ali?’’ gasped Mike.
‘’Hi Mike.’’ he replied.
‘’You know this guy Mike?’’ asked Adriana suspiciously.
‘’Yep, I sure do. H e’s my best friend and he also goes to our
school.’’ replied Mike.
Well that was quite unexpected. Crumby reunion I’d say. Anyway,
Ali explained to us how he was brainwashed and used to steal. Then
the police found him and gave him a life with Mike. They’re literally
stepbrothers, but they say that they’re just very close friends.
‘’You see, I work here.’’ Ali explained.
My heart stopped. I always wanted a job that would allow me to be
around books. ‘’You work here? No, literally, you work here?’’ I
asked eagerly. Zara rolled her eyes. ‘’H ere we go again.” mu ered
Zack. ‘’I sure do and it’s always nice to meet another book lover.’’

he said with a smile. I blushed. I have embarrassed myself big time.
‘’Well, why don’t you take us inside?’’ suggested Jen. ‘’You can
take Sky and Zack for Infection study period and the others and I
will get dinner and the bedrooms ready.’’
‘’Sure. That way to the bedrooms and kitchen.’’ Ali pointed to a long
corridor to our left. Zack dragged his li le suitcase of inventions
and followed Ali. I followed as well. Have I ever told you that
Zack has an obsession with becoming an inventor?
AFTER A SHORT WALK .
Wow. Just wow. The walls have built-in bookshelves and everything
is arranged to have a circular space in the middle. The walls look
like gold with sheets of white peeling o
the sides. And everything
looks so old and ancient. There’s even a second floor! Anyway, am I
in a dream or not? Please tell me. Zack ventured o
in search of a
table so that he could finish his Teleporter 3000. And Ali took me
to the diary section, because we both thought that most recent
diaries would most likely have information on the infection. “Look at
this one!” he called out. I turned around. Ali was holding a very thin
book. “What do we have here?” I mu ered to myself. There was

only one page in the book. And it had something wri en in a
di erent language. ‘’What’s it wri en in?’’ asked Ali.
“It’s wri en in Arabic.” I replied.
“H ow do you know that?”
“My mum taught me Arabic from a really young age.”
“Then what does it say?”
“It says…
To read this book,
Turn the page,
A map you’ll find,
That’ll lead the way.”
Ali shrugged at me. I mean, I couldn’t blame him. There wasn’t
anything on the other side of the page, so I don't know who this
S.B person was trying to… Hang on a minute. Those are mine and
my mum’s initials! My mum’s name was Sumari Breeze. My
surname was never after my father’s cause well, you know why.
After I told Ali, he was so surprised that he nearly fell over! H e
then came up with an idea of heating up the page and it actually
worked! You could see the map completely. So now he’s taking me to
the secret bit of the library that no one is allowed to go in.

“H ere we are.” he said.
“We have to be really quick. Zack is also in the library so he’ll be
looking for us soon.” Ali nodded in agreement. We both headed in
and found the book. “Ouch!”
“What happened?” asked Ali in confusion.
“Something fell on my foot. And it’s… a thunder-bolt shaped
pendant?”
“There’s a note as well. And it has your name on it.”
“Let’s have a look.”
The note was also wri en in Arabic. And it says…
To my dearest daughter, Sky Breeze.
Ever since you left the house to go find the
cure, I have been doing my own travelling. I
have been popping into villages, only to find
the infected. On my last trip, I found
something for you. I know that you’ll be a bit
confused by what it is, but trust me, it is the
last thing I will be able to give you.
I wish you and your friends the best of luck on
your quest.
From your dearest mother, Sumari Breeze.
I literally started crying after I read that. Well not for real, but I
felt really bad. Ali could see that and I knew that he knew that he

would never be able to feel what I felt because his parents left him a
long time ago. H e picked up the gift from my mother, which was a
key and put it in my hand. H e smiled at me. “Listen, you can’t fall
to pieces just yet. You still have a mission to complete. You need to
keep up your bravery.”
“H ow am I brave?” I asked.
“Because you left everything behind just to save the world. Who
wouldn’t agree?”
I stood up. Ali was completely right. There was no time to be
sulking around. I smiled back at him. Maybe a guy who was a thief
for his whole entire life wasn’t as bad as I thought.
After we picked up Zack, had dinner and went to bed, I decided to
wear the pendant. I promised myself that I would wear it all the
time.
The next morning, Jen had been thinking. And I could tell by that
worrying look on her face that she wasn’t thinking about something
good. And by worrying, I mean that it was stressing me out. “Who
do you think could be behind all of this?” she asked. “Didn’t
Elizabeth De Lorella say that the infection was man-made?”

“She is the first person in the whole entire world to pronounce
Elizabeth’s complicated surname.” I whispered to Adriana who was
standing right next to me. She nodded in agreement. I swear that
Elizabeth has five other names. Anyway, Ali and Mike had gone out
to ‘secure the area’. Don’t tell anyone I said this, but now that we
have someplace to live, I’m having a pre y good life. “Behold!”
shouted Zack. We all turned around. “My latest masterpiece!”
“That’s your teleporter 3000, right?” I asked.
“No, it’s called The Extreme High-Tech Teleporter 3000!” he
replied proudly.
I looked at Adriana. She shrugged her shoulders. I rolled my eyes.
“O-k…” I said.
There was a loud bang on the door. It was probably Mike,
frustrated after a long trip. I jumped up and sped to the door. Mike
casually walked in while Ali dragged a gigantic bag. “What’s in
there?” I asked.
“The broken bits of Zack’s other teleporter.” he replied. I smiled.
It was nice having Ali in the team. H e’s so nice to me. “That project
was one of my most embarrassing failures. It totally blasted when I
tested it.” said Zack sympathetically. “But now, I have a be er
teleporter!”

“Does he always do that?” whispered Ali.
“Yep, pre y much all the time.” I whispered back.
H e can NEVER get over tech. It just so happens that his brain
works like an exploding computer that is about to hit the overload
screen and malfunction completely. I just realised that does not
make any sense to you guys, but if it does, then well done.
Suddenly, we all heard a loud thud. Something or someone had
charged right into the wall of the facility. Jen signalled us all
outside. As our leader, she was always on top of things.
“What in the world is that?!” exclaimed Mike.
“I’m supposed to be the one panicking, but you're doing pre y well.”
I said mischievously.
“Enough of that, we need to destroy that thing, before it destroys
us!” snapped Jen. I just realised that I didn’t even tell you guys
what that ‘thing’ was. It was a gigantic drone that had a gigantic
red-eye in the middle of it and was shooting gigantic red beams.
Now that’s not something you see every day. And I said gigantic a
lot there. I am very sorry. But this was just ge ing over the

extreme to describe it in any other way. To make it more simple, you
could say that it was insane. “Please tell me this can’t get any
worse!” wailed Ryan.
“H ow is anything supposed to get any worse? I mean, it’s not like a
herd of infected is going to ambush us.” I replied. And to my
misfortune, that did happen. Man, me and my big mouth. Anyway,
back to the plot. Oh great. There is no plot because Jen shot the
drone in the eye and now it’s smashing down onto us. Must she
solve everything with her gun?! And thankfully, Mike was actually
useful for once and dealt with the infected. I’m going to have to do
something about this. I’ll see you in a bit.
TEN MINUTES LATER .
Well, that was a bummer. “Whoever made this sure did their
homework.” I said while looking at the destruction.
“Who cares. It wasn’t that hard to beat.” said Zara carelessly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Were you not there when we were inches away from
becoming charcoal?!” I replied.
“Then you should have highlighted it be er!” Zara shouted back.

“I think we all deserve a break,” said Jen. “We'll start the search
tomorrow morning. And also, Ali, please do join us. You would be a
great addition to the team.”
“Sure, why not.” replied Ali. So we all wished each other goodnight
and went to our rooms. Wonderful ending after a catastrophic
outcome of how dangerous technology can be if it turns to be a
down-right fail. I swear I saw Zack taking the ba eries out of that
thing.
I shut the door of my room and walked towards my bed. Then, I
came to a stop. Someone else was in my room. I didn’t move one bit.
Only my eyes drastically moved around the room. “H ello there, Sky
Breeze.” said a cold, distant voice. There was a loud scream. And
everything went black.
OUTCOME :
1849 words
9904 characters
7 minutes and 23 seconds reading time
14 minutes and 13 seconds speaking time