Evil Star

to make himself heard.
    "Did you do that?"
    "Yes."
    “You set off the alarm?"
    “Yes."
    "Where's the fire?"
    Matt said nothing.
    Mr. O'Shaughnessy took his silence as an admission of guilt. "If you've done this as a prank, you will be in serious trouble!" he boomed. And then, an afterthought that was so bizarre it almost made Matt want to laugh, he added, "Why aren't you wearing your tie?"

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star
    "I think you should get out of the school" was Matt's only reply.
    There was nothing to be done. The alarm could be switched off only in the bursar's office, and only with the approval of the fire brigade.
    Mr. O'Shaughnessy grabbed Matt by the arm, and the two of them followed the other boys out of the school. In minutes, all the buildings were empty. On the other side of the main road, the dinner ladies had spilled out of the sports center. The few boys who had arrived for lunch early were with them. They crossed the road and joined the rest of the students.
    The entire school had congregated on the football field. The teachers were with them, trying to get them into some sort of order. Even the cafeteria workers had come over to see what all the fuss was about.
    Everyone was looking for the flames, or at least a little smoke, but already it was being whispered that the alarm had been set off as a joke and that Matthew Freeman was to blame. The headmaster had also arrived. He was a short, solid-looking man, built like a rugby player and known as the Bulldog. He saw his assistant, who was standing next to Matt, and came striding over.
    "Do you know what's going on?" he demanded.
    "I'm afraid I do, Headmaster," O'Shaughnessy replied. "I'm afraid it's a false alarm."
    "Well, I'm glad of that!"
    "Of course." O'Shaughnessy nodded. "But this boy set the alarm off on purpose. His name is Freeman and ..."
    But the headmaster wasn't listening anymore. He was staring past Mr. O'Shaughnessy. Slowly, Matt turned round to see what was happening. Mr. O'Shaughnessy did the same.
    They were just in time to see the tanker come careen-ing down the Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star hill. They knew at once that something was wrong. It was zigzagging across the road, seemingly out of control. But Matt could just make out the figure — a woman with mad eyes and straggling hair — sitting in the driver's seat. He recognized her at the same moment that he realized she knew exactly what she was doing, that she had come especially for him.
    Gwenda Davis had her eyes fixed on the sports center where, according to Rex McKenna, the entire school would be having lunch. The petrol tanker was now facing away from the football field. As Matt watched, it left the road, plowed through a bush, and began to roll across the play-ing fields on the other side of the road.
    Matt saw the tires cutting up the turf. The tanker had to be doing seventy or eighty miles an hour. Its engine was roaring. Gwenda had her foot clamped down on the accelerator, and the steep slope of the hill was adding to her speed.
    Some of the other boys had seen it, too. Faces turned. Hands pointed. There could be no doubt what was about to happen.
    The tanker smashed into the wall of the sports center and continued right through it. Its window smashed and Gwenda was killed instantly, thrown into the brickwork even as it shattered all around her. With its engine screaming, the tanker continued, disappearing from sight, swallowed up by the building. There was a moment's pause. Then it exploded. A fireball erupted into the sky, hurling hundreds of tiles in every direction. It rose up, higher and higher, carrying with it a huge fist of black smoke that threatened to punch out the very clouds. Matt put a hand up to protect his face. Even at this distance, he could feel the fantastic heat of the thousands of gallons of petrol as they ignited. Flames splashed out of the wrecked building, falling crazily onto the grass, the trees, the road, Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star the edges of the main school, setting everything alight. It was like a war zone. The entire place seemed to be on fire.
    Matt knew that he had cheated death by minutes. And if the whole school had been in the sports center, if they had been queuing up for lunch as they should have been, hundreds of children would have died.
    The headmaster was thinking the same thing. "My God!" he croaked. "If we had been in there . . . !"
    "He knew!" Mr.