Read The Poison Factory for Free Online

sweets?’
    ‘Yeah,’ all three kids said at once.
    Byle finished writing out his calculations, and stood back, his hands shaking. He turned to glare at them, his loosely-rooted teeth rattling in his skull.
    ‘That’s an impossible combination of chemicals,’ he whispered, trembling. ‘You should be dead. But since you’re not dead, and since my toilet just blew up, I can come to only one conclusion. You are all filled to the brim with highly explosive urine.’
    ‘What d’ya mean?’ Damo asked.

    ‘He means our pee can explode,’ Gaz translated, as a nasty plan started to form in his mind.
    ‘You could go off at any second,’ Byle whimpered. ‘Don’t … don’t make any sudden moves.’
    I don’t know,’ Gaz smiled slightly, his fear making him angry again.
    ‘If we don’t get that antidote, I might lose the rag a bit – and I can go a bit mental when I’m really angry. I might start jumpin’ around … and I’m burstin’ to go. I might go right here on your chair!’
    ‘NO!’ Byle cried. 
    Hayley and Damo stared at Gaz. Was he serious?
    ‘Really, I’d do it – I’d do it right now,’ Gaz nodded, his jaw jutting out.
    ‘Me too,’ Damo added suddenly. ‘And I might just do some hip-hop dancing on your desk! I can spin around on my hands!’
    ‘I can do gymnastics,’ Hayley piped up. ‘Want to see my back-flip?’
    They all climbed up onto the desk.
    ‘Right,’ Gaz called out. ‘On the count of three, we let rip! One … Two …’
    ‘Please, please don’t!’ Byle sobbed. ‘I’ll give you the antidote. Just don’t do anything stupid!’
    He pulled a little bottle from his coat pocket and handed it to Gaz.
    ‘Oh, and we want my little brother back too,’ Gaz demanded.
    ‘I never took him!’ Byle whined. ‘He’s still out in the yard. He was hiding there the whole time.’
    He pointed to a monitor, and sure enough, there was Joey, peeping out from behind a stack of barrels.
    ‘That little weed,’ Gaz growled, turning to the other two. ‘I told you he was good at screaming.’
    ***
    After knocking back the antidote to the poison, Gaz, Hayley and Damo made their way extremely cautiously down to the yard. It was all very well being able scare Cornelius Byle into giving them the antidote, but there was still no telling whether or not they might explode. They walked down the last flight of stairs very slowly and gently. Taking small, timid steps, they shuffled out into the yard.
    ‘Where were you?’ Joey exclaimed, coming out of his hiding place, holding their football. ‘I saw you go inside, and then you were gone for ages. I was going to go home and tell Mam!’
    Gaz leaned over him, his hands clenched into fists.
    ‘I’ve a good mind to kick your–’
    ‘Ah, leave him alone,’ Damo said. ‘He caught us out – we should respect the little dude. You don’t want to go starting a fight, Gaz. Not with what’s in your bladder. Come on – let’s go home.’

    But Gaz was determined to get revenge. Grabbing his brother’s shoulder, he swung back his leg and delivered a sound kick to Joey’s backside. Just as he did, there was a deafening crack, and a deep rumble. At first, the others covered their heads, sure that Gaz was exploding right in front of them. But he was still standing there when they opened their eyes, and the rumbling noise was getting louder. He was looking up. They looked up too.
    A tall chimney was toppling over towards them,its shadow falling over them, the huge tower of concrete plummeting straight down at them. There was no time to do anything but close their eyes and wait to be crushed. It crashed to the ground just short of them, smashing at their feet, sending shards of concrete and dust flying in all directions. Hayley gave Gaz and Damo a disgusted look.
    ‘Was that the chimney we …?’ Damo began.
    ‘Yeah,’ Gaz nodded. ‘We’d better go. Quick.’
    ‘Do you think the antidote will fix the whole exploding pee thing?’ Hayley wondered