Killer App Read online

  Chapter 1: RAVENWING

  Chapter 2: CLAWS AND TALONS

  Chapter 3: BIGGER AND SMARTER

  Chapter 4: HORROR WINGS

  Chapter 5: THE LAST APP

  Chapter 6: THE MASTER

  Behold the Library of Doom! The world’s largest collection of deadly and dangerous books. Only the Librarian can prevent these books from falling into the hands of those who would use them for evil.

  DIGITAL APPS DELIVER NEW BOOKS IN MERE SECONDS. BUT IS THAT ALL THEY DELIVER . . . ?

  Chapter 1

  RAVENWING

  On a quiet desert highway, two black birds FIGHT over a piece of roadkill.

  A car flashes by, disturbing the birds.

  “This new app is killer!” says a red-haired boy inside the car.

  Ivan, his best friend, and their girlfriends are DRIVING to a concert.

  Ivan, in the back seat, stares at his phone.

  “Show me, Ivan,” says his girlfriend, Lenore.

  Ivan holds up his phone for her to see. “The app sends me really FREAKY horror stories,” he says.

  He points to an ICON on the phone’s screen.

  The girl leans in and stares more CLOSELY at the screen.

  “That looks creepy,” she says.

  Ivan laughs. “It’s just a bird,” he says.

  “The app is called RAVENWING,” says Ivan. “So the icon looks like a raven head.”

  “A really ANGRY raven head,” says Lenore.

  “Let’s see,” says Bel, the girl in the front seat.

  Ivan hands her his phone.

  Ivan’s girlfriend shakes her head. “Why can’t you like nice stories instead of creepy horror ones?” she asks.

  Both boys laugh. HA! HA! HA!

  Bel plays with the phone. “This is cool,” she says. “Look at all the scary STORIES you can download. There must be hundreds of them.”

  “There are,” says Ivan. “Go ahead, pick one.”

  Bel laughs. “Okay,” she says. “I’ll download this one. Don’t worry, Lenore. It doesn’t look too SCARY.”

  She touches the phone screen.

  Mark, the driver, GLANCES at his rear-view mirror.

  “Is a storm coming?” he asks.

  The three passengers turn to look.

  A black cloud is rushing toward the car.

  Chapter 2

  CLAWS AND TALONS

  The dark cloud GROWS larger and larger. Savage screams pierce the air.

  “Birds!” shouts Lenore. “It’s a giant flock of birds!”

  “This is not happening,” whispers Ivan.

  “Why are they attacking us?” cries Bel.

  “Who cares?” says Lenore. “Just get the top up!”

  “It’s coming! It’s coming!” SHOUTS Mark.

  The roof finally clicks into place. The SCREAMS of the birds grow louder.

  Ivan and Lenore drop back into their seats. Another sound rips through the car.

  Bird talons TEAR into the fabric roof of the car.

  The teenagers scream. A sharp black beak pokes through the roof.

  “Hold on!” shouts Mark.

  He slams his foot down on the pedal. Tires screech.

  Black birds shriek.

  “I don’t want to be ROADKILL!” says Ivan.

  More and more birds ATTACK the car.

  The sky is blacked out by a mass of flapping wings.

  The roof is shredded by a thousand talons.

  Then . . . silence.

  Chapter 3

  BIGGER AND SMARTER

  Two motorcycles fly down the highway. The riders are racing each other.

  The rider in the lead raises his hand. He has spotted something on the road ahead.

  The riders, Pedro and Dave, pull their bikes to a stop.

  A car sits on the road, BLOCKING both lanes.

  Its doors are all open. Its convertible top is shredded.

  “What’s going on?” says Dave, taking off his helmet.

  “It doesn’t look good,” says Pedro.

  He climbs off his bike and walks toward the car.

  His boot crunches on something. He looks down.

  He has stepped on a LARGE black feather.

  Dave joins his friend next to the car. “Whoa!” he says. “What happened here?”

  The outside of the car is covered with SCRATCHES.

  The inside is littered with hundreds of black feathers.

  “Crows?” asks Dave.

  “RAVENS,” says Pedro.

  “What’s the difference?” asks Dave.

  “Ravens are bigger,” says Pedro. He picks up a feather and studies it. “And they’re smarter,” he adds.

  Dave walks to the front of the car.

  “Where’s the driver?” he wonders aloud. He glances around.

  Something gleams on the asphalt.

  Dave leans down and picks up an object.

  “Someone’s phone,” he says. “We should call the cops.”

  “We should get this car off the road,” says Pedro. “The keys are right here.”

  Chapter 4

  HORROR WINGS

  Pedro turns on the engine and drives the car to the side of the road.

  Dave stares at the phone screen.

  “Huh,” he says. “HORROR.”

  “What’s that?” asks Pedro, CLIMBING out of the car.

  “Horror,” says Dave. “You know, like Stephen King, Simon Skull . . .”

  “Right,” says Pedro. “What about it?”

  “Whoever had this phone was downloading horror stories,” says Dave. “This app here. It’s called RAVENWING.”

  “You can’t download anything out here,” says Pedro. “No cell TOWERS, remember?”

  “I know,” says Dave. “But this download seems to work.”

  “Let’s get out of here,” says Pedro. “I have a bad feeling about this place. Besides, we need to call the cops.”

  A SCREAM rips through the hot sky.

  Both boys look up. A raven flaps its dark wings above the highway. It circles the bikers.

  A second raven joins the first. It appears out of nowhere.

  “Hurry up!” shouts Pedro.

  The boys JUMP on their bikes and take off down the road.

  Pedro pulls in front of Dave. He spies an old gas station up ahead.

  Dave sees it too.

  The ravens shriek. Their screams are almost as loud as the bikes’ engines.
/>   The two bikes swerve and turn at the last moment.

  They race around the back of the old gas station.

  The boys quickly turn off their engines and jump from their bikes.

  The ravens swoop down.

  Dozens of birds attack the empty bikes.

  The bikers race to a back door.

  It is locked.

  Dave throws himself against the old door and busts it open.

  Pedro SCREAMS.

  A raven has grabbed his leather jacket.

  Dave pushes the bird away and yanks his friend inside the door.

  Then he grabs an old truck tire. He props it against the door, holding it shut.

  “Are you all right?” asks Dave.

  “I don’t know,” says Pedro. “I think so.”

  They rush farther inside the station.

  The cries of the ravens GROW louder.

  The bikers hear wings flapping outside. Somewhere, glass breaks.

  “They’re inside!” yells Pedro.

  Chapter 5

  THE LAST APP

  The boys find another door.

  “Must be the office,” says Pedro.

  “I hope there aren’t any windows,” says Dave.

  They push open the door and plunge into the dark room.

  Pedro finds a light switch on the wall and flips it on.

  A strange woman is standing in the middle of the room.

  She has long, dark hair. She wears boots and a uniform.

  “Who are you?” asks Pedro.

  The woman sees the phone in Dave’s hand. “Give me that,” she COMMANDS.

  “But it doesn’t —” Dave begins.

  “Quickly. We don’t have time,” she says. Then she grabs the phone.

  “That won’t work,” says Dave. He points to the phone. “There are no cell TOWERS around here.”

  The woman smiles grimly. “This will work,” she says.

  The woman taps the phone’s screen several times. “We need a new app,” she says. “One that gets rid of those birds.”

  The air EXPLODES with the screams of ravens.

  Dave and Pedro brace themselves against the door.

  On the other side, the RAVENS attack. They throw their bodies against the door.

  Sharp beaks DIG into the wood.

  The door creaks and thuds with every impact.

  The woman is busy with the phone. “I hope he finds it,” she says to herself.

  “What are you talking about?” asks Pedro.

  “Not what,” she says. “WHO.”

  “Ah, here’s the app,” says the woman. Pedro glances over her shoulder.

  The woman taps an icon for THE LIBRARY OF DOOM.

  Chapter 6

  THE MASTER

  The room lights up with a blue GLOW.

  A man now stands next to the woman. He wears dark glasses and a long, dark coat.

  “Open the door,” says the man.

  “Listen to him,” says the woman. “He knows what to do. He’s the Librarian.”

  “I’ve heard of him,” Pedro tells Dave. “He can control books or something. He’s like, their MASTER.”

  The Librarian grins. “And here’s the master of ravens,” he says. He holds up an ancient book.

  “How’s a book gonna help us with these crazy birds?” shouts Dave.

  “The man who wrote this book harnessed the POWER of the birds,” says the Librarian. “Now open that door.”

  The door bursts open. A thousand ravens flood into the room.

  The Librarian holds up the ancient book.

  A breeze begins to flip its pages.

  Then the wind spins through the small room.

  One by one, the birds disappear inside the ancient volume.

  The deadly flock is sucked into the book.

  Then . . .SILENCE.

  The Librarian snaps the covers shut. “It is done,” he says.

  “How did you do that?” asks Pedro.

  “Only horror can defeat horror,” says the Librarian. “It was the Master who did it.”

  Then he drops the book on the nearby table.

  The boys can see the cover.

  The boys walk out of the gas station.

  Outside, they find four people, sitting on the ground and looking confused.

  “How — how did we get here?” asks a red-haired boy.

  Pedro pulls the car keys from his pocket. “I think these are yours,” he says.

  Dave turns to the Librarian. “And you’re sure those birds won’t come back?” he asks.

  “NEVERMORE,” says the Librarian.

  AUTHOR

  Michael Dahl is the author of more than 200 books for children and young adults. He has won the AEP Distinguished Achievement Award three times for his nonfiction. His Finnegan Zwake mystery series was shortlisted twice by the Anthony and Agatha awards. He has also written the Dragonblood series. He is a featured speaker at conferences around the country on graphic novels and high-interest books for boys.

  ILLUSTRATOR

  Bradford Kendall has enjoyed drawing for as long as he can remember. As a boy, he loved to read comic books and watch old monster movies. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a BFA in Illustration. He has owned his own commercial art business since 1983, and lives in Providence, Rhode Island, with his wife, Leigh, and their two children Lily and Stephen. They also have a cat named Hansel and a dog named Gretel.

  GLOSSARY

  ancient (AYN-shunt)—very old

  app (APP)—a small application on a phone or computer

  asphalt (AS-falt)—a hard substance used to make roads and floors

  disturbing (diss-TURB-ing)—frightening or strange

  icon (EYE-kon)—a tiny image meant to represent something

  littered (LIT-turd)—strewn about; covered

  master (MASS-tur)—one who controls something

  nevermore (nev-ur-MOR)—never again

  pierce (PIERSS)—puncture or poke through

  savage (SAV-ij)—cruel or violent

  talon (TAL-uhn)—a part bird’s claw

  volume (VOL-yoom)—a book

  Real name: unknown (may begin with a T or a G)

  Parents: unknown

  Birthplace/birthdate: unknown

  Questions: Has he always existed? Will he ever be defeated? Are there books he doesn’t protect?

  Weaknesses: Water, crumbs, dirty fingers

  Strengths: Speed reading, ability to fly, martial arts

  Real name: Sophia (last name unknown)

  Parents: unknown

  Birthplace/birthdate: America, 20th century

  Questions: What is her role in protecting the Librarian? Can she be sto
pped?

  Weaknesses: Bad listeners

  Strengths: Does not need sleep, can research anything

  T he ravens who tried to destroy the Librarian, the Specialist, and the six teenagers were conjured by the app one of the teenagers downloaded. The creator of the app is unknown. But now the Librarian knows he has another enemy, one who would turn all stories into horrific creatures, one who would use the digital world to download evil into the real world. While the Librarian’s fight against this unnamed enemy has just begun, he believes all readers can help wage this war. Fight injustice with proof from history. Fight the death of imagination with the world’s favorite tales. Fight drab images with poetry. It is a fight, the Librarian believes, that we all share. Our weapons are our stories. They are, after all, what make us human.

  DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

  Edgar Allan Poe was considered a master of horror. What do you know about him and his stories? Talk about it.

  If you had to PROTECT one book, what would it be? Why?

  In small groups, talk about the Librarian. How did he get his job? How did the Specialist get her job? How do they spend their time?

  WRITING PROMPTS

  Create YOUR OWN APP. What does it do? What does its icon look like? Who would use it? Write about it.