They all peered over the stern. The propeller was bent beyond repair, it seemed, and there was a sizable hole in the front of the boat. “Hoooglargh!” Rice moaned and spewed one last mouthful of throw up onto the deck.
Ozzie clutched his stomach and heaved up another bellyful of vomit. “You really need to stop that, bro.”
“Sorry,” Rice said.
“What are we supposed to do now?” Zack said, thinking out loud.
Ozzie stood up despite the pain in his abdomen. “All we can do, man.”
“Which is what exactly?” Zoe asked.
“Get to shore. Find some sort of shelter. Locate a food source and then hopefully find something to patch up this boat with.”
They climbed the ladder to the sand dune and waded to the shoreline. The six of them and Twinkles plopped down on the beach and sighed, exhausted and dejected.
“This is totally wack,” said Rice, groaning as he lay back on the sand. “How the heck are we supposed to track down the frilled tiger shark without Nigel’s boat?”
“Okay,” Madison whined. “I’m ready to go home now.”
“Come on, guys,” Zack said. “I know you’re all sick and tired, but we can’t give up. There’s no one else who can save the world from these zombies.”
“Zack’s right,” Olivia said. “We have to get back out there so we can take down these super zombies once and for all!”
“That’s the spirit,” Ozzie said as he rose to his feet. “Who knows anything about wildlife vegetation?”
“I do,” Olivia said. “I used to go camping a lot with my dad.”
“Good,” Ozzie said. “We’ll gather up as many edible plants and fruits as we can. Twinkles, you stay with us.” The little pup sat obediently at Ozzie’s heels. Ozzie turned to Zack, Zoe, Madison, and Rice. “You four go on an expedition and see what’s on the other side of the island.”
“Oh yeah,” Zoe said. “That sounds real fair. You two go berry picking and we get to go hiking through some tropical island jungle.”
“Come on,” Zack said to his sister. “There are four of us. We’ll be fine. Plus we need to see if there’s anyone here who can help us patch up the boat.”
“Yeah, Zoe, let’s go,” said Madison. “Maybe there’s a town or something on the other side.”
“Only one way to find out.” Zack led the way through the tropical forest, using his baseball bat to hack through the thick island vegetation. Rice, Zoe, and Madison all carried the golf clubs they had taken from the cruise ship before they left.
As they trekked through the dense greenery, Zack paused and shushed the rest of the group. “Why are we stopping?” Madison asked.
“And please don’t shush me again,” Zoe said. “You know I don’t like to be shushed.”
“Shhhh!” Zack shushed her again. “Listen.”
A strange animalistic noise rustled in the leafy bracken beside them.
“Sounded like something growling,” Rice said.
“Are there tigers or leopards out here?” Zoe asked. “Zombies are one thing, but we won’t stand a chance against a jungle cat with just golf clubs and a baseball bat.”
“Actually, we should probably be more worried about poisonous spiders and snakes in this region,” Rice said in a smart-alecky voice.
“Thanks for that, Rice,” said Madison. “That’s very comforting.”
“Just sayin’,” Rice said, shrugging his shoulders. Pushing deeper into the island jungle, they hopped over twisted, knobby roots and batted away the dark green foliage.
“This way, guys,” Zack said. “It looks like there’s something up ahead.”
They picked up the pace and then slowed as they reached a clearing in the tropical forest. Zack’s eyes roamed over the terrain and fell on a narrow dirt path imprinted with tire tracks.
“Let’s follow it,” Madison said. “There’s got to be someone who can help us.”
They plodded down the dirt road, looking for any signs of life. But besides the tire tracks, there was nothing, not even a footprint. They kept walking until Zack stopped dead in his tracks. A low rumble sounded up ahead of them.
“What is that?” Rice asked.
“I don’t know,” said Zack.
“Let’s go look, then, you little dweeb-meisters,” said Zoe, and took the lead from the boys.
As they continued down the road, the dull rumble became more of a mechanical roar. They approached two large generators feeding electricity to some sort of work shed. Zack opened the door and looked in. The place was filled with all kinds of carpentry and iron-welding tools. Various cuts of lumber and scrap metal were piled next to the shed.
“Looks like somebody must live here,” Zack said. “Let’s keep going.”
A little farther on, they found two gigantic trees with huge twisting branches. One of the tree trunks had a wooden staircase spiraling up to where an elaborate tree house was built into the branches.
“Holy moly,” Rice said. “It’s a giant tree fort!”
“Oh no,” Madison said to Zoe. “Please tell me we haven’t died and gone to nerd heaven!”
“Come on,” Zack said, walking toward the structure. “Whoever made this thing is probably pretty handy. Let’s see if they’re home.”
The four of them walked up the steep spiral staircase, which led to a wooden platform. A rope bridge hung between two huge branches and led to a bunch of wooden huts in the treetops.
“Hello!” Rice called out as they walked across the rope bridge. “Anybody home?”
Nobody answered.
“All right,” Zack said. “Madison and I will check those two huts to the left. Rice, you and Zoe go check that big shack over there.” Zack followed Madison across a shorter, more rickety rope bridge and crept cautiously inside the tree house hut. The door creaked on its hinges as they both stepped inside. The room was empty except for a bed and a small dresser with a mirror above it.
“Nothing much here,” Madison said, peering inside the drawers. They made their way to the next hut, constructed on the adjacent tree branch.
It was another bedroom with a king-size bed at the center. Zack and Madison paused in the middle of the room, looking around. The mirror on the back of the door was shattered and a spot of what looked like blood dribbled down the glass.
“Yuck,” she said. “Something definitely gross happened here.”
Zack checked out the bloody mirror and then wandered across the room. He picked up a framed photograph off the nightstand.
“What’s that?” Madison asked as she closed the door behind her.
“Family photo or something,” Zack said. He was looking at a picture of a brother, a sister, a mom, and a dad. He stared at the photograph for a long moment. It reminded him of his own family, and suddenly all he wanted was for things to get back to normal. Just good times and family dinners, even if that did include Zoe tormenting him mercilessly. In a weird way, he missed even that.
“Zack,” Madison said. “Zack!”
“What?” Zack said, putting the photograph back on the dresser.
“I just heard something. . . .”
They both listened and heard the creak of the rope bridge right outside the door.
“Rice!” Zack hollered. “Zoe?” But no one answered.
In the distance, Zoe and Rice let out a double shriek that rang out through the treetops.
“Come on!” Zack shouted, and both he and Madison raced across the bedroom to go help their friends. WHAM! The door flung open and blasted both Zack and Madison back into the bedroom. Madison stumbled into the dresser with a bang. Zack flew to the floor, his bat rolling underneath the bed. He looked back over his shoulder at the gruesome beast in the doorway. It resembled the brother from the photograph, except that this dude was zombified.
The thing’s face was an absolute nightmare. The brother zombie clacked its black-rotted choppers in an endless series of quick, chattering chomps. Bits of enamel and other toothy shrapnel explode
d out of its mouth. The undead hooligan grunted and shot two snot rockets the color of mint jelly from its nostrils. They landed with a splat on the floor near Zack’s feet.
The brother zombie took a thunderous step forward. It was a pretty big guy, maybe seventeen years old. Zack needed to get his bat for this fella. He reached under the bed and stretched his fingertips to grab the wooden handle.
Madison charged toward the zombie with her golf club. But as she planted her feet to swing the club, she slipped on the blob of lime green slime the beast had just ejected.
“Ahhhh!” Madison screamed as she hit the floor and the zombie jumped on top of her. “Help!”
Zack grabbed the baseball bat and dragged it out from under the bed. He hopped to his feet and raised the bat over the zombie’s head. He clobbered the undead brute on the back of its skull. The zombie fell with a thud and slumped limply on the floor.
Zack breathed a sigh of relief as Madison picked herself up and brushed herself off. The unconscious zombie lay on the ground in front of them. “You all good?” Zack asked her.
“Think so,” Madison said. “You?”
“Uh-huh,” he said.
“Help!” Rice shouted from outside. “We got problems!”
Zack and Madison rushed out of the tree house bedroom to help their friends.
The clan of deserted island zombies had Rice and Zoe trapped in the middle of the rope bridge. The mom and dad were on one side. Their daughter and their undead dog hobbled on the other, cutting off their only escape route.
“You guys, help us!” Zoe screamed. “We’re about to get our brains eaten by Swiss Family Zombison!”
“Save yourself, Zoe. If you walk right past them, they probably won’t attack you,” Rice said. “Because you have no brains.”
Zoe and Rice had their clubs poised to swing as they went back to back, each of them facing a pair of rezombified tree people. The family’s zombified dog stalked toward them slowly. It bared its fangs and frothed at the mouth while panting vigorously.
Mr. and Mrs. Zombison staggered unsteadily toward Zoe. Their stiff-limbed walks made the rope bridge wobble. On the opposite side, the daughter raised its hands into sharp little claws, fingernails red with blood and dirt.
Zack looked around. There was no way they could make a jump for it. They were up way too high.
“Rice, quick! Unzombify them,” Zack said. “Give them the gumball antidote.”
“But we don’t have that many left, man,” Rice said. “What if we need them later?”
“Maybe they can help us fix the boat,” Zack said.
“Yeah, but what if we unzombify them and they turn out to be even bigger psychos than their zombie selves?” Rice said. “I mean, who lives all alone on an island? Psychos, that’s who.”
“I’m about to go psycho on you if you don’t unzombify these freaks,” Zoe said.
“For real,” Madison said to Zack. “That dog’s bugging me out.”
The zombie dog growled hideously, now only a few feet from Rice.
“Okay, okay,” Rice said, and placed two gumballs on the wooden slats of the rope bridge. Rice handed Zoe two and she placed them in similar fashion in front of the rezombified parents.
The zombie dog went for one of the gumballs and gobbled it up. A moment later it dropped in a heap on the wooden slats of the rope bridge.
Mr. and Mrs. Zombison each grabbed one of the gumballs off the rope bridge. The Zombisons’ daughter dove onto the bridge, picked up one of the gumballs, and shoveled it into its mouth.
“Braiiiins!” the girl intoned in a dreadfully demonic voice, chewing with her mouth wide open.
She swallowed the gumball, and all three Zombisons keeled over face-first. The rope bridge swayed dangerously side to side. Zoe and Rice both held on to the side rails for balance until the swinging stopped.
“What about big bro back in the hut?” Zack said.
“I’ll go take care of it,” said Madison. She bounded across the rope bridge to unzombify the brother Zombison.
“Okay,” Zack said. “We’ll get the rest of these guys off the rope bridge and into the tree house.”
Shortly after the Zombisons had shaken off their zombification, they sat across from Zack, Rice, Zoe, and Madison in the main tree house. The whole family looked very confused.
“So how did you guys get zombified, exactly?” Madison asked.
“I have no idea,” the father said. “I don’t remember much.”
“The last thing I remember was doing the dishes after dinner. I must have blacked out,” said the mother.
“Sounds like you guys got rezombified,” Rice said. “You’re from the U.S.?”
“Bob Smith,” the father said. “Cleveland, Ohio. This is my wife, Melanie. And this is our son, Jim, and our daughter, Laura.”
“We were all zombified in the first BurgerDog outbreak,” Mrs. Smith added. “Once we were unzombified by the popcorn antidote, we decided as a family to live on an island so that in the event of another zombie apocalypse, we would be safe. I guess we were wrong.”
“What do you mean when you say . . . rezombified?” Laura asked.
“The popcorn antidote from the first outbreak wore off after six months,” Zack told them. “Everyone cured from the first outbreak just up and rezombified.”
“How do you guys know all this?” asked Mr. Smith.
“Wait a second,” Laura said. “We know you guys!” She turned to her brother. “These are the kids who saved everyone during the first zombie outbreak.”
The whole family’s eyes widened.
“So it is,” said Mr. Smith. “What do you know.”
“It’s true, it is us,” Rice said proudly. “And if you guys have a pen, I’ll be happy to sign an autograph for you.”
Zack nudged Rice in the ribs with his elbow.
“Don’t mind him,” Madison said. “He’s kind of a moron.”
“Where is your other friend?” Laura asked. “Weren’t there five of you?”
“Ozzie Briggs,” Rice said. “He’s gathering up food down on the beach.”
“Yeah, he’s with Olivia,” said Madison. “She’s my cousin and also the zombie antidote now.”
“But I thought you were?” Laura said.
“It’s a long story,” said Madison.
“So you kids are off saving the world again, huh?” Mr. Smith said. “If you’re all the way out here unzombifying us, then you must have saved everybody back home already, right?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Zack said. “It’s still pretty bad out there. We actually got shipwrecked on your island a few hours ago. Is there any way you could take a look at our boat and see if there’s any way to patch things up?”
“Anything for you kids,” Mrs. Smith said. “Bob’s a pretty handy guy.”
“Of course I’ll take a look,” Mr. Smith said. “Can’t make any promises, but let’s go check it out.”
When they got back to the beach, Zack called out to Ozzie and Olivia, who were still busy gathering food. “Hey, guys! Come over and meet the Smiths! They live on the island.”
Mr. Smith followed Ozzie and Zack out to Nigel’s shipwrecked boat and inspected the damage.
Mr. Smith scratched his head. “Hmm, I don’t know. This sucker’s pretty dinged up.”
“Dang it!” Zack kicked the wet sand with a splash, showing his frustration.
“Now hold on,” Mr. Smith continued. “We’ve got an extra motor boat on the other side of the island. You’re welcome to take that if you want.”
“I’m afraid that’s not going to work, sir,” Ozzie explained. “This is a specially designed shark-hunting boat. If we’re going to track down the giant frilled tiger shark and reverse the super zombie virus strain, then it’s gotta be this boat right here.”
“Hmm, sounds pretty fancy. Let’s see if we can’t salvage this thing.” Mr. Smith thought for a moment and then called to his son. “Jimbo, come have a look-see!”
Ji
m jogged across the beach and waded out to the sand dune. “Oooh,” he said, checking out the damage for himself. “That’s messed up! Busted rudder. The engine’s been punctured. And you got a hole in the keel.”
“Think that spare motor would work on this?” Mr. Smith asked him.
Jim scratched his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe. We can definitely try it.”
“Then why don’t we all go back to the house and grab some tools and wood,” he said. “You can start patching up that hole while I work on the motor.”
“Sounds good, Pops,” Jim said.
While the Smith men worked on Nigel’s boat, Ozzie took to fashioning himself another set of nunchaku. He had found two suitable pieces of wood, a chain, and two metal hooks. It didn’t take long before his new martial arts weapon of choice was complete and he was testing it out on the beach, taking down invisible zombies move after move.
Rice and Zack played fetch with Twinkles and the Smiths’ unzombified dog, Bruno. The girls hung out with Laura drinking lemonade Mrs. Smith had brought from the house.
By the time Jim and his father had patched up the hole and replaced the motor, the sun had sunk to just above the horizon of the ocean.
“Thank you so much for all your help,” Zack told Mr. Smith and his son. “Now we’ve got to hit the road. I mean the water.”
“Are you sure you have to go back out there?” Laura asked. “It’s so dangerous.”
“You’re welcome to stay here with us,” Mr. Smith said, “until things blow over.”
“Thanks,” said Zack. “But things aren’t going to blow over unless we do the huffing and puffing.”
“Yeah,” Rice said. “We have to hunt down this giant shark or else we may never be able to make a super zombie antidote.”
“Well, at the very least you can all stay for dinner,” Mrs. Smith said. “I was thinking about making lasagna.”
“I’d love to stay and have a home-cooked meal,” said Olivia, “but I seriously doubt you guys have vegan cheese on the island.”
Zombies of the Caribbean Page 6
