World Zombination

by John Kloepfer

  Zhang brushed off the apology with a swipe of his hand. “You are young and brash, but you are very skilled. You have proven yourself worthy and then some.”

  “Okay, can we please cool it with all this mushy stuff,” Zoe said, cupping her ear as if she was listening to something far off in the distance. “You guys hear that?”

  They all stopped and listened. Zack could hear the yowls of the remaining super zombies echo down from the mountaintop. The noise made him shudder.

  Zhang’s expression changed back to the serious look they knew so well. “We must go,” he said. “Quickly! Follow me!”

  The seven of them rushed outside and Zhang led them to a small garage. Twinkles tagged along. Zhang opened the door to the garage and hopped in the front seat of an old beat-up pickup truck. “Get in!” he shouted, and the kids jumped into the truck bed. “Hang on!” Zhang hollered as he floored the gas pedal and peeled out down the narrow dirt road.

  They arrived at the Hangzhou airport a short while later, and Zhang pulled onto the runway. Zack could see their plane not far ahead.

  They were in the clear.

  But as they drove across the tarmac, a large mob emerged, forming a super zombie army between them and their plane.

  “Oh, now what the heck is this?” Zack said in the front seat.

  “There’s no way we can get past that many with just the seven of us . . . ,” Ozzie said from the back of the pickup.

  “You’re right,” Zhang said, slowing down the truck. “Zack, take the wheel. I know what I must do.”

  Zack shot the kung fu master a look of confusion.

  Zhang pointed at the horde of super zombies and said very calmly, “Drive straight at them. I will hold them off.”

  Zack hesitated for a moment.

  “Hold on, Zhang,” Zoe said, sticking her head in from the back. “What’s the plan here?”

  “I will keep them occupied while you get to your airplane,” Zhang said. “It’s the only way. There are too many of them.”

  “But they’ll rip you apart,” Zack said. “Even you, Zhang.”

  “I’ll be fine, young Zachary. I am a kung fu master!”

  “I’m not doing that,” Zack said. “We’re not leaving you behind!”

  “There’s no destiny but the one before us,” said Zhang. He revved the engine and took a long, deep breath. He floored the accelerator, putting the pedal to the metal, and zoomed straight for the gigantic swarm.

  As they sped across the tarmac, Zhang opened the driver’s-side door and shouted. “Take the wheel!”

  Zack had no other choice. He leaned over from the passenger seat and grabbed the steering wheel.

  Zhang Wu leaped out of the moving vehicle and kicked the door shut with one fluid motion.

  Outside, he landed in front of the super zombie crowd, one man against a thousand howling, snarling zombie mutants.

  Zack quickly scooted over into the driver’s seat and pressed his foot on the accelerator, plowing through the undead horde where Zhang had cleared them a path.

  Zack glanced back in the rearview mirror and watched the old kung fu master take them on. Zack was surprised to see that Zhang was winning. The old man was amazing as he defeated one zombie after another.

  Zack slammed to a halt beside their jet. They all jumped out of the pickup and scurried up the ramp to board the plane. Madison checked the plane for any super zombie stowaways while Ozzie prepared the jet for liftoff. Less than a minute later, Ozzie wheeled the plane around, pointing it down the runway. The engine rumbled to life, and the jet rolled forward, picking up speed and soaring into the air.

  As they cruised high in the sky Zack could see that Zhang was still fighting off the super zombies on the tarmac. Zack reminded himself to never mess with the old kung fu master—ever. Get out of there, man, Zack thought to himself. Get out of there.

  And then Zack heard the voice inside his head.

  Young Zack . . . It was Zhang. I have fulfilled my destiny. And now you and your friends must fulfill yours.

  Against all odds, they had collected the three ingredients they needed—the digestive enzyme from the giant frilled tiger shark, the mayfly larvae from Madagascar, and the root from the ancient ginkgo.

  And now they had their cure.

  Once they got the samples back to Nigel Black, the super zombies were about to find out what Zack and his friends were really made of.

  Hopefully it was more than flesh and brains.

  Back on Nigel’s private island fortress, the six of them walked from the beach into the rocky cave. The place seemed still and quiet. They walked up to the steel door leading to the research lab. Zack punched in the pass code for the door lock Nigel had given them. Slowly they entered the zombie-proof compound with extreme caution.

  “Hello?” Zack called out, his voice echoing down the hallway. “Nigel! Anybody home?”

  “We’re back!” Zoe chimed in, but there wasn’t a peep. The whole place was eerily quiet.

  “Let’s go check the main lab,” Rice said, leading the way. “He’s probably in there.”

  The double doors swung open as they pushed into Nigel’s laboratory. They were expecting to see Cousin Ben strapped to the table, still super-zombified. But there was no one there. Instead, the place was a complete mess. The examination table, where Ben had been, was flipped over on its side. The computer equipment, the stainless steel lab tools, the glass flasks and beakers were all scattered and smashed on the floor.

  Thick red streaks of blood zigzagged, smeared across the linoleum tiles.

  It looked like a crime scene.

  “What the heck happened here?” Ozzie asked.

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Zack said.

  “Something not good,” Madison said, raising her eyebrows. “Obvi.”

  As they scanned the wreckage, looking for any more clues, the double doors suddenly locked behind them.

  WHAM! CLACK! Something grumbled in the hallway.

  Rice spun on his heels. “Whoa, what was that?”

  “Again probably something not good,” Madison repeated. “When are you guys gonna learn?”

  Zack raced toward the door. He pulled at the handle, but the door was bolted shut. He stood on his tiptoes and peered through the small square window at the top of the door.

  He gasped at the scene, and his stomach twisted into a tight, painful knot.

  In the harsh fluorescent light of hallway, Ben lifted his shriveled arm. Another super zombie high-fived Olivia’s brother. That super zombie was Nigel Black. His face wrinkled up into a sinister scowl. His eyes were bloodshot and red. Thick veins bulged off his forehead, pulsing with the super zombie virus.

  “Bad news, guys,” Zack hollered to his friends. “Nigel’s a freakin’ super zombie!”

  “We got a visual?” asked Ozzie.

  “I did,” Zack said. “But I lost them. They ran down the hallway.”

  “Why’d they do that?” Zoe asked. “Olivia’s in here!”

  “I don’t know why,” Zack shouted. “I’m not a super zombie anymore!”

  It suddenly dawned on him. Zack was the only person in the entire world who had been un-super-zombified.

  Now the super zombies had them trapped.

  “What are we going to do now?” Zoe asked.

  “I don’t know about you guys,” Rice said, “but I’m gonna mix up more of the antidote.” He dumped the contents of his backpack onto a metal counter and set out the three ingredients for the super zombie cure: the digestive enzyme from the giant frilled tiger shark. Check. Unhatched larvae from the African mayfly of Madagascar. Check. The root from the ancient ginkgo tree. Check.

  Zack called to his buddy on the other side of the lab. “Rice, get crackin’.”

  He continued to keep watch while Rice directed Zoe, Madison, and Ozzie on how to help him mix up a batch of the antidote. Then the hallway’s fluorescent lights flickered and went dead. Zack couldn’t see a thing.

  “
Hurry up, guys, I think they’re coming back!”

  “You think?” Madison said.

  “I don’t know—they shut off the lights in the hallway,” said Zack, squinting through the window.

  Madison scooped up an unbroken beaker. Zoe found a stirring stick and Ozzie grabbed an empty plastic spray bottle. They ran over and gave the items to Rice, who was waiting impatiently with the super-antidote ingredients.

  “Chop-chop!” Rice said, clapping his hands together. “Let’s get it together, people. . . . Olivia, we’re going to need just a little bit more of your blood.”

  Olivia went over to the lab counter as Rice dumped a bottle of Vital Vegan PowerPunch into the beaker. He then added three small portions of the ingredients and stirred them up.

  Ozzie pulled out a sharp metal pin and gestured for Olivia to hold out her finger. He cleaned it with an alcohol wipe, then raised the pin above her fingertip. Olivia looked away.

  “Wait, Olivia,” said Ozzie. “You don’t have to do this. You’re going to pass out and those super zombies could come in here any second.”

  “That’s a good point, cuz,” Madison said. “You pass out anytime someone takes your blood. You were out for ten whole minutes in China.”

  “But we need her to do it one more time,” Rice said.

  “I hate to say it, but Rice is right, guys,” Olivia said. “The only way to stop all this craziness is if we make as much of the antidote as we can.”

  Olivia held out her finger and winced as Ozzie pricked her skin with the needle. He held out a test tube and caught the red droplets before Olivia swooned and dropped to the floor.

  WHOMP! BAM!

  Zack stumbled back as the double doors flew open.

  Ben and Nigel lumbered in, side by side, and a rotten stench filled the air. The two super zombies staggered to a stop, their chests heaving in and out, wheeze-grunt, wheeze-grunt, wheeze.

  “Told ya we shouldn’t have let her give the blood!” Madison said.

  “No time for I told you so’s,” Zack yelled. “Rice, how’s that antidote coming along?”

  Rice was tapping a drop of Olivia’s blood into the mixture and swirling it around in the glass beaker. “Almost ready, Zackarino!”

  “Growr!” said Nigel Black as he lurched forward. He had a nasty bite mark on his arm that was red and green and black from blood and pus and zombie rot. Ben split off from his partner and tottered to the right. Both super zombies eyed the group, like predators about to lunge for their prey.

  “Everybody, form a circle around Olivia!” Ozzie shouted, and hopped over Olivia’s body. Zack backed up, putting himself between the super zombies and their friend. The girls did the same.

  As the two super zombies zeroed in, Rice finished mixing the solution and began pouring the pink liquid into the spray bottle.

  “Glarghk!” Nigel Black made the first move, shouldering past Zoe and leaping for Rice.

  “Rice, look out!” Zack cried.

  “Whoa!” Rice looked up to see Nigel diving to tackle him.

  Nigel Black slammed into Rice just as he twisted the spray nozzle closed. The two of them crashed to the floor.

  The rest of the antidote wobbled and tipped off the side of the table. Zack dashed for the falling container, stretching his arms out like a football player. He felt the glass in his hands as he skidded across the floor. Phew, he’d saved the super zombie antidote.

  Olivia was still passed out in the middle of the room. Cousin Ben charged and clashed with Ozzie, Madison, and Zoe. In the other direction, Rice was wrestling on the floor with Nigel Black. The super zombie clawed on top of Rice, straddling him. He knocked the antidote out of Rice’s hands and the plastic bottle slid across the floor.

  Rice scrambled, reaching for the spray bottle. Zack set the beaker back on the counter and bolted for the antidote. He grabbed the bottle off the floor and curled his finger around the plastic trigger. He aimed it right at Nigel’s super-zombified face and squeezed.

  The pink liquid spritzed the super zombie in the eyes and the mouth.

  Nigel Black hacked and coughed as the antidote absorbed into his system.

  The super zombie dropped in a heap on top of Rice, who breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Rooowrghghkle!”

  Before Zack could help Rice to his feet, Cousin Ben gave a phlegm-rattling roar. Ozzie and the girls were all over him. Ozzie hugged him around the waist, Madison clung tightly to one of her cousin’s arms, and Zoe was on the floor, with both hands wrapped around his leg, trying to pull him down.

  “Hang on tight!” Ozzie groaned.

  “He’s too strong!” Madison shouted.

  In three quick movements, Ben erupted in a burst of super zombie energy. He kicked his leg and sent Zoe sliding across the floor, crashing into a shelf. The super zombie whipped his arm to the side and flung Madison into the opposite wall. Ben wiggled his hips like he was doing the hula and Ozzie flew into the overturned gurney. Ozzie tried to get up, but he looked woozy from the fall and collapsed on his side.

  Ben beat his chest, picked up his sister, Olivia, and flopped her over his shoulder. In a flash, he made a break for the laboratory door, stealing away with the last known source of the vital vegan antidote.

  “Olivia!” Zack sprang to his feet and ran after Ben. “Olivia!”

  Slung over her brother’s shoulder, Olivia’s eyes twitched open and she came to. “Ahhh! Zack! Help!” She squirmed to get away, but Ben carried his sister as easily as if she was a rag doll.

  The super zombie lumbered around the corner at the end of the dark hallway, making his way back toward the sea cave. Zack was trying to catch up, but the super zombie was way ahead of him.

  Zack burst outside and the salty air blasted him in the face.

  VRRRRoooooMM!

  Zack shaded his eyes and peered out at the open sea. Cousin Ben was steering a speedboat. Olivia was tied up in the back of the boat, kicking and screaming as they zoomed out onto the water.

  Then they were gone.

  Zack’s mind reeled. There were no other boats in sight. A tight panic set into his chest and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach. He stood there helplessly, then kicked the sand and said a word that his mother would have sent him to his room for saying.

  Without a second more to waste, Zack doubled back to the laboratory to see if Nigel could remember anything from his super-zombification.

  Back in Nigel’s lab, the rest of the gang were picking themselves up off the floor.

  “Where’s Olivia?” Madison asked as he walked in.

  “Cousin Ben’s got her,” Zack said.

  His friends’ faces fell all at once.

  “I think he’s taking her back to Florida—you know, back to their parents so they can use her to make more brains for all the other super zombies. That was their original plan. . . .”

  “Then, what are we waiting for?” Madison shouted. “Let’s get out of here and go save my cousin!”

  “Not so fast,” Nigel groaned from the floor, raising his arm up to stop them. “We have to make some preparations first. . . .”

  The six of them gathered around Nigel, who was unable to stand on his own.

  Twinkles trotted up to Nigel and licked him on the nose while Madison and Ozzie knelt down beside him and helped him sit up.

  “Are you all right, man?” Rice asked him.

  Nigel shook his head. “No, I think I’m pretty far from all right,” he said.

  “At least you’re not super-zombified anymore,” Zoe said. “Show a little gratitude.”

  “Come on.” Nigel rose to his feet and began picking up the pieces of his lab. “We haven’t much time.”

  The Florida heat was thick and sticky.

  Zack was crawling on his belly, flat to the ground, the way soldiers do in combat. He was alone. Nigel Black and the rest of the crew were spread out around the epicenter of super zombies. The zombies surrounded Bunco’s bubblegum factory, where this whole super zombie f
iasco had begun a little over a week ago.

  Ozzie had flown them in Nigel’s small propeller plane while they scoped out the scene below. The super zombies were all crowding together like they were at an outdoor rock concert. And Olivia was the headlining act. There were probably about two or three hundred of the brain-hungry suckers.

  Led by Uncle Conrad and Aunt Ginny, the super zombies had rounded up a whole bunch of regular zombies. One by one, the super zombies were going to unzombify the regulars, turning them back into humans so they could feast on their brains.

  It was going to be super gross.

  That was unless Zack Clarke had anything to say about it. He crawled on his elbows, clutching a green Super Soaker filled with the antidote. He had an extra container full of antidote for refills. Two spray bottles were holstered on each hip. He also had a backpack filled with antidote water balloons. They sloshed as he walked toward the zombies.

  Everyone else had about the same amount of antidote. They’d mixed up as big a batch as they could, using a case of the vegan vitamin water Nigel had in storage, the rest of Olivia’s blood sample, and the special ingredients they had gathered from across the globe.

  Zack checked the stopwatch that he had synced with the rest of his friends. Thirty seconds remained. He saw Rice about forty yards away. His buddy glanced his way and gave him the thumbs-up. They hid just outside the perimeter, behind parked cars and the bushes lining the factory grounds. Inching forward, they were finally close enough to run into the crowd.

  The stopwatch beeped and Zack silenced it. He quietly sprinted forward, his squirt gun poised.

  Ready.

  All seven of them appeared, encircling the undead horde. Twinkles was literally armed to the teeth, carrying a small antidote-filled water balloon in his mouth.

  Aim.

  This better work, he thought. And he knew it would. As long as they all fought together. Zack ran up behind the super zombie horde, ready to end this once and for all.