Extra Famous

by Graham Salisbury

  “Give me a break,” Julio scoffed.

  “No, it’s true. I read about it in Scientific American. Anyway, there wasn’t any brains. That food was catered by Zippy’s. Was good, too.”

  “Zippy’s!” Willy said, shoving me from behind. “And we missed that for red licorice?”

  “Well, I could have been right.”

  Maya gave me a You-are-so-pathetic look.

  Shayla gave me a nicer one.

  “So,” I said. “Anyone want some red licorice?”

  We sat around gnawing while the film crew got ready for another scene.

  Shayla nudged Benny. “What’s next?”

  He pointed his chin toward Stella, Mr. Obi, and Spike Black, the star. They were looking at the script. “Zombie Zumba,” Benny said, waggling his eyebrows.

  I only half heard him as I watched the food crew take away all those sweet-smelling leftovers.

  Dang.

  Spike Black looked just like he was supposed to—like a movie star. I’d seen him in Kick Start, a movie about a super-talented twelve-year-old kid who joined a scrappy high school soccer team and took them all the way to the top. It was pretty good.

  He was older now, eighteen.

  But even though he was famous he seemed kind of shy. At least, he wasn’t running around ordering people to do things for him. He just stood with Stella listening to Mr. Obi.

  The other zombies sat around in the sun waiting for something to do. Shayla and Maya had gone down to the beach to cool their feet in the ocean.

  “Weird, how they make movies,” Julio said. “Not like you see it, but all broken up into pieces. This scene, that scene. It’s crazy.”

  “They put it all together in editing,” Benny said. “Like a puzzle. It’s fun.”

  “You’ve done that?” Willy asked.

  “Sure. My uncle is teaching me.”

  Julio coughed up a laugh. “Like somebody taught you kung fu?”

  “Hey,” I said. “Look.”

  A big flatbed truck was growling toward the parking lot. It could hardly squeeze down the road, which was crammed with parked cars.

  On the bed of the truck were three huge steel cages, the kind that hold wild animals at the zoo.

  “Holy bazooks,” I said. “What are those for?”

  Benny grinned. “You read the script, right? Remember the cages?”

  “You mean—”

  “Yup. The moonlight scene. Before this day is done we will be captured in those cages, taken out to sea … and dumped overboard.”

  I looked at Julio and Willy. “How cool is that!”

  “Zombies,” Mr. Obi called, motioning for us to gather around him. “Come!”

  Somebody had showed up with a dog, but not a dog like Streak, who was a poi dog, a mix. This one was too handsome to be a mutt. A lady stood with him. The dog did whatever she said.

  Somebody else showed up, too … Julio’s brothers.

  But this time their dad was with them.

  “Look who came,” I said to Julio.

  Julio watched them. They didn’t see us.

  “Looks like Pop took a day off,” Julio said.

  I spotted Mom, Darci, and Ledward in the crowd, watching the dog do tricks.

  “That’s one nice dog,” Willy said.

  “Golden retriever,” Benny said. “Came over from Los Angeles yesterday. His name is Alex, and that lady with him is his trainer, Lauren. Best in the business. She once trained a deer to play dead.”

  “Not,” Willy said. “How can you train a deer?”

  Benny shrugged. “She can.”

  “Holy guacamole!” I gasped as she made the dog jump up as high as her shoulder.

  We bunched up around Mr. Obi.

  “Okay, everyone,” he said. “Here’s how it’s going down. Lauren, bring Alex over.”

  I felt somebody snuggle up next to me.

  A zombie … named Shayla.

  She smiled and whispered, “You having a good time, Calvin?”

  “Uh … yeah, but shhh. He’s talking now.”

  Shayla pinched her finger and thumb together and zipped her lips.

  “All right, listen up, folks,” Mr. Obi said. “First get checked out by makeup. Then go back down on the beach. We’re shooting two scenes in one this time. You’re more like background, at least for a few minutes.”

  Hey! We were part of Stella’s scene. How could she call me ignorant if we were both in the same scene? She must be a gnome, too.

  That made me smile.

  Alex, the retriever, lounged on the grass with his tongue drooping in the heat. Looked half asleep. I whispered to Benny, “What if that dog doesn’t want to act?”

  “Don’t worry. Lauren can make it sing if she wants. She can make it eat popcorn, then pick its teeth with a toothpick.”

  “Pshh,” I scoffed.

  That dog looked bored. It might take a firecracker to get that lazybones up and going.

  As we headed over to the makeup table I spotted Stella. She was dressed to look like a beach runner, with black shorts and a sky-blue tank top. Her hair hung like a tail from the back of a yellow ball cap.

  She saw me watching her and waved.

  I lifted my chin.

  Making movies makes you be nicer to people, I guess, because Stella even smiled at me.

  Mr. Obi rubbed his hands together. “Here we go! Let’s try to get this in one take.”

  All us zombies headed back down to where we’d first come out of the water.

  “Action!”

  I grinned at Julio and started limping around again.

  Shayla shuffled up and followed me. Dang. When the movie comes out everyone is going to see us together, me and my zombie girlfriend.

  But then I thought, Nah. Nobody will even recognize us, since we’re dead.

  A few minutes later Alex the dog came barking down the beach as if he’d read the script and was saying his lines. Amazing.

  Could I train Streak to act? I already trained her to chase bufos and sleep on my bottom bunk.

  Slowly, we turned toward the barking dog.

  In the trees above the beach I could see cameras on Stella, who was trying to run after the dog. But Spike had his arms around her, pulling her back.

  “Cut!” Mr. Obi called through a bullhorn. “Let’s try that again, and no one look up at the camera, okay?”

  This time, we got it right.

  Back up in the beach park I found Mom, Darci, and Ledward in the crowd. They’d watched Stella play her part and were congratulating her.

  “Did you see me, too, Mom?” I asked.

  “Sure did. You make a handsome zombie, sweetie.”

  I frowned. “Zombies are ugly, Mom, not handsome.”

  She pinched my cheek. “You will never be ugly to me.”

  When Julio’s brothers came sprinting toward us, Julio said, “I’m outta here!”

  “Wait!” I said, grabbing his arm. “Look at them. They’re not coming to bother you; they’re coming to see you up close, because to them, you’re a movie star.”

  Julio decided to wait when he saw his dad following.

  “Remember what your dad said about your part?”

  The brothers stopped a few feet away and stared at us, eyes popping.

  Julio stood taller, nodding slowly.

  “What a job, Julio!” his dad said. “You boys are natural-born zombies.”

  Julio grinned and looked at his feet.

  Mr. Obi walked up and shook hands with Mom, Ledward, and Julio’s dad.

  Then he squatted down and looked at Darci, eye to eye. “And who are you, young lady?”

  Darci looked up at Mom.

  “Her name is Darci,” I said. “She’s my sister.”

  Mr. Obi studied Darci, his hand cupping his chin. “You want to be in a movie, Darci?”

  We began filming the next scene, another piece in the puzzle Mr. Obi would put together in his Hollywood studio.

  First we watched as t
hey filmed eight men dragging the big steel cages down to the beach.

  It turned out that the cages weren’t steel at all; they were made of something lighter and painted silver. I probably could have dragged one off the truck by myself. But they looked real, and the actors made them look heavy.

  The next scene was Darci’s big moment.

  Mr. Obi pointed to three adult zombies. “You, you, and you, listen up. I want you to slowly start wandering up toward the homes above the beach. Just when you get close to the houses we’re going to blare some music. Zombies are attracted by sound, so when you hear it, you turn away from the neighborhood.”

  One of the adult zombies raised his hand. “What are those cages for?”

  “Those are for a scene we’ll film around the time the sun goes down. You’ll see. But for now, two things need to happen: One, you head to the houses and turn back when you hear music. Two, you catch this little girl.”

  Mr. Obi pulled Darci over next to him.

  “Benny,” he said. “You’re going to be the one to catch her. The rest of you will close in and completely surround her … and that will be the last we ever see of her.”

  Shayla gasped. “You mean they eat her?”

  “A zombie movie has to have drama,” Benny said.

  Darci grinned. She liked it.

  “But that’s so mean,” Shayla whispered.

  Maya touched her shoulder. “It’s a movie, Shayla.”

  “Let’s go!” Mr. Obi called.

  We headed out.

  Lined all along the beach, in the park above, and in people’s yards, a huge crowd was watching the filming. Some sat on blankets with kids and ice chests and cameras of their own. Some guys stood like statues with their arms crossed. Windsurfers and kite boarders waited with their gear, giving us looks that said, Hurry it up, already, we want to go in the ocean.

  I couldn’t blame them.

  “Action!”

  “Easiest money I ever made,” Willy said.

  Maya bumped him. “Quiet! What if somebody watching the movie can read lips?”

  The three adult zombies broke away and headed toward the houses. When they were almost there, Zumba music blared, and they headed back.

  We all turned toward the music.

  When it stopped, we went back to our mindless limping.

  Waves slapped the shore like always, but when I looked down the beach and saw nothing—no people, no dogs, no kite boarders or windsurfers—it felt really weird. This beach was always hopping with stuff.

  Now … it felt like the end of the world.

  Except for one thing.

  There was a little girl wandering toward us.

  Darci.

  Benny groaned and started toward her. The rest of us limped faster, following Benny.

  In the story, Darci was some kid walking down the beach not paying attention, just having fun splashing through the shallow water. When she looks up, she sees zombies. Man, would that freak me out in real life.

  We shuffled faster, making weird noises.

  Darci was a good actress. She made like she didn’t get what was going on. Just kept on coming down the beach.

  When Benny was almost on top of her, she figured it out.

  And shrieked!

  I gaped. Ho!

  It was high and sharp, like a powerful whistle, so clear you could probably hear it all the way over on the other side of the island!

  When Benny grabbed her arm she screamed even more, and struggled to get away.

  We all closed in.

  Benny surrounded her with his arms.

  Darci fainted and fell to the sand. I don’t think Mr. Obi told her to do that, but it was perfect.

  We fell on her.

  She died like a champ.

  “Cut!”

  Darci’s eyes sparkled when Mr. Obi handed her a crisp fifty-dollar bill and an autographed movie poster of My Cousin Is a Teenage Vambie.

  “That was brilliant, Darci, just doggone brilliant.”

  Darci looked up at Mom and smiled.

  “For sure, Darce,” I said. “You were great.”

  Julio, Willy, Rubin, Maya, and Shayla all slapped hands with her.

  Darci beamed.

  Mom pulled her close. “What an exciting day this is.”

  “Stick around,” Mr. Obi said. “More to come.”

  I elbowed Darci. “Too bad you won’t be here to see it, Darce … because we just ate you.”

  “Two more scenes and it’s a wrap for the beach,” Mr. Obi said. “Gotta go get set up.”

  He left and I thought, How does he keep everything in his head? There was so much going on.

  I asked Benny.

  “He’s a genius,” Benny said. “That, plus he’s got Lana. Nothing gets by her.”

  “Was me,” Julio said, “I’d need five assistants.”

  Benny nodded seriously, as if what Julio had said would be true for anyone … except him and his uncle, of course. “Wait till you see what we’re doing with the cages. Me and my uncle rewrote that scene. It’s better now.”

  We all turned to look at the cages waiting in the trees that lined the beach.

  “Really?” I said. “He let you rewrite the script with him?”

  “Of course. No big deal. I do it all the time.”

  Julio shook his head and chuckled. “You are definitely something else, Benny.”

  Benny shrugged. “Just got it, I guess.”

  The sun was slipping behind the mountains. Night was coming on, which meant it wouldn’t be long before Stella’s big moonlight scene.

  I looked up. What if there wasn’t a moon tonight? I shrugged. This was Hollywood. They could do anything.

  Spike Black came over with a suitcase-sized thing on his shoulder. It had big dials on it, like an old radio.

  “Spike,” Benny said. “These are my friends from the school I used to go to.”

  Spike smiled, his teeth white as cut coconut. “You guys having fun?”

  “For sure,” I said. “You’re lucky you get to do this all the time.”

  He laughed. “Not all the time. I do other kinds of movies, too. And I also make guitars. That’s my hobby.”

  “I played a guitar once,” Rubin said.

  “Cool,” Spike said.

  “What’s that thing on your shoulder?” I asked.

  “This,” he said, lowering the box, “is an old-time radio called a boom box. It’s for the last beach scene.”

  “Spike is going to use it to draw you away,” Benny said. “You’ll see.”

  Later, we all went down onto the beach and did a scene where we limped after Spike with his boom box while the big guys moved the cages down to the sand.

  Then Mr. Obi said, “For the last scene I need more to happen than just herding zombies into cages. I need someone else to get caught, but not Spike … Spike will save that person.”

  Mr. Obi looked around at his cast.

  “You,” he said finally.

  Stella lit up.

  As the sun disappeared behind the mountains that cut across the island, the sky turned from blue to silver, to purple, and finally to black.

  The last scene was supposed to be the spookiest of all, and a dark beach shadowed by eerie movie lights would make you think twice about being alone on the sand.

  As the night breeze swayed the ironwood trees, Mr. Obi went over the scene with Stella and Spike.

  Stella never took her eyes off him. She was one hundred percent focused on her job. She wasn’t even Stella anymore, seemed like.

  Lana called from the set. “Zombies! Check in with makeup.”

  Stella’s big scene started with all of us back down on the beach, wandering around in the dark. By then we were so tired that when we staggered it was for real. And our groaning turned into something more like snarling and barking.

  Then when Spike blasted Zumba music on the boom box, we all turned and growled as we headed toward the noise.

  Spike, Stella
, and another actor were acting as bait to lure us over to the three huge cages. The idea was that the three of them would break us up into groups and herd us into the cages and lock us up.

  Each cage had two doors, one in front and one in back. The bait would go into the cage and the zombies would follow them.

  The bait would then escape out the back and slam the door, and the zombies would be locked inside.

  That was the plan.

  Except Mr. Obi had just rewritten the scene.

  It happened like this:

  We closed in on the bait, our zombie hunger raging. Julio, Willy, Benny, Rubin, Maya, Shayla, and I headed to the middle cage, our arms out, faces crazy, groaning, barking.

  We got closer and closer to the cages.

  Stella, Spike, and the other guy taunted us, coming close, then running back as we limped after them.

  The three baits went into the cages.

  That would take guts in real life. What if the back door got stuck?

  Mr. Obi had thought of that, too, and that was exactly what happened to Stella’s escape door.

  The other two baits went in and out the back and slammed the cage doors shut and locked the zombies inside them.

  Stella’s back door wouldn’t budge.

  She shook it. She beat her fists on it.

  She turned around. Zombies were dragging their feet into the cage behind her. She panicked and screamed. Spike and the other guy ran over and tried to get the escape door open.

  Stella screamed louder, so loud and so real that I almost stopped being a zombie to watch.

  One zombie grabbed her arm. Stella yanked it away. Another came at her from the other side.

  Stella fell and four zombies landed on top of her.

  At the last second, Spike and the other guy managed to get the door open. They reached in. Spike pulled Stella out while the other guy batted the zombies back with a stick. Stella was scratched, red marks running down her arms and across her face with something the makeup people had given the attacking zombies.

  “Lock it!” Spike shouted to the other guy.

  He managed to beat the zombies back and slam the cage door and lock it tight.