by Joe McGee
“We have to get his attention,” said Madeline.
“Like this?” said Sally. She knocked on the glass.
The DJ did not respond or seem to notice them. His back was turned to them, and he was speaking into the microphone.
“It’s the headphones,” said Madeline. “He can’t hear us.”
Gilbert studied the walls of the control room. Rock-and-roll posters and signed pictures of celebrities who’d come to Wolver Hollow hung on the wall. There was even a signed tour poster from Velvet Frog, framed with a pair of drumsticks and one sequined sock.
“No way,” said Gilbert. “Velvet Frog!”
“Focus!” said Madeline. “We need to get the DJ’s attention.”
Sally ran her fingers along the control board, looking for something, anything, that might help.
“Well, that’s easy,” said Gilbert. He strode over and opened the studio door. “Excuse me, sir? Mr. DJ?”
“What’s this one do?” Sally asked. She pressed a button, and the speakers in the control room came on with the DJ’s live, on-the-air show.
“… DJ Calvin Kool, coming at you live with a reminder to—”
The DJ spun in their direction, microphone in hand. His mirrored sunglasses reflected the studio lights.
“Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Kool,” said Gilbert, “but this is kind of an emergency.”
“—to EAT YOUR LIMA BEANS!” said DJ Kool, flinging his sunglasses off. His eyes pulsed with that same lima-bean green.
Gilbert turned and tripped over his own feet. He landed on his stomach, half in the studio and half out.
“Help!” he yelled.
DJ Kool jumped from his chair and dove for Gilbert, but Madeline and Sally each grabbed one of Gilbert’s arms and yanked him away.
DJ Kool scrambled after them. Sally helped Gilbert to his feet while Madeline slammed the studio door.
Sally, Gilbert, and Madeline made it to the top of the stairs just as the studio door flew open.
“DJ Kool, coming at you live, lean, mean, and green!” he said, running after them.
“Go, go, go, go!” said Gilbert as they hurried down the stairs, trying not to bowl each other over.
They’d just reached the bottom of the stairs when the front door of the radio station banged open, sending the chair flying.
“BEANS!” roared the zombies.
Madeline grabbed Sally’s and Gilbert’s hands and pulled them down the hallway.
“This place should have a back door, right?” she said.
“Wh-what if it doesn’t?” asked Gilbert. “I don’t want to eat my lima beans. I don’t want to be a zombie.”
The zombies poured into the hallway, chasing after them.
“We’re in luck!” Madeline shouted. There was indeed a back door.
Madeline threw the door open and hustled out, with Gilbert and Sally right after her.
They were behind the radio station, in an alleyway that ran between the backs of the hardware store and the movie theater.
“They’re coming!” said Gilbert.
Sally pointed to a nearby dumpster. “Quick, in there,” she said.
They had just climbed into the dumpster when the radio station’s back door opened and the lima bean–controlled townspeople swarmed out.
“Can they smell us?” Gilbert whispered.
“We’re laying in trash, Gilbert,” said Sally. “The only thing they probably smell is the rotten banana peels and icky filth I just smeared my hand in.”
“Shhh,” said Madeline. “They might hear us.”
The kids waited for what seemed like forever before Madeline got the courage to peek out from the dumpster.
She scanned left. She scanned right.
She wasn’t sure where the zombies had gone, but for now, they were safe.
“Coast is clear,” said Madeline. “Let’s go.”
8
Madeline led the group down the alley, away from the radio station. While there was no immediate sign of where DJ Kool and the rest of the radio station horde had gone, there seemed to be plenty of possessed zombie-folk in the streets.
“Look, there’s more of them,” said Gilbert.
A small group of people led by Mayor Stine shuffled down First Street, while another bunch followed Mr. George along Pine, cutting off any hope the kids might have had of escaping that way.
“They’re everywhere,” Sally said. “How are the lima beans spreading so quickly?”
Madeline shrugged. “I’m not sure,” she said, “but we’re going to wind up just like them if we stay out here. Let’s get out of sight.”
They were behind the movie theater now, and it too had a back entrance.
Madeline hurried up the back steps of the movie theater and tugged at the back door.
“Rats!” she said.
“What?” asked Gilbert.
“Locked.”
“There’s a spare key taped under the railing,” Sally said. “My brother works the popcorn booth. He told me about it. I won’t deny that I may have snuck in to catch a show or two.”
Madeline felt around under the railing. There it was.
“Bingo!”
The lock clicked, and they slipped inside.
Madeline listened for a moment, peering around the dim room behind the screen. There didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room.
A thick black curtain separated the back room from where the audience sat. Rows of cushioned red seats sat facing the screen, and one central aisle ran the length of the theater. The main lights were off, but the dim walkway lighting made it so that the kids could see well enough. The projector room loomed up above the audience. It too appeared to be dark and empty.
Madeline collapsed into one of the front row seats. Gilbert and Sally did the same.
“Okay, Madeline,” said Sally, “spill it.”
“Yeah,” said Gilbert. “What the heck is going on?”
Madeline told them everything that had happened, from the very first plate of lima beans she had refused to eat, to the basement, to her grandma, and to what had happened in the grocery store.
“And here we are,” she said. “They just don’t quit!”
“Why do they want you to eat them so badly?” asked Sally. “You’d think they’d be happy that they’ve gotten, like, half the town to eat them.”
“Maybe because I refused to eat them in the first place?” Madeline asked. “Maybe because I said they tasted like dog throw-up?”
“So they’re angry,” said Sally. “Maybe if you apologize—”
“I am not apologizing to the lima beans,” said Madeline. “No way, forget it.”
“Maybe you just need to eat them,” said Gilbert.
“Did you hear the part where I said they taste like dog throw-up?” Madeline said. “Let me see your eyes!” She leaned over and looked closely into Gilbert’s eyes. They weren’t green, and they weren’t glowing, but still—he couldn’t be serious. Eat her lima beans? She’d end up just like everyone else in town: a mindless, drooling, crazy-eyed zombie.
“Well, there’s got to be some way to stop them,” said Sally.
“There is,” said a voice from behind them.
All three of them screamed and jumped out of their seats. The Wolver Hollow Public Library librarian sat three rows behind them, smiling and peering at them through the thick lenses of her glasses. She reached into the small bag on her lap and scooped up a handful of popcorn.
“How did—you weren’t—there was nobody else here,” Madeline sputtered.
The old librarian just grinned and shoved another handful of popcorn into her mouth.
“Never mind,” Madeline said. She had no idea how the librarian had managed to slip into the theater without any of them hearing her, but that wasn’t what was important right now. “You said there’s a way to stop them?”
“There is.”
Crunch, crunch. The librarian ate another handful of popcorn.
“Wel
l, what is it?” Sally asked.
“And is there any more popcorn?” Gilbert asked.
“Gilbert!” Madeline said.
“What?” Gilbert shrugged. “All this running around made me hungry.”
Crunch, crunch, crunch. “Wait here,” said the librarian. She stood and ambled up the aisle and through the lobby door.
“That was weird, right?” said Madeline.
“Super weird,” said Sally.
It was easy to hear the projector come to life in the empty theater, and a beam of light shone down on the glowing movie screen. The words “Reel 2” danced along the middle of the screen, and then numbers appeared, counting down from three, two, one.…
An image of fields as far as the eye could see appeared on the screen. Rows upon rows of leafy vines, all packed with green pods. Men and women in short-sleeved shirts and wide-brimmed hats moved along the rows, pulling the pods from the vines and dropping them into the baskets they carried.
A voice spoke over the scene as the camera continued to focus on the farmers.
“While lima beans were first grown in Peru, they have expanded to other areas. However, most lima beans continue to be grown and harvested in South America. This is because the lima bean needs plenty of warm weather and sun. Temperatures under thirty degrees can destroy entire harvests.…”
Madeline thought back to the night before, when she wouldn’t eat her lima beans. There had been a fierce storm and cold winds, and then this morning there was frost on the ground and on the windows. If the cold could destroy them…
Madeline jumped up. “Guys! What if they’re taking over people in order to stay warm? The film said low temperatures can destroy them, right? Maybe they’re trying to survive.”
“If that’s the case, then why are they so determined to single you out?” asked Sally.
“I guess they didn’t appreciate me saying that they tasted like dog throw-up.”
“And maybe they figure if they get you to eat them—the girl who refused to even touch them—they’d be able to get everyone to eat them,” said Gilbert.
“It’s possible,” said Madeline. “But at least we know how to get rid of them! The film gave us the answer we needed.”
“By going to South America?” Gilbert asked. “That’s kind of far, don’t you think? I don’t even have a wide-brimmed hat like that.”
“No, Gilbert,” said Madeline. “The cold. Lima beans don’t like cold weather.…”
“So,” said Sally, following Madeline’s train of thought, “if we make the people they’ve taken over really, really cold, the lima beans will freeze up, and ta-da! No more lima beans.”
“Ohhhhhh,” said Gilbert. “Yeah, I knew that.”
Madeline and Sally rolled their eyes.
“What if we made it snow?” asked Sally. “You know, like those ski resorts do?”
There were several ski resorts outside of town, and sometimes in the off-season, they made their own snow so people could ski in the fall or late spring.
“But is that stuff cold?” Gilbert asked.
“I went sledding in fake snow once, when my cousins visited in the spring, and it was pretty cold,” Sally said. “Plus, it’s cold outside right now. Wet fake snow in cold November weather is sure to chill those beans.”
“That could work,” said Madeline. “How would we do that?”
“Nonfiction, 551.68 REY,” said the voice of the librarian.
Crunch, crunch.
When they turned to look, she was gone. The door to the lobby closed behind her, the only sign that she had just been standing there.
9
The librarian was nowhere to be seen. Madeline, Gilbert, and Sally stood in the empty lobby. Movie posters filled one wall. Now playing: Attack of the Giant Gelatin Squares and Fantasy Quest VIII: The Journey to Wizard’s Stone. Coming soon: The Dare Sisters, Supersecret Stupendous Spies, and Star Team Alpha Force: Return of the Robots. The candy counter lights were off, and the popcorn machine was cold and empty.
“No fair,” said Gilbert.
“What?” asked Madeline.
“There’s no more popcorn,” said Gilbert. “The librarian must have taken the last of it.” He climbed up onto the popcorn maker and fished around for any stray kernels.
“Get down,” said Sally. She pointed toward the movie theater’s large front windows.
All three of them ducked as a small group of lima bean–controlled people shambled by.
Madeline tiptoed to the window and pressed her face against the glass.
Another group of people plodded down North Main Street, arms at their sides, eyes aglow, and thin lines of green drool dripping from their lower lips.
“They’re all headed in the same direction,” Madeline said. “Looks like they’re moving toward the center of town.”
“What do you think they want?” Gilbert asked. “Like, what are they trying to do?”
“To survive,” Madeline said.
“No, there’s got to be more to it than that,” said Gilbert. “Otherwise I think they would have stopped. You said all of the lima beans in the grocery store were gone, right? So they’re all warm for the winter.”
Gilbert had a point. Why were they still on the hunt? What was their endgame? Then Madeline’s eyes lit up. Endgame. Just like in chess. In order to win, they had to put the opposing king in check. She was the king. She was the one who had started this contest in the first place. They wouldn’t be satisfied until they had forced her to eat her lima beans.
“You’re right,” she said. “There is something they want.”
“What’s that?” Sally asked.
“Me. And if it’s me they want, it’s me they’ll get.”
“What?” Gilbert asked. “You’re going to surrender to them? You’re going to become a lima-bean zombie?”
“Not quite,” said Madeline. “But if I can lure the zombies into a trap, we can somehow use our cold fake snow to freeze them out and save the town. But first we’re going to need to get that book from the library. There will be no snow-making without it.”
Madeline peeked out the window again. “All clear,” she said, opening the front door.
Sally and Gilbert followed Madeline out of the theater and down the sidewalk, stopping when she stopped, just at the corner of the Red Curtain Playhouse. Madeline peered around the corner.
“They’re all at the town square,” Madeline whispered.
It seemed like half the town had gathered, all packed onto the grass, in a circle around the statue of Francois Gildebrand Soufflé, the town’s founder. Someone stood up on the marble block that served as the statue’s base, but it was hard to see who it was from where Madeline watched.
The problem was that the library sat at the center of town. If they tried to get into the library to find out how to make cold fake snow, they were sure to be caught. There was no way they could sneak past an entire horde of lima-bean zombies.
“We’re going to need a distraction,” Madeline said.
“Good plan,” said Gilbert. “What’d you have in mind?”
“You,” said Madeline.
“Me?”
“Yep.”
“Why not Sally?” Gilbert asked.
“Because you’re fast,” Madeline said. “You’ve won the school’s field day races every year.”
“Oh man,” Gilbert moaned.
“And,” said Sally, “I don’t get as easily distracted as you do.”
Gilbert just frowned.
“You get their attention,” Madeline said. “Get them to chase you away from the town square. Sally and I will sneak into the library and get that book—”
“It’s 551.68 REY,” Sally said. “I have a really good memory.”
“And then once they’re far enough away, meet us back at…,” said Madeline. She thought for a moment. “We need a place where we’ll be able to be seen, but there’s only one entrance in.”
“And a way to spread the snow,” said
Sally. “They use giant blowers at the ski resorts.”
“What about sprinklers?” Gilbert asked.
“That might just work,” said Madeline.
“Then the baseball field is exactly what you’re looking for,” said Gilbert. “The field is fenced in, so the lima-bean zombies would see you, but they’d have to go through the single gate, and the field has an entire sprinkler system!”
“Gilbert, that’s perfect!” Madeline said. “Okay, the baseball field it is. We’ll get the book; you get them away from the square and meet us at the field.”
Gilbert nodded.
“Ready?” Madeline asked.
“Ready,” Gilbert said.
“Go.”
Gilbert stepped out from around the corner and strode right into the middle of North Main Street. He waved his arms over his head and called out, “Hey! Hey, lima beans! Over here!”
Every single person gathered around the statue of Francois Gildebrand Soufflé turned their head in Gilbert’s direction. The person in the middle said something, and then, all at once, the horde of green-eyed people lurched after Gilbert.
Gilbert shrieked and ran.
The lima-bean zombies gave chase.
Madeline and Sally flattened themselves against the side of the playhouse, holding their breath as the horde rushed by, pursuing Gilbert.
“Grandm—” Madeline said.
But Sally’s hand to her mouth stopped her from saying anything else. Sally put her finger to her lips, and Madeline nodded.
The crowd passed their hiding spot, urged on by Grandma. She had been the person in the middle of the ring. She must be the lead zombie. The lima beans that Madeline had refused to eat, the lima beans that had started all of this, were in control of Grandma. If Madeline was going to put an end to this chess match, she was going to have to face Grandma. She was going to have to look past the sweet face of her grandma and remember that she wasn’t in control. The lima beans were, and that made Madeline angry.
