“Help!” Olivia screamed. “He’s coming! He’s coming!” She thrashed around in the water.
“Who’s coming?” Zack shouted down to her.
“Ben!” she cried.
A buzz-saw sound grew closer and closer. Zack gasped as Cousin Ben zipped out of the morning mist, riding toward his sister on a Jet Ski.
Zack snatched up a length of rope from the ship and threw it over the side. “Take that!” he called to her. She started to swim, doing the sidestroke to grab on to the end of the line.
“Hurry up!” Rice yelled. “Cousin Ben’s closing in fast!”
Just as Olivia caught hold of the rope, Cousin Ben rode by with a whoosh and scooped her up out of the water.
Zack held tight to his end of the rope. “Don’t worry, Olivia,” he shouted to her, “I got you!”
As the Jet Ski zoomed off, Zack felt his feet leave the deck and he flew overboard, still hanging on to the rope as if the fate of the world depended on it.
Which it did.
“Ahhh!” Zack shouted as the Jet Ski pulled him headfirst into the waves. Cousin Ben steered herky-jerky, zigzagging back and forth, trying to shake Zack off, but Zack held on to the rope with both hands.
“Let me go!” Olivia shrieked. Her brother had her firmly under his super strong arm. She tried to squirm free, but Cousin Ben’s ironclad grip was far too powerful. Olivia gave up trying to get away and focused instead on holding on to the rope.
The super zombie Jet Ski weaved through the masses of zombie sea life. “Yow!” Zack yelped as something below the surface sank its teeth into his calf. A searing pain shot up his leg.
Zack was losing his grip. He couldn’t keep this up much longer. But he couldn’t let go. He desperately tried to tighten his grasp on the rope, the only thing connecting him to the last known zombie antidote.
The Jet Ski continued to cruise faster and faster, dragging him along. Cousin Ben turned his head back and saw Olivia clutching the rope and Zack still hydroplaning behind them on his stomach. The super zombie grunted and let out a dreadful top-of-the-food-chain roar that Zack could hear even over the revving motor.
Olivia shrieked as Cousin Ben hit a choppy wave and went airborne. They splashed down hard and Olivia lost hold of the rope.
Zack slowed to a stop in the bobbing water.
The super zombie Jet Ski sped away.
“Noooo!” Zack cried in desperation. He noticed a rustling in the water to his left. He felt the wake of Nigel’s boat ripple toward him. Ozzie was trying to cut off the Jet Ski before Cousin Ben got any farther away. Rice aimed the harpoon tranquilizer gun.
“Rice, don’t!” Madison screamed. “You might hit Olivia!”
“Don’t worry,” Rice said. “I got ’im.”
The Jet Ski zoomed across their path and Rice fired.
The harpoon whizzed right by Cousin Ben’s head and into the water, missing by just a few inches. “Don’t got ’im,” said Rice.
Ozzie nudged Rice out of the way and quickly reloaded the harpoon gun with another tranquilizer.
“Hurry up, dude,” Rice said. “He’s getting away!”
“Just a second . . .” Ozzie eyed the target. The Jet Ski was cruising out of range fast. “Now!” Ozzie pulled the trigger.
WHAM! The tranquilizer tagged Cousin Ben in the upper thigh. The rope line on the harpoon tightened and yanked Cousin Ben violently off the watercraft. The Jet Ski corkscrewed in the air and came crashing down on its side. Cousin Ben and Olivia both belly flopped into the ocean.
Zack treaded water, looking around for Olivia. “Olivia!” he shouted. “Olivia!”
To his right, Zack could see a pack of zombie barracuda closing in on him. And the super zombies from the wrecked cruise ship were swimming toward him like they were in an ironman contest.
“Olivia!” Zack shouted. He was about to dive down when her head popped to the surface. She gasped for air and made a gargling sound before sinking back down. As Zack swam frantically toward her, she bobbed to the surface. She gurgled a mouthful of seawater and then spat out a lungful of fluid.
“Olivia!” Zack shouted. “You’re okay!”
She coughed and hacked, then smiled at Zack as he helped to keep them both above water.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll be all right.”
A few seconds later, Ozzie coasted Nigel’s boat over and circled to a stop.
“Hold on,” Rice said, grabbing a donut-shaped life preserver from the cabin. He swung it over his head like a cowboy about to fling a lasso and with a flick of his wrist launched it toward Zack and Olivia. Zoe threw a rope ladder over the side of the boat, and they climbed up before the barracuda or the super zombie swimmers could reach them.
“You guys okay?” Madison asked.
“I think so,” Olivia said, still coughing a little.
Zack looked down at his leg. There was a large gash from whatever had bitten him. It was pretty nasty, but it wasn’t the worst bite he’d ever received. At least he knew he wasn’t going to zombify. He’d been immune since the first outbreak.
“Where’s Ben?” Olivia asked.
Cousin Ben floated facedown in the water, dangling from the harpoon line.
“We have to bring him back to Nigel’s with us,” Rice said.
“No way!” Zoe said. “That dude is not coming on our boat.”
“We need him, Zoe,” Rice said. “He’s our only super zombie specimen right now.”
“He’s my brother, too, eh?” Olivia said. “Haul him up already.”
Ozzie reeled him in, unhooked the tranquilizer harpoon from Cousin Ben’s thigh, and laid him on the deck. His skin was pruned and puckered like a person’s fingertips after bathing for too long.
“Come on,” Ozzie said, revving the motor. “Let’s get the heck out of here.” Zack, Rice, and the girls zombie-proofed Cousin Ben by tying his arms and legs tightly with a reel of fishing wire.
With the giant frilled tiger shark and new super zombie specimen in tow, they cruised off into the bright Caribbean morning. They wanted to get back to Nigel’s private island as quickly as they could.
Zack crossed his fingers tightly, hoping that Nigel Black was still safe where they’d left him.
“Are we there yet?” Rice asked in a whiny voice.
Zoe peered over her sunglasses and shot him an evil glare. “Rice, you’d better not start that again.”
“Relax, Zoe,” said Rice. “I was just kidding. But seriously, are we there yet?”
“How much farther, Oz?” Zack shouted over to Ozzie.
“Not long,” Ozzie responded.
“How long is not long?” Rice asked.
“Geez,” Olivia said. “How old are you?”
Ahead of their boat, a creepy-looking fogbank hung low on the water. As they passed through the fog, the outline of Nigel’s private island emerged. It was about a day and a half later, and they were cruising through the Bahamas once again.
Zack felt his nerves start to jitter. When they approached the shoreline, he could see the burned-out super zombie’s pirate ship beached in the sand. The air was still and quiet as Zack looked through the binoculars and scanned the exterior of Nigel’s zombie-proof fortress. There wasn’t a super zombie in view. But that didn’t mean they weren’t hiding.
“Ozzie!” Zack called to his friend. “Take her around back.”
“You got it!” Ozzie shouted back. He navigated the boat into the narrow beach cove that led into Nigel’s underground doomsday bunker.
Zack hopped down and saw the shuffled footprints of super zombies stamped in the sandy turf.
He sprinted through the dark cave to the entrance of the bunker. Super zombie pummel marks dented the steel door. Zack pounded the door with both fists. “Nigel! Nigel, open up, it’s us!”
There was no answer.
Zack walked back to the boat, hanging his head for another fallen friend. He looked up at the rest of the group. “I don’t think he’s here!” Zack sai
d to them, sounding a little panicked.
“Do you think the super zombies got him?” Olivia asked.
“I don’t know,” Zack said. “Maybe?”
Twinkles ran up to Zack’s feet and whined at him.
“I can’t believe we did all this for nothing.”
“Now what kind of zombie expert would I be if I let a few super zombies get the best of me?” Nigel Black’s voice echoed through the cavern.
Zack spun around on his heel. He let out a deep sigh of relief at the sight of the former sea explorer and present zombie expert.
The kids all jumped off the boat and ran up to Nigel. “We thought the super zombies got you!” Madison said.
“It was close,” Nigel said. “But once I activated the electric fence and zapped a few of them, they just took off on the cruise ship.”
“Are you sure they’re all gone?” Zack asked.
“Yes, I’m sure. Now, how did you fare on your expedition?” he asked them.
“We did it,” Zack told him. “We caught the giant frilled tiger shark down in Jamaica, and we have a super zombie to test the new antidote on.”
Nigel’s eyes lit up as he rushed past them toward the boat. He looked inside the compartment beneath the boat. His eyes became misty at the sight of the frilled shark. “I must say, I’m very impressed,” he said. “You’ve done what I thought no one could do. Now we must act quickly and transport this animal into my lab for testing.”
Everyone sprang into action. Nigel rushed back into the subterranean section of his island bunker. The kids dragged Cousin Ben, who was still tranquilized, off the boat. Nigel returned, lugging what looked like a large stretcher behind him.
“Here,” he said, laying the stretcher on the ground by the boat. They unloaded the giant frilled tiger shark off the boat and onto the stretcher, then hauled the great beast inside. The girls followed with Cousin Ben in tow.
Nigel’s laboratory was state of the art with all kinds of medical equipment and supplies.
“Strap him down,” Nigel told them. “We don’t want him waking up on us, do we?”
Madison and Olivia plopped Ben on an examination table and buckled his arms and legs into the restraints.
On the other side of the lab, Zack, Rice, and Ozzie struggled to hoist the giant frilled tiger shark into an aquarium tank. “Ugh!” Rice said. “This thing weighs a ton!”
Nigel walked over to the tank and inspected the incapacitated giant frilled tiger shark. “Time to run a few tests.”
They all watched while Nigel stepped up to the enormous fish. “Scalpel,” he said, and put his hand out. Rice handed their zombie expert a knife. Nigel made an incision across the giant frilled tiger shark’s abdomen.
“So nasty.” Madison and Olivia jinxed each other, closing their eyes tightly.
“Syringe,” Nigel said, handing Rice the scalpel back. Nigel then peeled back the frilled shark’s skin and pierced the sea monster’s stomach with the needle. Zack cringed at the sight of the massive fish’s innards. Nigel carefully extracted the massive shark’s digestive enzymes, then sewed the large sea beast back together.
“Gumball,” he said to Rice.
Rice reached into his bag and pulled out one of the few remaining antidote gumballs. Nigel injected the new ingredient into the hard candy. Carrying the freshly injected gumball, he walked over to Cousin Ben, strapped to the gurney.
Cousin Ben’s super zombie eyes popped open from his tranquil slumber. He began writhing on the table but couldn’t break free of the restraints.
Nigel turned and faced the children standing behind him. “Would you care to do the honors?” he said to Olivia, and handed her the gumball. “He is your brother after all.”
“Sure,” Olivia said. She walked up to the table and fed the newly formulated antidote gumball to her super zombie brother.
“Braiiins!” Cousin Ben bellowed as he gargled down the chewy super zombie antidote. They watched with anticipation as the medicine coursed through Ben’s bloodstream. A few moments later, Olivia’s brother went limp and conked out on the table.
“Is it working?” Zack asked.
“Be patient,” Nigel said, observing his test subject with great interest.
Cousin Ben jerked awake with startling swiftness. His eyes shot open again. The hateful super zombie gleam was gone from his gaze. “Where am I?” he asked in a normal human voice.
“Ben!” Olivia rushed over to her brother’s side. “You’re okay!”
A befuddled scowl crossed his face. “Olivia?” he asked. “What’s going on?” He paused. “I don’t . . . I don’t feel so good.”
Right before their eyes, Ben’s features contorted. He grimaced in brain-crazed agony as the super zombie virus fought against the new serum. Still bound by the restraints, his spine arched to a backbreaking degree. With a subhuman scream of pure pain and rage, he slumped back down.
“What’s going on?” Olivia asked Nigel. Terror shone in her eyes.
Cousin Ben’s eyes reopened. The super zombie glare was back once again. Nigel rushed to the side of the table. Cousin Ben yapped at the zombie expert and bit at the air, grunting and growling.
Nigel scratched his head. “I don’t know. The shark enzyme by itself must not have been enough to override the jellyfish DNA in this virus strain.”
“Come on, man,” Zoe said. “We went all that way for nothing?”
“Not for nothing,” Nigel said. “The shark enzyme did do something, but it just didn’t fix him completely.”
“Well, that’s kind of the whole point, dude,” Rice said. “What do we do now?”
“Don’t lose hope. I still think we’re on the right track.” Nigel took out a large needle and extracted a blood sample from Cousin Ben’s leg. “I’ll run some more tests and see if I can figure out what went wrong.”
“Do you need any help?” Zack asked.
“No, I’ll be okay,” he said. “Just keep an eye on your super zombie friend. I’ll be back shortly.”
Nigel disappeared into the back of the laboratory, and the kids looked at one another in disbelief.
“Did you see him?” Olivia said. “It was like he was two completely different people.”
“Do you think Nigel will be able to fix the serum?” Rice asked.
“Don’t know, Rice,” said Zack. “I hope so.”
A short while later, Nigel came out of the lab and approached Zack and the gang. “It looks like we’re going to need a few other things to complete the serum. The frilled shark’s digestive enzyme is doing its job, but it isn’t enough to reverse the super zombie virus on its own. We’re also going to need a specific chemical compound that will shorten the life span of the virus.”
“Well, where can we get that?” Zack asked.
“The particular compound we need can be found only in the African mayfly, known to be abundant on the riverbanks of Madagascar. Since the mayfly has the shortest known life span of any creature on Earth, its chemical makeup will shorten the duration of the super zombie virus. You’ll have to travel to Madagascar and gather up the unhatched larvae from the riverbanks of the jungle. I’ll keep Ben sedated here with me until you return.”
“Well, you guys,” Zack said, turning to his friends. “Looks like we’ve got a little traveling to do.”
“Ugh,” said Zoe. “I’m so not packed for Madagascar. . . .”
“Yeah,” said Madison. “We’re totally gonna need to do some shopping before we go.”
Zack looked at Rice and Ozzie, and the boys all shook their heads.
Some things never change, he thought, and smiled inwardly. Even in a world full of zombies trying to eat your brains.
The smile quickly faded from Zack’s face. Sure, they had wrangled the main ingredient for the super zombie antidote and managed to capture a super zombie specimen. But they still had a long way to go to save the world again. The undead war was far from over.
But what else was new?
EXCERPT FR
OM GALAXY’S MOST WANTED
ALIEN INVASION!
READ ON FOR A LOOK AT JOHN KLOEPFER’S
OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD SERIES
The satellite dish tilted upward, aiming itself at the night sky. Kevin gave the thumbs-up and TJ hit the send button. Kevin felt his stomach clench as the laser refracted through the prism, shot out through the satellite dish, and carried their message to the universe across the black, starry night.
“So what happens now?” Kevin asked.
“We wait for the aliens,” said Warner. “Obviously.”
Kevin settled cross-legged into the grass and started to jot down the sequence of events in his log.
11:30 p.m.: No response yet.
11:37 p.m.: Tara challenges Warner and TJ to a staring contest. Warner blinks first. TJ wins.
11:38 p.m.: Warner challenges Tara to a laughing contest because that’s what he thought they were doing in the first place. Tara laughs first.
11:45 p.m.: My butt is getting wet from the wet grass. Should have brought a towel.
11:50 p.m.: Everybody cranky. Warner regrets not bringing snacks. We all regret the no snack bringing, too.
12:00 a.m.: Galactascope still silent.
As Kevin marked the mission failure into his log, he felt his stomach tighten with panic. Even if there were aliens out there, it could take months for them to get the message, and they only had a few days before the convention.
“Come on, guys,” Kevin said, his face crestfallen. “Let’s pack up and get out of here before we get in trouble. We can try again tomorrow.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to wait a little longer, Kev?” Tara asked. “I could stay up a little laaaaaay-ter.” She yawned, stretching her arms out.
THUNK! Tara’s wrist whacked the device, and the galactascope abruptly began to blip and bleep. The laptop monitor flashed to life, and a long, repetitive jumble of ones and zeroes appeared on the screen.
Zombies of the Caribbean Page 8