‘Fed them to their doom, you mean,’ said Zack’s bum.
Zack nudged it. ‘Shush,’ he said.
‘We trusted you too,’ said Eleanor. ‘But you were prepared to do the same to us.’
The Mutant Maggot Lord looked at Eleanor with tears streaming from his eye.
‘You are right,’ he whispered. ‘I am beneath contempt. I can hardly expect you to believe me when I say I am sorry, but I am. I truly am. For everything.’
Zack could tell by Eleanor’s silence that this time she did believe him.
‘Come on,’ said Zack, stepping forward to pick up the Mutant Maggot Lord. ‘Come with us.’
‘Leave me!’ said the Mutant Maggot Lord. ‘I need to be alone!’
Eleanor turned to Zack.
She nodded.
He shrugged. Zack realised there was nothing more they could do.
They turned and walked slowly through the dying maggots back towards the ladder where the Forker, the Flicker and Gran were waiting.
Suddenly they heard a shout behind them.
‘IT’S ALIVE!’ cried the Mutant Maggot Lord.
Eleanor, Zack and his bum turned to see an incredible sight. The Mutant Maggot Lord was excitedly hugging the maggot that only moments ago had been lying limp in his arms. ‘YOU’RE ALIVE!’ he said, showering it with kisses. ‘YOU’RE ALIVE!’
But as they watched the Mutant Maggot Lord happily cradling the revived mutant maggot, Zack noticed another mutant maggot rise up behind him.
‘Watch out!’ yelled Zack.
But it was too late.
Before the Maggot Lord realised what was happening, the mutant maggot had struck. It had bitten his arm clean off. Well, at least Zack thought it was his arm . . .
Zack couldn’t believe what he’d just seen.
Mutant maggots weren’t supposed to eat living flesh.
Something was wrong.
Very wrong.
Something was as very wrong as it was possible for something very wrong to be.
‘Behave yourself!’ said the Mutant Maggot Lord, chiding his mutant maggots as if they’d simply scratched him. ‘Don’t you remember who I am? I am your Lord! You love me! And I love you!’
But even as the Mutant Maggot Lord spoke, Zack saw the mutant maggot that he was cradling lift its ugly white head and remove his remaining arm—well, at least Zack thought it was his remaining arm—with a sickening crunch.
‘Can we go home now?’ said Zack’s bum, as all the mutant maggots began to come alive. ‘I don’t think I like this game anymore!’
‘Best idea I’ve heard all day,’ said Gran.
‘Don’t be silly!’ said the Mutant Maggot Lord. ‘There’s nothing to be afraid of. They’re my babies!’
‘Not anymore they’re not,’ said Eleanor. ‘They’ve been zombie-bummified . . . from the inside!’
‘Oh no!’ said the Flicker. ‘Not zombie mutant maggots!’
‘Not exactly,’ said Eleanor. ‘I believe the technical term is “mutant zombie maggots”!’
‘Oh no!’ said the Forker. ‘Not mutant zombie maggots!’
‘Yes,’ said Eleanor. ‘Exactly!’
‘No,’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord. ‘You’ve got it all wrong. They’re just agitated.’
‘Gee,’ said Zack, narrowly dodging the slavering jaws of a mutant zombie maggot. ‘I’d hate to see them when they’re really upset!’
‘We’re getting out of here,’ said Eleanor, as the mutant zombie maggots began to close in around them. ‘Come on.’
‘What about me?’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord.
‘What about you?’ said Eleanor. ‘You’re a coward and a murderer. Find your own way out.’
‘But I haven’t got any legs!’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord. ‘Or arms!’
‘Why don’t you get the Prince and Maurice to help you?’ said Eleanor. ‘Or have your little friends abandoned you?’
Zack looked around. He couldn’t see them anywhere. The Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord was silent.
‘Eleanor,’ said Zack, ‘we have to help him. He might be a Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord, but he’s still a human being—or at least, he was.’
‘That’s a matter of opinion,’ said Eleanor, delivering a double-handed powersmack to a mutant zombie maggot that was getting too close to her.
‘Well I’m going back for him,’ said Zack.
‘No, Zack!’ said his bum.
‘I have to,’ said Zack.
Zack smacked and kicked his way through the gradually reviving mutant zombie maggots back to where the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord—or what remained of him—was lying in a pool of blood, shivering.
Zack picked him up and slung him over his shoulder. He couldn’t believe how light he was.
Zack turned to leave, but at that moment a particularly large and ugly mutant zombie maggot blocked his path.
Zack tried to kick it.
Zack tried to smack it.
Zack tried to pinch it.
He even tried the hokey pokey.
But nothing worked.
Not only had the mutant zombie maggots acquired the zombie bums’ resistance to pain, but having no arms or legs gave them natural immunity to the power of the hokey pokey as well.
The mutant zombie maggot opened its mouth wide.
Zack looked up to see an enormous black cavern above him.
He closed his eyes. This was going to be worse than any death he had experienced in the bum-fighting simulator.
Well, there were perhaps worse deaths, but this one was real.
Suddenly there was a sharp crack, followed by a massive explosion.
Zack opened his eyes. The Flicker was standing a few metres behind where the mutant zombie maggot had been, towel in hand.
‘Gotcha!’ said the Flicker.
The Flicker had flicked the zombie mutant maggot so hard it had exploded. Zack looked at the pieces around him . . . and then yelled as he watched them slowly slide towards each other.
At that moment, Zack realised the terrible truth: the mutant zombie maggots were completely indestructible!
‘Well, don’t just stand there!’ said the Flicker, forging a gristly path through the mutant zombie maggots with a blitzkrieg of brutal towel flicking. ‘Follow me!’
As he picked his way carefully through the trail of mutant zombie maggot mince that led to the ladder, Zack could hear the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord whimpering.
But although they were moving fast, the increasingly manic mutant zombie maggots were faster. They surged ahead of the Flicker and Zack and clumped together around the foot of the ladder, forming a formidable barrier that was proving practically impossible for the Flicker to crack open.
The Flicker flicked his towel against the wall of maggots to no avail.
‘Can we get through?’ said Zack.
‘Not this way!’ said the Flicker, as the mutant zombie maggots closed in around them. ‘There’s too many. I flick one and another takes its place. We’re going to have to try and jump across them.’
Zack gulped. He wished he had his bum with him.
It was a big jump. A huge jump. An enormous jump.
And failure would mean landing right in the middle of the mutant zombie maggot clump.
Even without the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord in his arms it would have been a big call. But it wasn’t like he had another way out of the Maggotorium.
‘Come on, Zack,’ said the Flicker. ‘You first.’
Zack took a deep breath. He was about to jump when the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord spoke. ‘No!’ he said. ‘Put me down. I’ll lure them away from the ladder while you both escape.’
‘No way,’ said Zack. ‘They’ll eat you alive.’
‘No they won’t,’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord. ‘They’re good boys and girls really . . . I can’t understand what’s got into them!’
‘Zombie bums got into them!’ said the Flicker. ‘That’s what!’
‘Go,�
�� said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord. ‘Please, it will be better if I’m alone. They’ve never taken to strangers very well . . .’
Zack shook his head. ‘They’re out of control!’ he said. ‘They’ll kill you!’
‘I think I can settle them,’ insisted the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord.
Zack stared into the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord’s eye—at least he thought it was an eye. ‘If that’s what you want,’ he said.
‘That’s what I want,’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord.
Zack laid the Mutant Maggot Lord on the ground as he had requested. The clump of mutant zombie maggots surged towards him.
‘Thank you,’ said the Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord. The mutant zombie maggots slithered around him. ‘Now go . . . your friends are waiting . . . and so are mine.’
Zack nodded. He and the Flicker stepped gingerly across the ground to the ladder and started climbing.
As fast as they could.
The bum-fighters were about halfway up the ladder when the Maggotorium was filled with a bloodcurdling scream.
They stopped climbing and looked at each other.
Nobody spoke a word.
Nobody needed to.
It was clear that they all knew exactly what the scream meant.
The Mutant Zombie Maggot Lord was dead.
‘I never liked him,’ said the Forker, breaking the silence. ‘It just goes to prove the old bum-fighter’s proverb.’
‘Which one?’ said the Flicker.
‘He who lives by the maggot, dies by the maggot,’ said the Forker, solemnly.
‘I’ve never heard that proverb,’ said the Flicker.
‘No,’ said the Forker, ‘you wouldn’t have, because I just made it up.’
‘Then how can it be an old bum-fighter’s proverb?’ said the Flicker.
‘Because I’m an old bum-fighter!’ said the Forker.
‘Will you two quit joking around!’ said Eleanor. ‘This is SERIOUS!’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said the Flicker. ‘I don’t like mutant zombie maggots any more than you do, but it’s not as if they can climb the ladder, is it?’
‘They don’t need to,’ said Eleanor, pointing down. ‘Look!’
Zack looked down and through the gloom saw that the mutant zombie maggots were clumping together in what appeared to be a massive game of stacks-on-the-mill. They were entwining themselves around and on top of each other, and forming a white tower of mutant zombie maggots that was rising rapidly towards them.
‘Oh no!’ said Zack’s bum. ‘A mutant zombie maggot tower!’
The Flicker screwed his face up and stroked his chin. ‘Actually,’ he said, ‘on second thoughts, this is serious.’
‘Quick!’ said Eleanor. ‘We have to get to the top and seal off the entrance before the giant zombie mutant maggots can escape!’
The bum-fighters didn’t need any encouragement.
They climbed as fast as they possibly could.
But the mutant zombie maggot tower was faster.
By the time Zack reached the top of the ladder, the putrid pile of mutant zombie maggots was only a few metres below him.
‘Quick, Zack!’ yelled his bum, reaching over the edge to help Zack out.
‘Thanks!’ said Zack as his bum dragged him clear. He was about to stand up when a mutant zombie maggot leapt out after him. It landed on top of Zack, pinning him to the ground.
‘Ugh!’ said Zack, struggling to breathe underneath the massive mutant zombie maggot’s weight. ‘Help!’
Fortunately for Zack, however, Mabel’s Angels were right beside him. They snapped into action like a lethal, well-oiled bum-fighting machine.
Unfortunately for Zack, however, Mabel’s Angels were unable to land a single fork, pinch or towel flick before the mutant zombie maggot raised its ugly head in the air and repelled them with its disgusting gale-force mutant zombie maggot breath.
Zack watched them tumble backwards into a helpless heap on the ground.
‘Well,’ said Zack’s bum. ‘That seemed to go well. I guess that’s it then.’
‘Not quite,’ said Eleanor, pointing her Laxative Launcher at the mutant zombie maggot. ‘Sweet dreams.’
The mutant zombie maggot roared again and lunged at Eleanor. She stepped backwards and emptied the contents of the 4502-LL into its mouth and started counting. ‘One . . . two . . . three!’
The laxative capsules had a dramatic effect. Under the force of its own violently expelled waste, the mutant zombie maggot took off into the air in series of helter-skelter zigs, zags and loops. It was not unlike what happens when a balloon is blown up and then let free without tying its neck. Not a pretty sight by any definition of the term ‘pretty sight’, but extremely effective.
Zack drew a deep breath. ‘Thanks,’ he said, getting to his knees and wiping mutant zombie maggot mush out of his eyes. ‘I owe you one.’
‘If we live long enough,’ said Eleanor.
‘What do you mean?’ said Zack.
‘Um, Zack,’ said his bum. ‘I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but we’re surrounded.’
Zack turned to see a great white stream of mutant zombie maggots spewing from the Maggotorium entrance. The delay had cost them dearly. The mutant zombie maggots had encircled them, completely cutting them off from the bum-mobile.
‘What are we going to do, Eleanor?’ said Zack.
‘I give up,’ said Eleanor. ‘I’m a bum-fighter, not a mutant zombie maggot fighter. And I’m all out of laxative capsules.’
‘But we can’t just give up!’ said Zack. ‘The whole of Mabeltown—no, the whole PLANET—is relying on us! If these mutant zombie maggots break free then the whole world is doomed!’
‘They already have broken free, Zack,’ said Eleanor quietly. ‘Don’t you get it? It’s over. We tried. We failed.’
‘No way!’ said Zack.
‘You’re exactly right,’ said Eleanor. ‘There is no way.’
‘No,’ said Zack. ‘I meant no way is there no way!’
‘No way is there no way that there is no way,’ said Eleanor.
Suddenly a brilliant light shot across the sky.
A light so white and so bright that they had to shield their eyes from the painful glare.
Nobody had any idea what it was.
Nobody, that is, except for Zack Freeman.
He remembered the bumergency transmitter button he’d pushed back in Silas Sterne’s office. His message must have gotten through.
New hope surged into his body.
His parents’ had returned from Uranus! They would know what to do.
Gran and her angels were a little past their use-by dates when it came to modern bum-fighting. But his parents were two of the top interplanetary bum-fighters in the world. They would know exactly how to handle the situation.
Zack was sure of it. ‘Way,’ he said, quietly.
The fiery object blazed down out of the sky and crashed into the middle of the park. A deafening sonic boom followed close behind, splitting the air—and everybody’s eardrums—with a thunderous crack. Zack could feel the vibrations deep in his chest.
‘What a crack!’ said the Flicker.
‘Language!’ said Gran.
‘I meant the sound,’ said the Flicker.
‘Oh, that’s all right then,’ said Gran. ‘I thought you meant—’
‘Phwoar!’ said the Forker. ‘What’s that smell?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Eleanor. ‘But whatever it is, it’s the first nice thing I’ve smelt all day.’
Zack sniffed deeply.
He knew that smell.
It was his mother’s perfume!
He closed his eyes and took another deep breath. It had been a long time since he had smelt anything so good. In fact, it had been a long time since he’d smelt anything good at all.
‘Look, Zack!’ said his bum, tugging on his hand. ‘The mutant zombie maggots! They’re scared!’
Zack opened his eyes and saw th
at the mutant zombie maggots that had been closing in on them only moments before were now fleeing towards the edge of the park, clearly repelled. ‘Perhaps they don’t like the smell,’ said Zack.
Zack had to hand it to his parents. It was a brilliant strategy.
‘What do you think it is?’ said Gran.
‘I don’t know,’ said the Forker, ‘but whatever it is, I think it’s on our side.’
‘I know it’s on our side,’ said Zack, beaming.
‘How can you be so sure?’ said Eleanor.
‘Remember the message I sent to my parents back at the Academy?’ said Zack. ‘I wasn’t sure whether they’d even get it, but here they are . . . just in time! They’ve been to Uranus. They’ll know what to do.’
Gran nodded her approval. ‘Good work, soldier,’ she said.
Eleanor shrugged. ‘My father went to Uranus, too,’ she said. ‘But it didn’t stop him from being zombie-bummified.’
As Zack strained to catch a glimpse of his parents’ bum-mobile through the blinding haze he considered Eleanor’s point.
What if she was right?
What if his parents didn’t know what to do?
What if they had already been zombie-bummified on Uranus and had returned not to save the world, but to help destroy it?
Zack watched as the light became brighter and brighter until, finally, the smoke cleared and the true cause of the incredible luminescence emerged.
Zack drew in his breath sharply.
It wasn’t his parents.
It wasn’t even his zombie-bummified parents.
It was worse.
It was the Great White Bum!
Zack was stunned.
It couldn’t be the Great White Bum.
It certainly didn’t smell like the Great White Bum.
‘I thought you said the Great White Bum was dead,’ said Gran, frowning. ‘It doesn’t look too dead to me.’
‘It was dead!’ said Zack. ‘I scored a direct hit with a bum-harpoon and then bumcano-blasted it into outer space!’
‘It’s true,’ said Eleanor. ‘I saw it.’
‘Yes,’ said the Forker. ‘But did he kill it?’
‘I thought I killed it,’ said Zack. ‘Well, as good as, anyway.’
‘Not good enough, apparently,’ said the Flicker.
‘No,’ said Zack. ‘I guess the Kicker was right about me after all. I can’t even kill a bums-eyed bumcano-blasted bum!’
Zombie Bums from Uranus Page 15