Zombie Family Reunion

by Zack Zombie

  “I don’t know, Steve. I’m kind of feeling like it’s hopeless,” I said.

  Then I started crying.

  “You, OK, buddy?” Steve put his hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah, it’s just that I’m really worried about Wesley, you know. He’s all alone out there and who knows what they did to him. I know he’s my little brother and he’s a pest, but I’m really worried about him.”

  Then all of a sudden we heard, “Zumbie!”

  We ran to the jail cell door.

  “It’s Wesley!!!”

  “Wesley, great going, buddy,” Steve said, “You got away from those guys.”

  I grabbed Wesley’s hand and I said, “Wesley, I’m so glad you’re OK. And I’m really sorry about all of those things I said about you. You’re the best little brother anybody could ever have. But you have to go now, buddy. I don’t know what’s going to happen to us down here, and I want you to be safe, OK?” I said crying.

  Wesley just looked at me with a big smile on his face and said, “Shiny!” as he held up the keys to the jail cell.

  So, we took the keys and escaped.

  But we could hear the gang of Zombies right behind us.

  “They must know we escaped,” Steve said. “Run!”

  We ran into every cave we could find, but we didn’t know which way to go.

  Then we ran into a big cave in front of us, but it was a dead end.

  All of a sudden, Prospector Joe and his thugs came in and cornered us.

  “This is the end of the line for you boys,” he said. “What do you think, Wilbur, should we feed them to the brain eating humans, heya, heya?”

  “Yeah, Joe! I’m sure the pig is going to make a nice breakfast for those humans! Heya, heya, heya!”

  Piggy got really scared when he heard that and started to cry, “Squeal, Squeal, Ruyeek… Not the humans, please not the humans!” And he curled up into a little ball on the floor.

  All of a sudden, Steve stepped forward. He was madder than I had ever seen him before.

  “You want to see some brain eating humans?!!!”

  Then he wiped the green makeup off his face, and yelled, “YAARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!”

  The return of Human Steve!

  “He’s a brain eating human!!!!” Prospector Joe yelled. His gang started screaming.

  They all turned white and fell over each other trying to run away.

  “YARRRGGGHHHH!!!!!” Steve kept yelling.

  Prospector Joe and his goons ran away as fast as they could.

  “That’ll show them to mess with us again!” Steve said.

  Then we looked over at Piggy and he was staring at Steve, still scared, in his little ball.

  “Please don’t eat my brains, Steve… Squeal, squeal, ruyeek,” Piggy said.

  “Don’t worry, Piggy, I only eat regular Zombie brains,” Steve said smiling.

  “Whoa,” Piggy said.

  Steve looked at me, and said, “Just kidding.”

  So we made our way through the underground tunnels until we found a sign that said:

  MINECARTS TO GRAND ZOMBIE CANYON THIS WAY

  “Hey, guys, look!” I said. “This is the way to the Grand Zombie Canyon!”

  We made it to the minecarts, but there weren’t any left. I think the prospectors took them all running away from Steve.

  But Piggy found an old broken down one without brakes.

  “Will this work?” he asked.

  “You bet it will,” Steve said.

  “Anything to get out of this place and see my Mom and Dad again,” I said.

  “Well, it doesn’t have any brakes, but that never stopped us before,” Steve said. “Hey, who’s up for another minecart ride?”

  “Les do id!” Wesley said.

  So we all jumped into the minecart. Steve took a running start and jumped into the minecart to push us forward.

  Well, hopefully we’re on our way to Grand Zombie Canyon. Hopefully, I’ll see Mom and Dad again. And hopefully we’ll make it to our Zombie family reunion.

  After everything else that’s happened to us, nothing else could possibly be worse.

  …Right?

  Feels like Saturday…

  Boy was I wrong!

  The minecart ride was so long that all of us fell asleep.

  We came to stop somewhere, and woke up to the sound of a chicken clucking.

  I blinked and saw a chicken standing on my face.

  “Hey can somebody get this chicken off me?” I said.

  “Chicken!” Wesley said as he chased it around.

  When we got out of the minecart, we saw that we were in another big underground cavern.

  “I wonder where we are now?” I said, discouraged that we were still lost.

  “Listen… Can you hear that?” Steve asked, tilting his head to hear better.

  It sounded like music.

  Then I realized where we were…“We must be right under the Grand Zombie Canyon!” I said. “That must be the music from the Zombie family reunion!”

  “YEEAAAHHH!!” we all yelled.

  Then all of a sudden, we felt a big rumble. Then a bunch of big rocks crashed down.

  “Look out!” Steve yelled, as rocks fell down from the cave ceiling. We ran for cover.

  When it stopped, Steve said, “This place must be really unstable. Any loud sound can cause a cave-in.”

  So we quietly walked through the cave tunnels looking for a way out. Except for our clucking chicken. It wasn’t that quiet.

  I thought I saw a light coming from behind a pile of rocks in front of us, so I pointed it out to the guys.

  When we started moving the rocks out of the way, we found a cave with a bright redstone torch in it.

  After we moved enough rocks out of the way, we couldn’t believe what we saw.

  There was a skeleton in a uniform on the floor with a gold sword in one hand and a book in the other.

  “Whoa, what’s that?” Piggy asked.

  “It looks like a soldier,” Steve said. “I wonder what he’s doing here.”

  “Hey, my Mom said that the last battle of the last Zombie Apocalypse was fought in the Grand Zombie Canyon,” I said. “I wonder if he was a soldier from the war.”

  “But you said that Zombies don’t die,” Steve said, checking out the body. “This guy’s been dead a long time.”

  Steve sat the soldier up to get a better look at him, and then we all saw it.

  There was big crack and a hole in the skeleton’s skull.

  “Look.” Steve pointed to some big rocks next to him. “He must have been hit on the head by some of those falling rocks.”

  “Yeah, my Dad said that the only thing that could kill a Zombie is a really hard blow to the head.”

  Piggy saw the gold sword and wanted to get it. But as he reached for it, he slipped and fell.

  “SQUEAL!” he yelled as he fell down.

  Suddenly, the rumbling started happening again. Except this time giant boulders started falling.

  “IT’S A CAVE-IN!” Steve yelled, “EVERYBODY GET DOWN!”

  Boulders and rocks started falling from all over the place. And then after a few minutes it stopped.

  “Cough, cough… Is everybody OK?” Steve called out.

  “Yeah, we’re good,” I said. Then I looked at the entrance to the cave and said, “Oh no!”

  We all looked at the entrance, and it was totally blocked by giant boulders.

  “Quick, try to help me move some of these,” Steve said.

  But no matter how hard we tried, they wouldn’t budge.

  “Oh man, I think we’re stuck in here,” Steve said.

  Steve’s words echoed throu
gh the cave, along with the music from the party that was going on up above.

  We were so close, I thought.

  Then something came over me and I yelled at the top of my voice, “HEEEELLLPPP!!!”

  Then the rumbling started happening again, except this time the entire ceiling started slowly coming down. It stopped after dropping about a foot.

  That’s when I realized that we couldn’t even call for help.

  We were stuck.

  This may be my last entry ever…

  We were in the cave for hours. It actually felt like an entire day passed by.

  We were tired, and we were hungry.

  Steve kept looking at Wesley’s chicken in weird ways, so I knew that the situation was affecting him too.

  Piggy was passing the time by reading from the Zombie soldier’s journal. He was really into it, reading page after page.

  “Hey, what are you reading, Piggy?” I asked him.

  “This book is amazing! It’s the soldier’s first-hand experience of the entire Zombie Apocalypse,” Piggy said. “I’m actually reading his last entry. I’ll read it to you…”

  Private Sherman Zombie—234th Infantry

  This May Be My Last Entry Ever…

  We’ve been stuck in this cave for the past 103 days.

  We can’t call for help, because the cave is so unstable that even the slightest noise will cause a cave-in. Every day we have to avoid getting hit by rocks that randomly fall down on us.

  My big brother Rhemus is trying to do his best to stay positive, but I can see in his eyes that he knows that our hope is lost.

  All we have is our little redstone torch to give us a little light. And all I can do is pass the time writing about our experiences down here. But my pencil is going to run out soon.

  Even though I may never feel the fresh night air on my face ever again, the one good thing is that my brother is right here with me.

  I know we’ve had our troubles. Brothers always do. But I now realize that having a brother is the best gift any Zombie could ask for.

  There’s the rumbling sound again.

  I hope I…”

  We were quiet for a long moment.

  “And that was the last entry,” Piggy said.

  “Did he say that his brother’s name was Rhemus?” I asked Piggy.

  “Yeah, why?”

  “This must be my great, great, great, great, grandpa Rhemus’ little brother,” I said. “Which means that grandpa Rhemus found a way out of here, and we can too! Come on!”

  All of a sudden, something came over me. I was so determined to find a way out that I didn’t care about the falling rocks anymore. I was just trying to move rock after rock to see if we could make a hole big enough for us to get out.

  The other guys got inspired and started moving rocks too.

  “Hey, I feel fresh air!” Steve said as he created a small hole at the top of the pile of rocks.

  “Can you get through there?” I asked Steve.

  “Naw, it’s too small for any of us,” he said.

  Then we all turned around and looked at Wesley.

  Little Wesley just said, “Les do id!”

  We moved fast to get Wesley and his new chicken through the hole.

  “Follow the music, Wesley,” I told him. “Find Mom and Dad. And find grandpa Rhemus. He knows how to find us.”

  As I said goodbye to him, the cave started rumbling again and the ceiling dropped another foot, covering the hole we made.

  So now it’s up to Wesley, I thought. Now it was up to my little brother who I called a pest most of his life. The little brother I got mad at a lot and bullied sometimes. The little brother that I used to be jealous of because Mom and Dad paid more attention to him than to me. The little brother that I wished had never been born.

  My little brother Wesley…that I might not ever see again...

  Wesley, if I don’t make it out, and you find my journal, I just want to tell you that you are the best little brother that any Zombie could ever have.

  And I love you with all my heart and I always will…

  Monday

  I woke up today to the rumbling sound of the cave.

  I think that’s going to be the last rumbling sound I will ever hear, I thought.

  You see, the cave ceiling had almost totally collapsed so that it was an inch from my face.

  Steve and Piggy were also trapped, but they were still OK. We just kept each other talking to pass the time.

  All I was hoping for was that Wesley was OK, and that he found his way safely out of the cave.

  Suddenly, we heard some voices.

  “There it is!” I heard somebody say.

  “Quick! Zeke, Billy Ray, Mabel, Otis, Roscoe, move that big boulder out from in front of the cave! But be careful, there could be another cave-in.”

  Then I heard a big boulder move as the cave started to rumble again.

  “Mutant, put your back up against the ceiling,” I heard.

  UUURRRGGHHH!!!!

  “Alright everybody, dig!”

  I heard a bunch of digging noises and then I felt a hand feeling around my face.

  “I got one!”

  Then somebody grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out to the blinding light of somebody’s torch.

  “Zombie!” I heard voices that sounded like my Mom and Dad.

  “Mom…Dad…Piggy and Steve are still…in there.” I said, too weak to talk.

  “Mutant, push up that ceiling!”

  “UURRRGGHHHH!!”

  Then I heard somebody say, “I smell bacon! I think I got another one!”

  And they dragged Piggy out.

  Then I heard somebody say, “I smell pickles! I think I got the last one!”

  And they yanked Steve, covered in dust, out of the rubble.

  “Is that everybody? Alright Mutant, let it go!”

  “UUUURRRRGGGHHHH!!!!”

  BOOOOMMMM!!!

  “Everybody out, before the cavern falls down on us!!!”

  All I remember after that is that I was on Dad’s shoulders being carried out of the cave. Piggy, clutching the soldier’s diary, was being carried by his Dad. And Mutant was carrying Steve.

  Then everything went black…

  Tuesday

  When I woke up, I was in bed.

  I looked around and it looked like I was in a hospital cave of some kind.

  I looked out of the cave entrance and noticed that it was night out. I could hear music in the background so I knew that I was still at the Zombie family reunion.

  As I looked over to the other beds, I could see my Mom giving water to Steve.

  Steve! I thought, Oh no! What if Mom finds out?

  Mom saw that I was awake and came over to my bed.

  “How are you feeling, Zombie?” Mom asked.

  “I’m OK,” I said. But all I was thinking about was Mom finding out about Steve.

  She saw me looking in Steve’s direction and said, “Oh, don’t worry about Zven. His secret is safe with us.”

  She didn’t care? Wow, sometimes my mom can really surprise me.

  “There’s somebody here that was really worried about you,” Mom said.

  “Zumbie,” Wesley said climbing on my bed.

  “Wesley!” I gave him such a big hug that I think I hurt something.

  Wesley looked at me and said, “I lub you too, Zumbie.”

  Then he took off riding on his new chicken.

  Wesley and his new Chicken

  When I finally got up, I saw that both Piggy and Steve were sleeping. By Piggy’s bed was the soldier’s diary from the cave. I picked it up because I knew what I had to do with it.

 
When I got out of the cave I saw hundreds of my relatives everywhere. I saw uncle Rufus and his whole family. I saw Piggy’s parents. I saw my uncle Wither and the mess he was making everywhere. And, I even saw Mutant.

  I never knew that Mutant was part of my family. But I always knew that Mutant and I had a special connection. All Zombies are related anyway, so I wasn’t really surprised to see him there.

  Dad came up to me, and a really old Zombie that was covered in medals hobbled alongside of him.

  “Zombie, it’s great to see you’re feeling better,” Dad said. “I have someone special I want to introduce to you.”

  “Zombie, this is grandpa Rhemus,” Dad said.

  “How are you, sir?” I asked.

  “I’m fine,” he said. “More importantly, how are you?”

  “I’m feeling better,” I said. Then I took the soldier’s journal out of my pocket.

  “Grandpa Rhemus, I think this belongs to you,” I said.

  His eye sockets grew really big as he looked at the journal.

  “It’s Sherman’s journal,” he said as his eye sockets started tearing up.

  “You really loved your brother, didn’t you?” I asked him.

  “Sherman was the best little brother any Zombie could have,” he said. “Thank you, Zombie, you don’t know how much this means to me.”

  “Well, Zombie, are you ready for some cake?” Dad asked.

  Boy was I ever!

  Then all of a sudden, the music stopped and everybody got quiet.

  They all stared in horror at the hospital cave. When I turned around, I saw that Steve had woken up and walked out of the hospital cave looking as human as he had ever been.

  Oh man, now were in big trouble, I thought.