Chapter 11

chapter eleven When I wake the next morning, I'm sore all over. I have aches and pains in places that I didn't even know were capable of producing aches and pains. It takes me a moment to remember why I feel like the last man standing in the Royal Rumble. Oh yeah.... Last night. With the immediate danger of the Hairy Eyeball Monster over, my mind goes to the zombie parade and The Shrieking. That's the scariest thing yet; scary because it felt like something was controlling the zombies. Some sound drawing them in. Some great, evil force at work. My eyes flicker open and suddenly it's me doing the shrieking. Dirk and June are staring at me like I'm some sort of alien who just landed on Earth.

What happened to you last night?

I sit up and wipe drool from my lip. A big patch of saliva shaped like Darth Vader has formed on my pillow. I awkwardly try to prop my elbow over it. Don't need June seeing my Darth Vader drool. "Would you guys believe me if I said we went to a parade?" I ask. Dirk throws one boot-clad foot up on the table and sips from a mug of hot coffee. "No, I would not." "Well, take a look at this," I say, grabbing my camera and tossing it to June. June glances down and her eyes go wide. I'm waiting for her to gasp, exclaim, or express shock somehow—but instead she just bursts out laughing. "Stop, stop, wait!" I say, scrambling out of my little sleep area and yanking the camera from June's hands. I frantically flip past the beyond

embarrassing photos. "Here, this one. Don't click backward. Just forward. Just. Forward." June, still giggling, clicks ahead—and her giggling quickly comes to a halt. Her eyes are wide as she looks at the endless march of zombies. "There are so many of them..." she says softly. "We could have wiped a whole load of them out at once," Dirk growls. "Should have brought me with you." "Dirk, we don't wipe out zombies. Zombies used to be people. We only wipe out the bad monsters. Anyway, you can't tell from the photo, but the zombies were all marching together—like they were going somewhere. Quint can probably explain better..." June hands me back the camera. "Quint's in his workshop." Dirk nods. "I heard three explosions, two bangs, and a bunch of 'gee-golly-willikers.' Kid must be working on something real nuts." I'm not surprised. After what we saw last night, I'm sure Quint's got ideas for about six new gadgets and nineteen possible plans of attack.

"Guys," I say after a moment. "We heard that shrieking noise again. It was like that noise was calling the zombies, making them go toward it." June and Dirk exchange worried glances. "Well... where did they go?" "Don't know. We only followed them as far as Main Street. That's when we ran into the Hairy Eyeball Monster." "Excuse me? The what?" June asks. I plop my head back down in the Darth Vader drool and wave at the camera. "Next pic." June clicks and her eyes about pop out of her skull. Dirk leans over, looks at the picture, and cracks his knuckles. "Yeah," I say. "The situation got a little... hairy." I grin. Dirk and June look at me like I'm quite dumb. "That's a great joke! Situation got hairy! A monster that's all hair? C'mon!" Still no one laughs. June shakes her head. "Jack, you shouldn't have gone without us. We're a team, remember?"

I shrug. "You were sleeping." Jack. You woke me up at 3 a.m. last week because you needed Sobieone to play Lego Marvel with. But you're felling me you didn't wake me for a parade of undead MONSTEPS? 7, you needed your beauty rest. l, on the other hqnd, am already super handsome. super rest not needed. June looks like she's about to slug me. But I'm saved... Saved by Quint. He's in the yard, shouting. "Friends! Hurry down here, please. I have something to unveil!"