Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven I'm on breakfast duty. Our grill is on the fritz, so I'm using the BoomKart engine to sizzle up some hearty breakfast sandwiches: grilled Twinkies stuffed with sizzling Lucky Charms.

"Jack!" Quint calls from the tree house. "Come here! No delay!" I dump the food on a dish—we found this fancy china platter at some old lady zombie's house, and it makes every meal Queen of England–level classy. "Rover, go visit Bardle for a bit, okay?" I say. He scampers off, and I balance the platter like an expert waiter as I make my way up into the tree house. But as soon as I enter, I lose my appetite... Gulp. Drat. Crud.

Okay, Jack, stay calm. I feel that hot panicky-ness coming over me again. I remind myself this is a good thing—my friends are happy. But still, I can barely breathe. Hard to breathe. Can't breathe. Not sure what to say, I just blurt out, "I MADE BREAKFAST!" Dirk's eyes light up. He yanks the platter from my hands and chomps on a Twinkie sandwich while Quint dives into a rapid-fire presentation. "Jack, perhaps best of all, the radio is PORTABLE! It fits right inside this backpack. No matter where we are, we need never risk missing a radio call." June steps toward me. "Jack, this might all be over soon." Okay, I was maintaining control; I really was. But now my heart is thumping, slamming, pounding. I need to get out of this tree house before my heart detonates. I need an excuse to leave, any excuse, just something— No. No. WAIT!

What I actually need to do is NOT GIVE UP. If I show my buds THE MOST FUN EVER, then maybe—maybe, maybe, maybe—there's still a chance they won't want to leave. It just needs to be fun ENOUGH. The sleepover at the junkyard wasn't fun enough. Blast the Dirk isn't fun enough. Human-monster games weren't fun enough. The Streets Are Lava isn't fun enough. But I still believe the funnest of all fun things could change their minds! This is it. My last shot. So...

We have to Celebrate! A big, CRAZY, COOL CELEBRATION. Most fun ever. Yes, yes, yes. We all seriously deserve it. What might you have in mind, friend No friend? Please "Leave the big plans to me," I say. I grab a Twinkie sandwich and reach for the zip line. "Trust me. I got this, guys! I totally got this." I don't got this. Not at all. I mean, look, I know what we have to do. If we're talking CRAZY, COOL CELEBRATION and if we're talking MOST FUN EVER, there's really only one proper way to do that.

FUN LAND! My buddies said it themselves, not long ago... Dub, Jack. Fun Land is the greatest! The absolute greatest! No joke! But how? The highway is chockablock full of abandoned cars and zombies and is totally impassable. Big Mama can't get there, BoomKarts can't get there, and we can't walk... ARGH! Think, Jack, think! You can figure this out!