Chapter 1

THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH and the MIDNIGHT BLADE MAX BRAELLIE DOUGLAS HOLGATE. Read for you by Robbie

chapter one Well, it happened. After all that time, they got us. The zombies bit us. We turned. We transformed. Look at us—twisted undead faces, slumping undead posture. We're zombies. Absolute zombies. Quint: zombie. Dirk: zombie. June: total, big-time zombie. Things are different now... Our adventures are a little slower: less darting around, more shambling. And our appetites have changed: less grilled donuts, more flesh burgers. Y'know what—let me catch you up. Fill you in. Explain HOW we joined the ranks of the undead. See, it's been about a month since, uh, BIG STUFF HAPPENED. A month since we

battled a new villain; a villain who was HUMAN.... This villain's name is EVIE SNARK, and like me, she's a super-mega-geek. But unlike me, she's OUT OF HER EVER-LOVING MIND... First, she stole my beloved Louisville Slicer, and I was like, nuh-uh, NOT OK. Then, she caused Dirk to be bitten by a zombie!

It was all part of her big bad cosmic plan— she was going to perform this weirdo ritual and bring the Cosmic Terror, GHAZT, into our dimension. See, Ghazt is "The General" and he has the ability to control zombies with his TAIL.... And that's, like, bad. But Quint, June, and I swung in like the Three Compadres! We saved Dirk by feeding him an eyeball, lent to us by our monster buddy Warg. The eyeball had some kind of healing, anti-zombie elixir inside, and Dirk sucked down the contents like a glass of hot, gooey lemonade. (It was gross, yep.) We got the Slicer back, too! But not before it connected with the monster dimension...

THINGS GOT WEIRD And in the end, well—WE KINDA FAILED. Evie's plan worked! Ghazt entered our dimension. But, because we interfered, things went a little sideways and Ghazt took the form of a RAT—a rat mixed with Evie's action figure collection. So now he's a half-plastic, half-rodent, zombie-controlling cosmic creep. And they escaped! Evie and Ghazt: now at large, on the loose, concocting bad guy plans!

And that leads us to... this very morning. And us, becoming zombies. Me, Jack Sullivan—former Post-Apocalyptic Action Hero! Now, just a lousy Post- Apocalyptic ZOMBIE DUDE. And June, Dirk, and Quint. Also zombies. We're just four, regular, normal zombies among hundreds. Things have taken a turn for the terrifying...