Free My Zombie Hamster by Havelock McCreely

hand.
    That’s when I noticed a few different things. First, I could see through the guy’s rib cage. Like,actually see right through it. He was between Charlie and me, but I could see her angry face through the yellowing bones. He had no skin, no internal organs.
    My brain did a few rapid recalculations of the situation just as Kilgore Dallas entered the clearing, returning from his angry walk. He froze, a look of utter astonishment on his face.
    That’s when I realized this wasn’t a joke. This was a real deadbeat attack.
    I shouted a warning to everyone and lunged forward, shoving the deadbeat who was about to bite down on Charlie. Its grip was so tight, and my shove so hard, its arm ripped right out of the socket. I looked at Charlie in horror. The zombie arm was still attached to her wrist. She shook her hand, but the thing wouldn’t let go.
    She got to her feet just as another deadbeat arrived.
    Charlie then used the arm that was clamped around her wrist as a makeshift club, smacking it against the deadbeat who was stumbling toward her. It was one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.
    The zombie spun in a circle and fell to theground. Charlie yanked the arm off and threw it away.
    Dallas was now running through the camp with a baseball bat.
    “Up the trees!” he shouted. “Remember the drill!”
    The others had finally twigged that this wasn’t a joke. That it was the real thing. They were scrambling for the trees, dodging around the slow-moving deadbeats, and pulling each other up through the branches to safety.
    Except for Calvin.
    He was engrossed in his game and taking no notice of all the commotion. Charlie, Aren, and I were already climbing an old, twisted oak tree, but we saw him sitting there and shared a look. Then we sighed, dropped back to the snow, and sprinted toward him.
    Aren grabbed his phone, Charlie slapped him on the head, and I pulled him to his feet.
    “Hey!” he shouted. “What’s the big idea …”
    He trailed off as the situation finally sank into his brain.
    By this time, Dallas’s crew had arrived. They and Dallas were running around the clearingdealing with the deadbeats in violent and fascinating ways. Our classmates were peering down from the branches, those who still had their phones using them to record the events. Deadbeats were still stumbling around, searching for anything with a pulse.
    That included us.
    Three were heading in our direction. We ran back to our tree and helped Calvin up into the branches. He finally made it to safety, and Charlie, Aren, and I hauled ourselves up after him. Then we turned around to watch the battle below us.
    It was over in a matter of minutes.
    Dallas’s crew stood in the clearing, looking around at the deadbeats lying on the forest floor. None of his crew had been injured. Not a surprise. They were pretty good at what they did.
    “You kids stay where you are,” called Dallas. “We’re going to scout around.”
    So we had to stay up in the trees for the next hour. Luckily for us, Aren was still holding Calvin’s phone, so we all took turns playing games until Dallas came back and told us we were going home early.
    So, not a totally terrible day.

MONDAY, JANUARY 20
    Everyone who was on the trip is now considered something of a hero. When word got out about what happened things went a bit crazy. I thought actual steam was going to bust out of Mom’s ears, she was so angry. Even Dad, who is a pretty laid-back guy, was furious. He looked at me strangely and then had to go for a walk to calm down.
    I found out later that he marched to city hall and gave the mayor and Kilgore Dallas a piece of his mind. Apparently, he shouted at them. My dad never shouts.
    I feel a bit bad for Dallas, though. It wasn’t really his fault. It turns out that the contractors the mayor paid to put up the fence were the cheapesthe could find. Plus, he didn’t tell them the fence was supposed to keep deadbeats out, so they just stuck anything up, thinking