Free The Pickled Apocalypse of Pancake Island by Cameron Pierce

surrounded her on all sides. She spun circles, hitting the pancakes that came within range of her fists.
    "Stay back!" she cried. "All of you, stay back."
    "Fanny!"
    She glanced at me as I struggled through the pancake guts and braced myself to break through into the circle of pancakes to help Fanny. But during her respite, the pancakes increased the pace of their onslaught by double. They shed their clumsy natures, moving now with a strength and agility they did not have before. They raised their heads, revealing rows of sharp, tiny, crystallized maple fangs, and they moaned, " Haaaaappppiiiinnnessssss. . . ."
    Before I could reach her, Fanny was buried in pancakes. I struggled forward, more desperate now than ever.
    It did not appear that the pancakes took her down intentionally, but more like she had stood in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were piling up now, right where she'd stood. They crawled over each other, straining their newfound teeth and claws to get at the Cuddlywumpus, whose features now came into painful detail. The Cuddlywumpus had lost its fur. It was bald now, and green.
    I knew I had infected the Cuddlywumpus. I could accept that. Harder to accept was the severity of the pickling. The Cuddlywumpus was in far worse condition than the pancakes.
    Pickles sprouted from its flesh, obscuring its original form. The Cuddlywumpus looked like a seaweed-wrapped coral reef with a monstrous acne problem. 
    A gash split its belly in two. Green balloons floated from the wound. That was where the green balloons were coming from. The Cuddlywumpus was filled with green balloons.
    The pancakes piled on top of each other. They struggled their way into the belly of the Cuddlywumpus, where they made attempts to eat the balloons, but the balloons popped beneath the pressure of their teeth and claws. They fell to eating the flesh of the Cuddlywumpus.
    The Cuddlywumpus mewled and whined. The pickled pancakes, in conjunction with the chains holding it down, rendered the beast totally helpless.
    I knew the only way to save Fanny was to rescue the Cuddlywumpus, but if the beast was going to make it out alive, I needed Fanny’s help. There were simply too many pancakes in the dungeon.
    I dove into the swarming mound.
    I tore through soggy pancake flesh.
    Pancakes bit into me, but they were only trying to get to the Cuddlywumpus.
    As I searched for Fanny, I wondered about hump boy and the door-obsessed pancake. They had seemed intent on tracking me down when the pancakes first congregated outside the zucchini castle. The continuing pickled degradation must have torn apart their consciousness. They probably forgot all about me.
    I called out to Fanny. She should've been screaming and she wasn't.
    I clawed through pancakes faster and faster. I was almost buried in pancakes when I finally uncovered her.
    The pancake pile had smothered her.
    Fanny Fod was flattened, broken. I cradled her in my arms and brought my head to her chest. I detected a frail heartbeat.
    I held her as close as possible without further ruining her body, warding off the pancakes swarming to eat the doomed and pickled Cuddlywumpus.
    Pancakes crowded every available space in the dungeon. Syrup and brine sloshed up as high as my waist. Green balloons continued pouring forth from the gaping belly wound of the Cuddlywumpus. To reach the Cuddlywumpus now, the pancakes had to push through a balloon layer. The pancakes vanished as if the balloons were a low-hanging cloud strata. I heard them feasting. The Cuddlywumpus cried. At this point all I wanted was to carry Fanny Fod up the stairs, lock the dungeon door, leave the zucchini castle, and be rid of these pickled pancakes forever, but I feared that lifting her might kill her.
    "Fanny, can you hear me? We must leave. We can't stay here. If you can hear me, I'm sorry about the Cuddlywumpus."
    At the mention of the Cuddlywumpus, she twitched a little. Her bruised skin flickered a near-electric green before