Free Flesh of the Zombie by Tommy Donbavand Page B

“I’d better make sure my mum and dad are OK first. They’llfreak out if any of these zombies turn up in
our
garden.” As he raced off in one direction, across the gardens, Resus and Cleo set off in the other.
    After a moment’s silence, a small voice spoke up. “Who’s going to put me back together?” asked Dr Skully.

Resus and Cleo skidded to a halt as they arrived in Scream Street. Zombies tottered out from every garden. Cracked hands pushed up through flower-beds and body parts of all descriptions lay scattered about as the vast army of the undead marched to the sound of the same monotonous phrase.
    “Brain drain! Brain drain!”
    “There are thousands of them,” cried Cleo, “and they’re all heading for the square!”
    “At least that’s away from Luke’s house,” said Resus with relief as he saw that the zombies were lurching in the opposite direction to his friend’s retreating figure.
    Although Luke had quickly made friends in Scream Street, his parents remained terrified of the world into which they had been thrown. Since arriving in their new home they had suffered poltergeist attacks, a vampire plague and an invasion of spiders. Several thousand walking corpses might just push them over the edge.
    Resus and Cleo followed the tide of zombies towards the square. One of them reached out to Resus as it staggered past, black drool dripping from its mouth. The vampire ducked under the creature’s arms. “Watch out,” he warned Cleo. “I think the walk is making them peckish.”
    “Well,
I’ve
got nothing to worry about,” said Cleo. “My brain is wrapped in greaseproof paper in the fridge at home.”
    “But they’ll have cracked open your skull before they found that out,” Resus pointed out,grinning as Cleo’s expression fell.
    The journey was slow going, as the pair could only move at the same shuffling pace as the zombies around them. They craned their necks to get a glimpse of what was drawing the zombies on, but their view was blocked by a sea of decomposing heads. The closer they got to the centre of Scream Street, the louder the music became. By the time they reached the main square, the drumbeat and bass line were almost deafening.
    Cleo and Resus stared. They were surrounded by thousands of dancing zombies, all lurching in time to the music. Occasionally a cracking sound would ring out, followed by a scream, as one of the more enthusiastic undead snapped a leg bone and fell to the ground.
    “This is crazy!” said Cleo.
    “It officially freaks
me
out,” agreed Resus. Then he caught a glimpse of a booth set up in the corner of the square. A zombie wearing a backwards baseball cap stood behind it. “Look!” he said. “That’s where the music’s coming from.”
    Cleo winced as a boogying zombie staggered sideways and stepped on her toes. She tried to force her way between two more of them butquickly became jammed. “What do we do now?” she asked. “I can’t move.”
    Resus pulled a pair of sunglasses from his cloak and put them on. “We dance!” he grinned.
    When Luke finally caught up with Resus and Cleo, he was amazed to find them dancing beside the DJ booth. “Have you two gone insane?”
    “It’s the fastest way to get anywhere,” explained Resus. “Besides, if you dance, they think you’re one of them and stop nagging for a taste of your brain.”
    “Try it,” added Cleo.
    Luke’s face fell. “You surely don’t expect me to—”
    A nearby zombie in a ragged tuxedo made a grab for him.
    “Brain drain! Brain drain!”
    Luke began to tap his feet in time to the music and the zombie instantly lost interest. “I feel stupid,” he moaned as he flung his arm out in a classic disco pose and, in doing so, slapped a second zombie in the face. When he pulled his hand back there was an eyeball stuck to the end of his thumb.
    “You’ll feel considerably more stupid if one ofthese guys takes a bite out of your grey matter,” warned Resus.

    Luke shook his hand