Flesh of the Zombie (10 page)

Flying off, the fairy soon returned with the unicorn, two gargoyles and a dozen or so monkey-like creatures with green spiked hair.

“There,” said Resus. “How’s that?”

Vein grinned as the band took up their positions once again. “We’re back, Underlands,” he shouted into his stick. “This is ‘Zombie Feasting Time’!”

Resus battered away at his pots and pans. Luke strummed the tennis racquet and Cleo plucked at her bandage.

“If I rip the heart right from your chest
,

They’ll take me away; cardiac arrest …”
sang Vein as Tee joined in with the harmonies.

Luke winced. The sound they were making was terrible! Even the green-haired monkeys were running away in terror. Surely no one could be tricked into think that they were a real—

A dense green gas began to bubble up
around his feet. Luke looked from pretend musician to pretend musician and saw that they, too, were gradually being enveloped in the smoke.

“It’s working!” he shouted. There was a flash of green light, then Luke found himself flying through a swirling emerald tunnel. Someone whooped with joy and Luke turned to see Resus beside him, his cape flapping out from his shoulders.

Then Cleo appeared. “I’ll get you for this, Resus!” she screamed.

Finally Vein and Tee arrived, laughing helplessly. “This is just like the first time,” called the singer. “Get ready for a bumpy landing …”

Another burst of green light filled the air and Luke landed with a thud onto the stage in the central square of Scream Street. Jazpants stood beside him and appeared to be in the middle of a guitar solo. Incredibly, it seemed that although they had spent the night in the Underlands, only a few minutes had passed in Scream Street.

Resus arrived next and found himself sitting at the drum kit beside Twonk. “Now,
that’s
funny!”
beamed the drummer as the vampire joined in with his own sticks.

Porridge seemed to be having a great time, his stumpy new legs planted firmly on the stage and his bass guitar slung low below his waist. Then there was a crack of green lightning and Cleo landed, squarely, on the zombie’s shoulders.

“Welcome back, little lady,” Porridge smiled as Cleo screamed in excitement.

A final flash of light burst into view at the front of the stage. As it cleared, Vein and Tee could be seen standing together, singing the song into real microphones.

“I’ll let your blood flow like a river
,

Mop it all up with your juicy liver!”

The zombies in the audience roared with delight as their hero reappeared.

“Chewing on you, you’re tasting good
,

Gnawing your bones and tasting blood
.

I chews you — it’s zombie feasting time!”

Luke beamed at Cleo and Resus. Maybe the fact that Vein didn’t want to hand over his tongue wasn’t so bad after all. Moments like this made life in Scream Street enjoyable — perhaps he could even convince his mum and dad to get to know
their neighbours. Maybe then they’d—

Luke’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a commotion behind him.

“Stop this, right now!” Sir Otto, purple with fury, charged onto the stage. One by one the musicians stopped playing, until silence filled the square.

“What are you all doing here?” roared the landlord. “I banished you to the Underlands!”

“Dude!” called a voice
from the front of the crowd. Doug flipped open the top of his head to scratch his brain. “
You
sent them there?”

“It’s true,” said Vein, pointing to Sir Otto. “This man sent us to the worst place you could ever imagine.”

At this, the zombies around Doug lunged forwards with a screech and grabbed Sir Otto’s ankles. The landlord fell with a crash as the creatures dragged him off the stage and into the crowd. Within seconds they were all over him.

Luke raced to the front of the stage and snatched the microphone from Vein’s hands. “Stop!” he commanded.

The zombies paused and turned to face the stage. Luke swallowed hard and spoke nervously into the microphone. “Sir Otto Sneer is a bad man,” he said. “He does bad things to a lot of people — but that doesn’t mean you should hurt him for it.”

Doug pushed his way back to the front of the crowd. “The little dude’s right!” he said. “What’s
happened to the spirit of Deadstock?” The zombies looked quizzically at one another for a second, then, with a mass roar, they pushed Doug to one side and continued their attack on the unfortunate landlord.

“So much for the diplomatic approach,” said Resus, reaching inside his cloak. “Time for something a little more persuasive!” With that, he pulled out a squirming cloth sack and ripped away the cord from around its neck. Dozens of angry pixies flew out of the bag and shot into the crowd, biting and scratching everything in sight.

The zombies at the front howled in pain. Dropping Sir Otto, they began to retreat across the central square.

Staggering and lurching back up the side
streets and into the gardens, the zombies dived into the tunnels that had brought them to Scream Street in the first place. The pixies gave chase, darting from monster to monster, snapping their razor-sharp teeth.

“You brought those things back from the Underlands?” demanded Cleo, joining Resus and Luke at the front of the stage.

“I figured they might come in useful.”

The trio leapt down from the stage and fought their way through the retreating crowd to Sir Otto. The landlord lay curled up in a ball on the ground, sobbing like a baby.

“Let’s get you out of here,” said Luke, grabbing one of Sir Otto’s wrists as Resus pulled the other.

Cleo lifted up the flap of cloth that hung across the front of the stage so the boys could drag Sir Otto away from the stampede. Turning, she found herself faced with the grey, one-eyed zombie once again. “What now?” she said.

The creature gave a gentle moan and handed Cleo a single, dead flower. Then, sighing heavily, he turned and limped slowly away towards his tunnel.

“You know,” said Cleo as she joined Luke, Resus and a trembling Sir Otto beneath the stage, “I’ve really changed my opinion of zombies!”

“And I’ve changed my opinion of werewolves,” said a voice. Luke spun round to find Vein crawling under the stage towards them.

“I was worried about what giving you my relic would do to me,” admitted the zombie. “What I didn’t consider is what you would do for others.”

“What do you mean?” asked Luke.

Vein gestured towards Sir Otto. “You saved this man, even though he tried to take everything from you! That’s the bravest thing I’ve ever seen; it made me realize that I need to be brave too.”

Opening his mouth, Vein grabbed hold of his tongue and pulled. With a sickening squelch, the muscle tore away.
“Ih i or ooh,”
he mumbled, handing over the quivering chunk of flesh.

“But — the band!” said Luke. “Your career …”

“Vein is going to be the band’s manager from now on,” said Tee, appearing beside them. “They’ve got a new singer.”

“You …?” exclaimed Cleo, throwing her arms around her new friend. “But what happened to finding out who you really are?”

“I know who I am now,” smiled Tee. “I’m a zombie.”

“If this gets any mushier, I think I might throw up,” grinned Resus, pretending to be sick.

“Sneer’s gone!” exclaimed Luke, interrupting him.

Sir Otto was nowhere to be seen. Resus lifted the cloth in time to see the landlord scurrying away towards the gates of Sneer Hall. “I guess he just about gets away with it — this time.”

“I suppose so,” agreed Luke.

“Er, not quite,” admitted Cleo. “While you were busy taking pixies from the Underlands, I was leaving something behind …”

“What?” Luke asked cautiously. There was a flash of green light and a heavy thud shook the stage above them.

“I wrote down the lyrics to ‘Zombie Feasting Time’,” grinned the mummy. “The Tooth Fairy
must have found them somehow and joined in with the song.”

“Whoa, momma!” bellowed the Tooth Fairy, leaping to the ground and chasing after Sir Otto. “Let me get a look at those pearly whites!”

“You gave the Tooth Fairy her freedom?” asked Resus.

Cleo nodded. “In return for these,” she said, opening her hand.