The Zombie in the Basement (5 page)

“
No,” Ricky said defensively. “I’m not.” He swiped the knife from Eric’s hand and pushed the items back into the housing, then he pulled out the small, three inch knife with the tip of his index finger and thumb.

“
I’m gonna use this to pry open the basement window so we can sneak in. Then the flashlight will let us see what’s in there.”

“
Well, duh,” Eric said, making a face.

Ricky frowned at his friend again. He knew he was being made fun of.

“
Let’s just go, okay?” Ricky asked.

“
Fine,” Eric said and the two boys headed off.

From a nearby tree, the owl watched the two boys walk into the shadows, and with the boys gone, it flew off once more, searching for that tasty mouse or rodent.

CHAPTER 6

A FEW MINUTES
later, the two boys were standing at the wrought iron fence again, the darkness all but wrapping them in a cocoon of ink. The streetlight on the sidewalk in front of the old house was out and the next working one was three doors down.

Both boys glanced at one another, neither wanting to admit they were scared.

“
So, do we climb the fence again?” Ricky asked, remembering what happened last time.

“
Maybe,” Eric said. “But give me a second to look around first.” He padded off to the right as Ricky watched him leave.

Ricky stood alone in the darkness, staring at the old house. It looked much worse at night. There were two spires on each side, like bell towers, and the windows seemed to leer at him like big square eyes. The over-

grown trees and shrubs now resembled hands and arms, all reaching out for some unwary child foolish enough to fall into their clutches. Though trying to be brave, Ricky felt his stomach fill with butterflies and he was beginning to think this was a bad idea.

A really bad idea.

Suddenly, a hand fell on his let shoulder and he jumped, holding back a scream that would have woken the neighborhood if it was sleeping.

“
Relax, it’s just me,” Eric stated as he stepped in front of Ricky.

Ricky, glad his friend couldn’t see his face, tried to smile, though it didn’t work very well.

“
I know that dummy, I was pretending,” Ricky said.

“
Sure you were, tough guy,” Eric replied. “Come on, I found us a way into the yard.”

“
You did? Where?”

“
Just come on,” Eric said, as he turned and walked away. “It’s easier just to show you.”

Not wanting to be alone anymore, his heart still beating a mile a minute, Ricky jogged after his friend, all the while trying not to look at the old house.

“
Check it out, there’s a hole in the fence,” Eric said as he pointed to where one of the bars had broken free of the fence. The metal welds had weakened from rust and it was easy for Eric to push in on it.

“
How’d you find this?” Ricky asked.

“
Luck, really. I just started testing some of the bars. Figured maybe one of them wasn’t attached or something. After all, this fence is old, like twenty years, easy.”

Ricky only nodded. To a ten-year-old, a twenty-year-old iron fence seemed like it was ancient.

“
So,” Ricky said. “Who goes first?”

“
I’ll go; why, you gettin’ second thoughts now?”

“
No,” Ricky replied with a wave of his right hand. “I was just askin’.”

Eric stared at the dark visage of his friend and then turned and slipped through the hole in the fence, his back rubbing the left bar. If he wasn’t so skinny, he wouldn’t have been able to fit, but he was thin and he just made it. Ricky watched him slide in and step into the tall weeds. As Ricky watched, he half expected Eric to be attacked by a werewolf or a mummy. Some mythical creature that would jump out of the weeds and grab his friend, then

drag him to its lair. These images were flooding his mind when Eric spoke up.

“
Well, Ricky, you comin’ or what?”

That broke the spell and Ricky came back to reality. “Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m comin’, keep your shirt on.”

Ricky slid through the hole in the fence and almost got stuck halfway through. He was a little bigger than Eric, what with too many Pop-Tarts and potato chips. But he sucked in his stomach and popped through, losing his footing for a second. But his friend was there to help him and Eric caught him easily.

“
You okay?” Eric asked.

“
Fine, let’s get this done,” Ricky replied, not as confident as back when they had discussed this before dinner. Now that he was actually in the yard of the old house, things looked very, very different.

CHAPTER 7

WITH ERIC IN
the lead, the two boys crossed the yard, the shadows even deeper under the overgrown trees. Their legs rustled the grass and a few stray stalks brushed their arms, causing them to scratch. Mosquitoes flitted about, seeking a choice piece of arm to sink proboscis in and have a feast.

But it didn’t take the two boys long before they reached the house and the windows of the basement.

Ricky took the lead now and showed Eric the window where he’d seen the zombie.

“
It was right there, looking at me with its face all gross and stuff. Then it moaned and I took off.”

Eric peered at the dirty glass. “Well, it’s not there now,” he said simply.

“
No kidding,” Ricky replied. “It must be in there somewhere. We need to go inside.” Before Eric could

reply, Ricky knelt down and pulled out his Swiss Army knife. He opened it so that the small blade was out and then he pushed it into the wooden frame of the window.

While he worked, Eric leaned over his shoulder. “You know, Ricky, this isn’t right. We’re breaking into this house. That’s wrong.”

Ricky stopped working and turned to look at his friend. Eric’s face was wreathed in darkness and he could barely see him.

“
It’s only wrong if we we’re gonna do some damage or steal something, but we’re not. There’s a real live zombie in there and the only way we can prove it is to kill it and then tell the police. I don’t think anyone will care how we did it after it’s done, do you?”

Eric couldn’t help but acknowledge Ricky’s reasoning. After all, it wasn’t like they could just go to the police and tell them there was a zombie in the basement. They would be called
crazy kids
with wild imaginations and sent on their way. So they had to find the zombie first, then tell the authorities.

Eric leaned closer to Ricky, so close that Ricky could feel Eric’s breath on his neck. This continued for almost a minute until Ricky stopped working and turned to Eric. “Do you mind?”

“
Huh? Oh, sorry,” Eric said and took a step back.

“
Thank you, this is hard enough without you trying to give me a hickey,” Ricky joked.

“
That’s gross; don’t even joke about something like that.”

Ricky ignored Eric and went back to work. It was taking so long because the window was painted shut. After years of paint, the frame was one big piece of wood, with dozens of layers of dried paint over it. Ricky had to scrape along the line where frame met window until he could wiggle the knife in enough to try and pop it out.

When he did this, he was rewarded with a groan of wood and paint chips, which fluttered to the ground like confetti.

“
Hah, got it. No one can stop the master burglar, Ricky Meyers.”

“
Don’t say it like that,” Eric told him. “We’re not burglaring anything. We’re gathering evidence for the police.”

“
Oh, sure, of course we are,” Ricky said. “My mistake.”

An odd smell seeped out of the open window and both boys covered their nose in disgust.

“
Oh, gross, what’s that smell?” Eric asked.

“
I don’t know, maybe it’s the zombie. After all, they’re all rotted and stuff.”

“
I hope you’re wrong, Ricky,” Eric said. “I’m starting to think this was a bad idea.”

Ricky shook his head. “But we’re so close, we can’t stop now. Come on, we’ll just take a peek. Tell you what. At the first sign of the zombie, we’ll take off and go tell the police, okay?”

Eric sighed. “Fine, let’s just go before I lose my nerve.”

Ricky smiled so wide the moonlight reflected off his teeth. “Cool.”

Ricky opened the window some more, and when it was propped open, he turned around so his feet were now pointing into the basement. Eric took his hands and Ricky began to scooch back an inch at a time.