The front doors to the costume shop burst open and Zack sauntered out dressed like an Old West sheriff in a long beige coat with a silver star-shaped badge and a Stetson. Ozzie stepped out next looking sharp in a fresh set of camouflage fatigues from the Army Ranger costume. Zoe rocked a sparkly diva outfit with black leggings and a sequined top that made her look like a rocker from the 1980s. Rice of course had chosen the mad scientist costume: he had on a white lab coat, a funny blond wig, and a phony goatee. The last ones out the door were Twinkles and zombie Madison. Twinkles held the handle of the leash in his mouth, walking his undead owner.

They moved through the amusement park silently, sneaking under the radar of the zombie swarms, on the lookout for Olivia. But there was no sign of Madison’s vegan cousin. All Zack could see were zombies coursing through the theme park, viral soldiers in the war to infect and devour all humanity. The undead hordes funneled down the walkways, popping out from behind palm trees and thrill rides at every turn.

Zack and the gang glanced around at the maze of game booths and food vendors. They had to be quick and quiet like ninjas so the undead hordes wouldn’t detect them.

Over the din of undead groans, Zack heard a shrill human scream come from inside the nearest ride. “Hey, guys,” he said. “Did you just hear that?” Zack wanted to make sure. He was beyond tired and beginning to feel like his mind was playing tricks on him.

“Sure did,” Rice said. “Do you think it could be Olivia?”

“Hope so,” said Zoe. “Biff’s startin’ to get pretty stinky.” Zoe pinched her nostrils shut and made a dirty diaper face at her zombified BFF.

The Fun World Fun House towered over them. The entrance to the thrill ride was a brightly colored facade of flashing neon signs pointing to the entrance, where a rainbow-colored doorframe swayed mechanically in front of two black curtains leading inside.

The boys stood in front of the entrance hesitantly as Zoe sidled up next to them. “What’s the matter, boys?” she asked. “Scared of a little kiddie ride?”

“I heard this fun house is intense,” said Rice. “What if there are zombies in there?”

“Well,” Zoe contemplated, “then I guess it will stop being the fun house, now won’t it?”

As the boys peered in the dark tunnel entrance, Zoe dragged Madison along behind her, leading the way.

Once inside, the darkness receded as strobe lights flashed around every turn. Creepy sound effects played over the loudspeaker: cackles and wind and feline hisses. Zack, Ozzie, Rice, Twinkles, and zombie Madison crowded in behind Zoe.

“This is so cool!” Rice said too loudly as they progressed slowly through the spooky fun house.

“Olivia!” Zoe called out in a strained whisper.

“Eeeeeeee!” An identical scream to the one they’d heard outside blasted through the speakers and started a bolt of fear through Zack’s nervous system, followed by disappointment. The scream was not Olivia’s; it was a prerecorded sound effect.

“Let’s get out of here, guys,” Ozzie said. “She’s not—”

All of a sudden the lights went out as if by design, cloaking everything in blackness. Zombie moans could be heard grumbling faintly all around them from the front of the fun house and up ahead through to the end.

“Somebody just stepped on my foot,” Zoe said as she flailed her arm blindly in retaliation and nailed Zack in the shoulder.

“I didn’t step on anybody,” said Zack. “Ouch!”

“Me neither,” said Ozzie.

“That leaves only Rice,” Zoe said. “Watch where you’re going, you little twerp!”

Zoe shined the flashlight app on her smartphone. “Where is he?”

“Rice, quit messing around,” Zack and Ozzie jinxed each other, and squinted through the darkness.

“Guys,” Rice’s voice called out. “Over here. You have to follow the red dot. There’s a hidden pathway through here.”

Zack looked up and saw the tiny red dot of light leading the way out of the darkened room. They followed Rice through the blacked-out fun house until the low strobe lighting returned and they came to a room with three doors.

Zack looked behind door number one, but there was only a wall made out of Styrofoam bricks.

Rice opened door number two and—Blargh! Two zombies lunged out at him. “Ahh!” Rice cried, and dove out of the way of the cooped-up goons.

“O for two, guys,” Ozzie said, and took down the zombie hide-and-seekers, then flung open the third door.

Door number three led to another dark and narrow passageway with a sign overhead that read: BARREL-O-LAUGHS. As the kids entered the room, the speakers overhead blared with maniacal, cackling laughter. In front of them, a padded rotating spindle spanned from one end of the room to the other above a padded pit filled with fallen zombie fun house goers. The undead fun house freaks pawed at the sides of the sunken romper room.

“Okay, guys,” said Ozzie. “This isn’t that big of a deal. Just remember, run in a straight line as fast as you can.” Ozzie went first and sprinted across the rotating cylinder, no problem.

Zack tucked Twinkles into his sweatshirt and sprinted across. Halfway over the pit of zombies, he almost lost his footing on a puddle of slobber, but he reached his arms out and walked in place against the rotation of the padded spindle until his balance was sure again. With a deep breath, Zack let his mind go blank, ignoring the zombies reaching up on all sides of him as he proceeded forward and finally hopped off safely onto the other side.

Rice took off, making it across quickly until he slipped on his last step and went flying face-first. Zack gasped and lunged forward to help his friend, but luckily Rice bounced off the padding and rolled onto the platform at Zack’s feet. “Whoa-ho.” Rice chuckled to himself then looked up at his buddies staring down at him. “That was a close one.”

“Great job, losers, but what are we supposed to do about her?” Zoe asked, nodding her head at zombie Madison.

Zack and the boys scratched their heads. “Ummm . . .”

“I’m going back,” Zoe called across to them. “I’ll see you nimrods outside.” She turned around to make her way through the fun house and disappeared into the room with three doors. Two seconds later, she walked briskly back into the Barrel-O-Laughs obstacle room. “Never mind,” she said to the boys. “There’s a whole lot of zombies back there. What do I do?”

“Okay,” Zack shouted to his sister, “hang on to the leash and shove Madison into the zombie pit! You’re going to have to walk her across.”

“Walk?” Zoe asked. “I thought you said you have to run across?”

“No, we had to run across,” said Rice. “You have to walk across.”

“Thanks, doofus.” Zoe gripped the handle of the leash and pushed zombie Madison into the pit of rezombified Fun Worlders. “Here goes nothing,” she said, and started to navigate the padded spindle, taking short, quick steps to keep up with the rotations while holding on to Madison as she walked through the zombie pit beneath her.

“That’s it, Zoe!” Ozzie shouted. “You’re doing great. Keep it up!”

Zoe quick stepped across the rotating spindle like a true champion. After she made it to the other side, they hoisted zombie Madison out of the undead fun pit and hustled into the next room of the fun house: a twisting, turning labyrinth of distorting mirrors.

Zack stood in front of the misshapen reflective glass and his midsection ballooned into a fat, swollen belly while Rice stood in front of another and watched his tummy shrink to the size of a supermodel’s. “Ha!” Rice shouted, looking at their reflections.

Zoe looked at herself in the infinity mirrors that seemed to replicate the same image over and over forever. “Now that’s the world I want to live in,” she said. “A million me’s!”

“Come on, guys,” Ozzie said. “We gotta split.”

“Eeeeek!” Zoe let out a hair-raising shriek as she hustled through the maze of mirrors. “There’s a zombie in here!”

“Where?” Rice shouted, spinning around. “Ahh! I just saw it over there!”

“Where?” Zack shouted, clutching his Louisville Slugger tightly. The zombie flashed in the fun house mirror. Zack took a swing.

SMASH! The aluminum bat connected with the zombie’s face—only it wasn’t the zombie’s actual face but just the reflection in the mirror. The fun house mirror shattered, and Zack spun around and saw the zombie again. He swung and shattered another mirror. Zack saw the zombie again and wound up one more time, but Rice grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Zack, chill!” Rice shouted. “That’s like fourteen years bad luck already!”

“This way!” Zoe called, waving everyone toward the passageway to the next room.

Now they were on the brink of a nightmarish obstacle course of stairways with blank empty doorframes leading to more staircases.

The fun house stairways jerked and shifted as they tried to navigate the room and little geysers of compressed air shot under their feet as they moved.

“Rice, be careful,” Zack said to his buddy behind him, but there was no answer in return. He stopped at the top of the first mechanical stairway and looked back.

Rice had disappeared. A sputtering noise that sounded like the word HELP cackled in the strobe-lit room.

Zack rushed back to find his buddy, but on his first step, someone yelled “BOO!” Rice popped out of the shadows, scaring Zack as the floor shifted.

“Ack!” Zack stumbled and tripped on the bottom step, rolling over his ankle. He then felt a pain he had known only one other time before. It was during gym class last year when he’d sprained his ankle in an intense game of dodgeball. The sharp pain burned up his shin like an electric shock. Zack crumpled to the floor and let out a yowl. “My ankle!”

“Oh, man. Zack, are you all right?” Rice rushed forward out of his hiding spot.

“I’m fine,” said Zack. “Let’s just stop messing around.”

“Sorry, man,” said Rice. “I guess it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt, huh?”

Zack gritted his teeth and growled at his friend, sucking up the pain.

“Come on, ladies,” Zoe called to her little bro and Rice. “Time to peace out of here. We got zombies a-comin’. . . .”

“You sure you’re okay?” Rice asked Zack. “You want a piggyback ride?”

Zack laughed and then winced as he put pressure on his sprained ankle. “No thanks, man. I’ll be good.” He stood up wincing on his gimpy foot and nodded at Rice to keep moving.

“Zack,” Ozzie said, doubling back. “Let me see your bat real quick.”

Zack tossed Ozzie the Louisville Slugger as the undead throng from outside grunted and thrashed in through the fun house exit the wrong way.

Ozzie pushed up ahead, unleashing a flurry of roundhouses and well-placed jabs with the baseball bat on the undead fun house people.

While Ozzie cleared a path for them through the zombie onslaught, Rice trailed Zoe, who was tugging Madison. As they raced through the final passageway out into the hot zombie night, Zack hobbled up the rear with Twinkles by his side.

“Come on,” said Zoe, pointing across the Fun World plaza to the gift shop. “She might be in there.”