With Olivia in the lead, they scurried single-file down a darkened alleyway between the gift shop and the fence of the Fun World go-kart track. Even though it was well after sunset, the night air was still humid and thick with the hot stench of undead decay.

“How far is the food court?” Zack asked as they turned out of the alley and into the heart of Fun World. His wrapped ankle was aching badly and he was dying for a few minutes of rest.

“It’s on the other side of the plaza with the gumball hotel,” Olivia replied.

Zack hobbled down the street trying to keep a low profile from the ghoulish fiends stumbling in all directions. He hid for a moment behind one of the metal supports holding up the monorail overhead. VROOSH! The monorail train zoomed overhead, and all the zombies in the vicinity craned their necks up to the noise.

“Guys!” Zack whisper-yelled over the noise. “Slow up for a sec.”

“I know your ankle hurts, buddy,” said Ozzie, “but we need to keep moving.”

“It’s not my ankle, Oz,” Zack retorted. “We gotta get off the main street.”

Out from behind the on-ramp to the Ferris wheel, gaming booths, and snack stands, a dozen packs of undead amusement park freaks began to move toward them all at once, as if they were all operating with the same diseased-BurgerDog brain.

“Olivia!” Zack cried over the undead groans. “Watch out!”

Olivia spun around to face Zack.

“Behind you!” he shouted.

Olivia whirled back into a stampede of sunburned ghouls shuffling out from the back of the fun house. “Ack!” Olivia screamed as the flock of infected flesh-eaters nearly trampled her over.

One of the brainsick psychos frothed at the mouth and seized Olivia by the collar, pulling her farther into the undead bedlam. The reanimated ghoul lifted Olivia by the cranium with one hand like it was palming a basketball and salivated right onto the top of her head.

Ozzie took off in a high-speed blur as Olivia shrieked at the top of her lungs. On reflex, Zack limped after Ozzie as fast as he could on his sprained ankle.

Ozzie vaulted into the air and jump-kicked, flying toward the chomping zombie behemoth about to feed on Olivia’s brain. But at the same instant, something seemed to click in Olivia’s head and she went into survival mode, swinging her elbow backward right into the beefy, muscle-bound zombie’s solar plexus. The ghoul doubled over, but Ozzie’s kick had missed its intended target and he went flying into the growing zombie mob.

Olivia then pulled a spin move and collared the zombie with one arm and yanked back on the beast’s hair from behind. Zack heard a sound like a piece of paper being torn quickly in half and the middle-aged zombie’s hairpiece ripped clean off. Olivia stood there holding the thing’s toupee in her hand and shrieked as another zombie stumbled toward her out of the crowd. She kicked the bald-headed brute in the rear end and it went flying back into the mob.

Meanwhile, Ozzie was struggling to get his footing on account of all the slime coating the pavement. “Help!” Ozzie cried as one of the zombies reached down and grabbed him with its sunburned paw.

Zack dashed as best as he could on his bum ankle and leaped into the brawl, ducking through the zombie footslog. He could see Ozzie attempting a reverse grappling maneuver, but Ozzie lost his footing again and the large zombie fell on top of him with all its weight.

“Ozzie!” Zack shouted as the zombie lowered its scruffy chin and opened its jaw wide, ready to clamp its toothy, bloodstained maw onto Ozzie’s wrist.

“Nom nom nom!”

Zack jumped off his good foot and reached out, sacrificing his own hand to the zombie’s mouth before it could zombify their most valuable Zombie Chaser. He howled in pain as the zombie bit into the meaty flesh on the side of his left hand.

The undead fiend’s weight shifted, and Ozzie freed himself, hopping back to his feet. He clocked the zombie biter with a stunning roundhouse karate kick to the back of its noggin, sending it face-first into the mass of roiling brain-chomping fiends.

Up ahead, Rice and Zoe knocked out a trio of pus-slobbering brutes, clearing a path for them to escape. Olivia took off, leading the way, dragging zombie Madison by her leash.

“Thanks for taking one for the team,” Ozzie said to Zack, following Olivia, Rice, and Zoe.

“No sweat.” Zack clutched his zombie-bitten hand. “We can’t afford to lose the one and only Ozzie Briggs.”

“That’s true,” he said. “But that’s gotta hurt.”

“It’s killing me,” Zack said, almost laughing. “But it won’t zombify me. You, on the other hand, need to be more careful.”

“Over here!” Olivia pointed the way to their safe haven.

She lifted the pull-down gate, which barricaded the Fun World food court against zombie infiltration, and they moved inside. Now in the confines of the locked-down food court, Zack could finally catch his breath and take a load off his sprained ankle.

“So, yeah,” Olivia said, walking around her zombie-free haven. “This is the spot. Luckily, the food court was closed when everything rezombified. Those gates keep the stinkers out. This is only day two, so the food’s still pretty good. We have electricity, running water, and refrigeration.”

“Nice.” Ozzie nodded his head in approval.

As everyone inspected the premises, Zack patched up his zombie bite with gauze and tape from a first aid kit behind one of the counters.

“Here, let me help you, Zack,” said Rice, unrolling some more gauze. “You should really be resting with an ice pack on your ankle, too. The four rules of sprained ankles are rest, ice, compression, and elevation. R-I-C-E,” he said. “Like me.”

“Thanks, man. I’ll try it out,” said Zack. “Hey, can I see your phone?”

“Who are you calling?”

“Duplessis.”

“But isn’t he a zombie now?”

They hadn’t heard a word from him since right after Rice rezombified on top of the Empire State Building. Duplessis was telling them to find other vegans to help with a new antidote, but their call had been cut short when his rezombified factory workers stormed his laboratory.

“I don’t know,” Zack said. “I’m hoping he got away in time. Besides, he said to call him if we found an alternative antidote, so we’ll see.”

“Did you just say you were calling Thaddeus Duplessis? The man responsible for zombifying everyone the first time?” Olivia asked.

“Uh-huh.” Zack nodded.

“I, like, totally hate that guy,” Olivia said. “When I heard what he did to those poor cow-pigs, I cried.” She frowned and shook her head. “I’d really love to give him a piece of my mind.”

“Don’t do that,” Rice said. “If he’s a zombie, he’ll probably eat it.”

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows and gave Rice a look to say, You can’t be serious.

“Never mind him,” Zack said, ignoring his pal, “I know Duplessis is a little kooky, but he might be the only one who can help us.”

“Wait,” said Rice. “Don’t call him yet. First we need to make sure we’ve actually got the antidote.”

“Yes, can we puh-lease unzombify Biff already?” Zoe snipped. “She’s starting to chew her own lips off.”

Rice pulled out a pair of latex gloves from his backpack and then uncapped the vial of Olivia’s nose blood. He tapped a little onto a cotton ball and removed the astronaut helmet from Madison’s head. Immediately, she snapped her rotting teeth in Rice’s direction and almost took off one of his fingers.

“Easy, girl,” Rice said, like he was making nice to a wild animal.

“Snarghle-glarghle.” Madison snorted and slurped down the cotton ball from Rice’s palm in one disgusting gulp.

Here we go, Zack thought. The moment of truth.

Within seconds, zombie Madison’s eyeballs rolled back into her head and she started to choke on her own tongue. Her princess costume flared out as she began to turn in circles. She whirled around and around, spinning herself dizzy until she lost her balance and toppled to the ground, knocking her head on the cool linoleum tiles with a clunk.

“Did it work?” Olivia asked, standing over her unconscious cousin.

A few seconds later, Madison’s eyes flicked open and she lifted her head off the floor. “Oww,” she groaned. “What happened?”

“Biff!” Zoe squealed with delight, and threw her arms around her unzombified BFF. “You’re okay!”

“Who is Biff?” Madison asked groggily.

“You are,” said Zoe. Madison looked confused. “It was your zombie name, because you’re my B-F-F.”

“Aw,” Madison cooed, and gave her BFF a hug. “You’re my biff, too!”

“Good to have you back, Biff!” Rice said, patting Madison on the back.

“You—” Madison raised her eyebrows and looked down at Rice as if he were a speck on the floor. “You don’t call me that.”

Yep, she’s back, thought Zack with a smile on his face.

“Arf!” Twinkles trotted out from behind Zack’s leg and leaped into his owner’s lap. Madison gasped at the sight of the pet she thought she’d never see again.

“Oh, Maddy, I’m so glad you’re alive!” Olivia leaned down and gave her cousin a hug.

“Maddy?” Zack repeated as a smile crept across his face.

“No one call me that either,” she said.

“I can’t believe you hang out with these nerdmongers,” Olivia whispered in Madison’s ear.

“Hey, Olivia,” said Ozzie. “You need to work on your whispering.”

“Okay,” said Rice. “Can we please get down to business?”

“What’s the plan, man?” Ozzie asked.

“Hold up,” Zack said, going to use Rice’s phone again. “Lemme try Duplessis.”

The phone rang once and then went straight to voice mail. Zack frowned. “No dice.”

“Duplessis, schmuplessis,” Rice said. “Like I said before, he’s probably zombified by now anyway.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” Ozzie said.

“My point is I think I know a thing or two about antidotes,” said Rice. “I have an idea, but first we’re going to need some lemon-lime Gatorade, peanut M&M’s, a bag of Funyuns, and some of that Spazola Energy Cola.”

“Why the heck do you need Gatorade and a bag of Funyuns?” Zoe asked.

“Because I’m starving,” Rice replied. “Duh . . .”

“I got it,” Ozzie said. “You stay there and give Olivia one of those Vital Vegans we brought. We don’t want her gingko supply to deplete.” He trotted off across the food court to gather up the supplies.

“Dude,” Zack said. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Rice clamped his hand down on Zack’s shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes. “Listen, man. You have to trust me. Last time around, the antidote wasn’t strong enough. I’m going to make sure that never happens again.”