A half an hour later, they were standing on the runway of the air base. A straight-backed, broad-chested Canadian fighter pilot in a tan uniform walked out of the hangar. The pilot sauntered up to Andy and gave him a quick manly hug. Andy pointed back to the kids illuminated in the headlights of the car.

“So this is the precious cargo?” the pilot asked, staring down at them. “My name is Chet, and I may or may not be your pilot this evening.”

Ozzie took the lead and saluted back, stiff as a board. “Oswald Briggs, sir. Junior Commando First Class, sir.”

“Boy, you grow up in the military or something?”

“Sir, yes, sir!”

“All right, then,” he said, turning to look at Zack. “I understand that you think that thing’s cousin can help you make the same antidote that saved America the last time.”

“That’s right, sir.”

“And that this particular cousin’s in Orlando, Florida?”

“Yeah, but not just anywhere in Orlando,” said Rice. “Her last known whereabouts are Bunco’s Fun World.”

Zack jabbed his buddy in the ribs with his elbow. “Right again, sir.”

The Canadian fighter pilot thought for a moment, grabbing his chin and looking at the sky. “I’ll take you on one condition,” he said. “We do this my way. We get in, get what we need, and get out. We’re not staying in the outbreak zone any longer than we have to.”

“Deal,” Zack said. “Whatever it takes.”

A few minutes later, they were all wearing earmuffs and flight goggles as the military plane roared out of the hangar.

“That there’s a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft.”

“Sweet,” Zack and Ozzie said in unison.

In the back of the cargo hold, Rice was now busy cutting a small mouth-hole in Madison’s sweatshirt to pop in a couple of ginkgo pills. He tossed a few in then held her jaw shut until she glugged down the pills.

Within seconds, zombie Madison dropped like a sack of potatoes near the emergency parachutes as the ginkgo immediately paralyzed her nervous system. Zack and Zoe caught her by the elbows before her head smacked the floor and laid her out to nap.

Zack then hunkered down on the bench in the back of the cargo hold between Ozzie and Rice to try to get some much-needed rest. He looked over at his sister, who had just lain down and was already out like a light, snoring over the roar of the rumbling plane engine. As the plane cruised to higher altitude, Zack’s eyes grew heavy and he could finally relax. Almost instantaneously, he gave in to sleep and slipped into dreamland.

Zack awoke with a start to the sound of screaming and shouting. He jolted up and leaped to his feet. Madison’s ginkgo coma had worn off and she had wriggled her face through the mouth-hole in her hoodie and had bitten Chet in the Achilles tendon.

“It bit me!” The pilot’s voice boomed from the cockpit, waking both Rice and Ozzie from their slumbers, too. “It bit me!”

Up front, zombie Madison was rampaging around the flight deck, possessed with the rage of undeath while the pilot thrashed wildly, clutching his Achilles heel.

“You guys get her under control,” Ozzie said, gesturing to zombie Madison. “I got Chet.”

Zack and Rice ran forward and tackled zombie Madison, wrestling her into submission while Ozzie watched the Canadian Air Force pilot zombify at his feet. “Hey, man,” Ozzie spoke to the delirious pilot as the zombie virus coursed through his bloodstream. “You’re about to turn into a zombie. You have to take these.” Ozzie gave him a small handful of ginkgo pills.

“Will this keep me from turning into a zombie?” Chet asked.

“Well, not really,” said Ozzie. “But it’ll keep you from turning us into zombies.”

Meanwhile, Zoe was still sound asleep, snoring contentedly with her hands under her face like a pillow.

With Madison contained, Zack tried to stuff another ginkgo pill down her putrid zombie throat. He covered her mouth with his hand to make the ginkgo go down, but she kept nipping at his fingers with her undead chompers. “Ouch!” Zack squealed.

“Blargh! Puhtooey!” Zombie Madison spat out the ginkgo pills.

Finally, with Rice’s help, the two of them got Madison to swallow the ginkgo, but the jet was losing altitude at a rapid pace.

Ozzie jumped behind the board and started clicking at the control panel, setting off an alarm.

Zoe opened her eyes at the blaring noise. “Please tell me I’m dreaming,” she said, snapping to attention. “Ozzie, what’s going on?”

“Guys,” he said. “I got some good news and some bad news.”

“What’s the good news?” Zoe asked, standing up.

“The good news is we’re right over Fun World,” Ozzie said, looking at the coordinates on the display grid.

“What’s the bad news?” Zack questioned.

“The bad news is we’re going down.”

BLAOW! An explosion erupted on the left side of the jet by the wing, and Zack could see smoke through the window. The plane jerked in midair to one side, and Chet the Canadian fighter pilot rolled out of the cockpit and into the back.

“Somebody help me get this dude into that seat over there!” Ozzie yelled over the explosion.

Ozzie and Zack grabbed the unconscious pilot and propped him up in the ejector seat, equipped with a self-deploying parachute. As they strapped Chet in the seat, his eyes popped open with blank, white ferocity and he clacked his teeth, biting at the air.

“Whoa.” Zack flinched back and Ozzie immediately hit the release button. The top of the cockpit flipped open, and the seat shot up into the sky. Zack and Ozzie watched in the windy vortex of the open-air cockpit as the parachute deployed and the zombie pilot floated down into the clouds.

“Okay, our boy’s safe. Now everybody grab a parachute vest,” Ozzie said, cracking open the emergency glass case. “We’re about to be over Bunco’s. I’ve set the coordinates of the plane to land in the Atlantic, but we’re going to have to jump into Fun World.”

Zoe grimaced, still a little groggy from sleep. “That doesn’t sound fun at all!”

Ozzie showed them all very quickly how to put on their parachutes as the fighter jet descended over their destination. “After you jump from the plane, count to ten Mississippi and then pull the rip cord. Got it?”

“Got it.” Zoe strapped her conked-out zombie BFF to her chest, ready to tandem jump out of the plane.

“On the count of five,” Ozzie said, fastening his flight goggles into place. “Five!”

“Four,” Zack said nervously.

“Three.” Rice’s eyes gleamed, ready for his first ever skydive.

“Arf!” Twinkles barked from Zack’s parachute pack.

“One!” Zoe said quickly, and leaped through a passing cloud.

“Hey, you skipped two!” Zack said, but Ozzie was already jumping, followed by Rice.

“Cowabunga!” Rice’s voice trailed off as he went free-falling through the air.

Zack’s stomach sank to his feet. He closed his eyes then jumped out of the jet plane with Twinkles, bug-eyed, peering out of the pocket of his pack.

One Mississippi.

Two Mississippi.

Three Mississippi.