Surprise. Against all odds, I've managed to finish this chapter relatively quick, despite the setbacks.
As you know, I've previously finished about 3/4 of this chapter and then subsequently lost it, and I had to start from scratch again.
But I pressed on. I didn't want to spend weeks rewriting scenes I already did, so I've been working feverishly for the last few days straight to finish this chapter, and now it's finally up and I can move on with this story!
Warning: This chapters includes a few brief moments that get graphic. But what would you expect from a zombie story?
"Dropping records on a weekly basis
Playing shows in exotic places
Rocking out to a cheering crowd
Hear them screaming "Luna Loud!"
My favorite colors are platinum and gold
Being a rock star never gets old
My life is a dream
A crazy rock 'n' roll dream!"
Luna was singing her heart out, with her friend providing back up and their music getting significantly increased in volume by Luna's brand new loudspeakers.
Both were blissfully unaware that they were quickly providing the former's parents with a stack of noise violation tickets.
Outside the garage, Luan and Lucy stood a good distance away from it in order to even hear their own thoughts.
Luan sometimes had to wonder if her roommate was tone deaf in order to take in this much noise without ending up with a throbbing headache, or in permanent need of a hearing aid.
Lincoln had to calm down several more angry neighbors who came to complain about the ruckus and managed to convince them to agree on the same terms as Grouse. Most of them weren't much more generous in terms of patience than Grouse, and Lincoln knew that he was walking on thin ice and needed to solve this issue fast.
"Luan? How can anyone stand such noise?" Lucy asked her sister.
Luan was biting her fingers. "I still don't know to this day." she answered simply.
"Must be some crazy rock star gene or something?" she laughed nervously.
Lincoln looked at Mr. Grouse's house and saw that the lights were still on in the living room, the old man's silhouette was visibly passing back and forth past the window.
Lincoln swallowed a huge lump. Time was quickly ticking away.
"Okay, I've managed to stall them." Lincoln rushed back to his sisters. "Where the heck is Ryan?"
"Ready to rock n roll!" came the latter's voice from the nearby bushes. He leaped out of the bushes and landed gracefully on his feet.
He stood up proudly to show off his costume. He was wearing a black ninja suit with red trimmings on his tunic.
"Wow, wicked costume." Lucy said in a small voice.
"Uhhh...you look so slick and mysterious." Luan approached him admiringly. "And dangerous..."
"Why thanks, girls." Ryan gladly ate up the compliments. "I like to go on missions with...STYLE!"
Lincoln rolled his eyes. The fact that Ryan had taken the liberty of donning a mask had erased any doubt from his mind that Ryan wouldn't simply try to talk it out with Luna.
"Was the costume really necessary?" he groaned. "We barely got any time as it is!"
"Relax..." Ryan reassured him coolly as he slipped on a pair of black sports gloves "...I'll pull the plug on her with three minutes to spare. That's a promise."
Lincoln held back the urge to argue. They had no time to discuss how they were going to stop Luna's ruckus, and it's not like Ryan would have listened to him anyway.
"Sure, whatever, Ninja Boy. Just take this!" Lincoln handed him a walkie-talkie.
"Call us once you're done and we'll regroup in Lucy's room. Now go!" he ordered him urgently.
"As you command, General Jumpy." Ryan replied and jumped up.
He grabbed and scaled up a tall branch. Using it as a springboard, he leaped to grab hold of a higher branch and swung himself up. Landing on his feet in a crouched position, Ryan carefully stood up and then made a daring leap and landed on the roof of the garage before disappearing from sight.
"That. Was. So. Cool." Luan marveled at what she saw with sparkly eyes until Lincoln started snapping his fingers in front of her face to snap her out of her enamored trance.
"W-Wut? Where am I?" Luan blurted.
"Forget about him, we still have work to do!" Lincoln remained her irritably. "Revenge on the party girls? Remember?"
"Oh, right!" Luan remembered and felt a fire in her belly. "They're gonna get theirs!" she said with clenched fists.
"So what diabolical plot for vengeance have you concocted, Luan?" Lucy asked her.
Luan sent her and Lincoln a devious smile.
"Wow, wait!" Lincoln cut in. "Noting diabolical, okay? We just have to make the party guests leave. That will be enough, no need to harm innocent civilians."
Luan shrank a bit behind him, she knew he had a point. If she got "too creative" with her pranks they could have some nasty consequences.
"Linc, I told ya. I've learned my lesson." she reassured him before pulling out a small bottle of liquid from her pocket. "So behold!"
"What's that?" Lincoln asked wearily.
Luan started rubbing the bottle. "Oh, just a little something every jokester worth their clown shoes learns to whip up in a sec. A few drops of this baby is guaranteed to make your party a real GASSER!" she chuckled evilly.
Lincoln felt a little creeped out by her but Lucy sent her a smile.
"You know, I kinda like it when you laugh like that." the goth admitted. "It's very...wicked."
Luan blinked with mild surprise but then smiled back. "Why thanks, Lucy. I always carry out my pranks with a flair for the dramatic." she replied proudly.
It was nice to hear one of her sisters say something positive about her.
"Yeah, but about this..." Lincoln snatched the bottle from her and studied it. Luan's little pun gave him a pretty good idea regarding what this liquid would do.
"So, you're saying this stuff gives people..." he asked awkwardly "...eh flatulence problems?"
Luna pressed her fingers on her mouth as she sniggered. "On both ends."
Even Lucy couldn't help but snicker at the confirmation.
Lincoln let out an involuntary snicker before calming himself. "Okay...but eh..." he continued tentatively "...are you sure this doesn't have any...side effects? What did you even put in this stuff?"
"A magician never reveals her tricks, or her potions." Luan refused to answer.
"But as for "side effects", we needn't worry about that." she quickly brightened up and folded her arms confidently. "I've used that sucker a dozen times before, it only makes you gassy for an hour or so, after that you're as good as new."
Lincoln felt relieved, at least he thought he did. This was certainly a gross and crude way to get those teens to leave, but he knew that this was a very simple yet very effective way to get someone to scram as fast as possible. Nobody wanted to stay around other people while experiencing uncontrollable belching and tooting problems.
"In that case, this will do it. Now it's just matter of getting it in the punch."
"Well, it's a good thing we have a ninja in our midst." Lucy pointed out.
"Yeah, lucky us..." Lincoln rolled his eyes. "Alright let's get back inside."
The three rushed back into the house. Upon entering the living room they noticed that Chaz was missing, but they didn't think much of it.
Unbeknownst to them, as they reached the second floor someone was watching them from the shadows of her own room, slowly pushing the door open as she set her sights on Lucy, who was at the back of the group.
She ran after them but Lucy quickly rushed into the room, and the creature stopped as the door was almost slammed into her face.
She growled and stared at the obstruction in front of her, unable to figure out how to get past it.
"You think anyone will notice?"
"Relax, man. No one will notice a few cans of beer missing."
She heard voices from below, and caught a glimpse of two teenage boys moving out of the kitchen and through the living room.
She thought about going after them, but then she heard another noise and her nose picked up the sent of other, closer targets.
Grunting in aggravation and sweating profusely, Lisa tried to open the lock of the closet with a hairpin. It was a delicate procedure, but the stuffy, asphyxiating air and Lola's nonstop whining made it impossible to keep her focus where it needed to be.
"Of all the excessive, over-expensive attire these adolescent imbeciles have stacked up in here, they couldn't have bought one pair of earmuffs!" Lisa muttered to herself.
"Stop talking to yourself and LET ME OUT OF THIS!"
Lisa cringed at the volume and the hairpin broke in the lock.
"No! Oh, for the love of..." Lisa stopped and did some breathing exercise to calm herself.
"Don't get emotional. Anger is not the solution to any inconvenience. Logical thinking is." she kept telling herself.
"WILL YOU UNTIE ME!"
Growling, Lisa turned around sharply and sent her sister a vicious glare.
"Can you please calm yourself and stop shouting! Our combined body heat emissions are already turning the asphyxiating air within our prison more asphyx-"
"I won't!" Lola snapped back. "Not until you release me from this!"
Lisa seethed. "How many times do I need to recite the same basic response in order for its meaning to finally penetrate your dense cranium? The answer is no!"
Lola narrowed her eyes. "Why!"
Lisa huffed. "Well, for one thing, the first time you made that request you phrased it as, and I quote: "Untie me, you homely, turtle-necked worm, and I'll fix that rat's nest you call hair." Now, does that sound like a polite way to address someone of superior intellect?"
"Oh, you just can't stop bragging about your "brilliant brain", can you?" Lola spat. "And I'm right about your stupid hair! When was the last time you even grabbed a hairbrush!"
"Why do I even bother..." Lisa rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the lock.
"Wait!" Lola started to sound more desperate. "Don't you dare turn your back on me! You need me!"
"And for what pray tell?" Lisa asked sarcastically while rubbing her chin.
"Duh! We have a common-no! Four common enemies now! I can help you get revenge!"
"Hmmmmm...true, we have acquired a few mutual adversaries in this most recent family civil war, and I too crave vengeance, but I'm more than capable of carrying it out on my own."
Lola fumed and growled.
Lisa looked over her shoulder, sending Lola a smirk. " And besides... I just don't like you."
Suddenly, they heard the sound of someone tampering the lock from outside.
Lisa turned to see the door sliding upon and came face to face with Fenton. A screwdriver was protruding from his left arm and was quickly replaced by his hand.
"No! Not that ugly thing again!" Lola tried to look away from the fox's creepy, frozen grin and his huge, soul-eating eyes.
"There you are! Took you long enough to come to my aid!" Lisa threw her arms up flippantly. "How much time does it take to destroy a 2-liter container of chemicals!"
"Master, I must regretfully inform you. That my mission was unsuccessful." Fenton responded robotically.
"Oh, so you bungled that one up too?" Lisa said idly, hardly caring about that topic right now."
"Positive. Chemicals were stolen from me. By forces beyond my control. And they wound up being consumed."
Lisa's eyes shot wide open at that last sentence. "Consumed?" she blurted incredulously. "You're saying someone injested those experimental chemicals?" Surely she must have misheard him?
"Positive. And chemicals' consumer is currently. Lumbering our way."
Lisa's jaw dropped. A frosty chill coursed trough every fiber in her body.
"Is that thing saying that someone drank your stupid chemicals?" Lola asked angrily behind her back.
She got her answer in the form of an eerie moan.
Lisa gasped in horror as she saw the owner of the voice standing at the door frame.
Lola had to scoot over to her left to see past the genius and her lab flunkey, and promptly gasped as well. "Lana?!"
Staring at them with blank, lifeless eyes, Lana started staggering towards them. Her skin was grey and looked cracked and torn up, she was releasing a yellow foam from her mouth and mucus-like slime from her nostrils. She didn't blink once nor did she appear to have eyelids anymore.
Her mouth hanging wide open, Lisa started backing away in horror. A single thought flew through her mind, "What have I done!?"
"What did you do to her?!" Lola cried, trying to break free from her jacket.
"I didn't mean to!" Lisa started to panic. "I...I..."
"You've poisoned Lana!"
"No! I didn't mean to!" Lisa cried as Lana advanced towards her and hissed while bearing her yellow, rotting teeth.
Fenton withdrew his right hand and replaced it with a taser. "Subject Lana Loud. I must request that you step back. Or I will have to incapacitate you. To ensure master's safety." he warned her politely.
Lana's throat swelled up and she threw up a ball of yellow slime which melted the fox's arm instantly, only leaving a few flickering wires sticking from his shoulder.
Fenton's head rotated to inspect the damage. "That was most impolite."
Sweating and with her breath growing shallow, Lisa held one hand up. "Lana! Can you understand me!? Something bad's happened to you!"
Lana let out a twisted squeal, like a piglet getting slaughtered.
"Lana, please! You've gotta let me help you!"
Without hesitation, Lana lunged at her.
"Begin self-preservation protocol." Fenton grew a metal clasp from his remaining arm and clamped it around Lisa's elbow, while also growing roller skates under his feet.
In an instant, he and his creator speed out of the room. Lana tried to grab Lisa, but she slipped through her grasp, and Lana hissed viciously as she saw them disappear down the hallway.
"WAIT! WHAT ABOUT ME!"
Her twin's desperate cries diverted her attention back to the closet.
All the color drained from Lola's face as her sister's blank eyes zeroed in on her.
"No! Stay back! You're sick!" Lola screamed while scrambling against the wall of the closet.
Lana charged at her and pressed her against the wall. Helpless, Lola started crying with terror as Lana growled and foamed at her.
She could only scream as her twin dug her teeth into her soft neck.
"Got the rock and roll bug and I just can't shake it
Follow your heart and you're really gonna make it!
Rocking out to a cheering crowd
Hear them screaming "Luna Loud!"
Getting in here was simply too easy, it almost sucked all the fun out of it.
Ryan landed within the garage and ducked behind a stacked shelf. The bright, neon lights were downright blinding and the volume was so loud that Ryan could feel the sound waves vibrating through his entire body.
He saw the short-haired girl and her friend singing and playing guitar some 10 feet away from him. The garage had been cleaned up so thoroughly that he basically had nowhere to hide.
Not that this was a problem to him as there was no way those bimbos could hear him over those loudspeakers to begin with.
The volume was unbearable, Ryan felt like his ears were on the receiving end of a power drill.
"How the hell haven't those idiots gone deaf yet?" he wondered irritably as tried to block out his growing headache and get the job done.
"Come on, Sam! Let your voice shine!"
The blonde smiled back at Luna and they both leaned in towards the mike.
"You can live your life full of doubt
Or you can do what you love and it will all work out
Our lives are a dream
The greatest rock 'n' roll dream!"
Ryan rolled his eyes as he snuck up on them. Oh, how he loathed such empty and bullshit nudggets of wisdom.
But on the upside, he found one more reason to enjoy what he was about to do. Besides the massacre they were giving to his auditory senses.
"One more time!" Luna exclaimed.
The two got closer while smiling and stringing their guitars.
"You can live your life full of doubt
Or you can do what you love and it will all work out
Our lives are a dream
The greatest rock 'n' roll dre-"
Both girls abruptly stopped as they felt something grabbing the back of their heads.
Smirking under his mask, Ryan slammed their heads together with all his strength before letting them drop.
"Goodnight, Royal Woods!" Ryan finished for them while dusting his gloved hands.
Looking down at their unconscious forms, Ryan almost felt bad for what he did. Almost.
"Nah..." he brushed that smidge of guilt he felt off.
"If they can stand this music, they can stand clonking heads."
The rock and roll came to an abrupt end, after which the only music heard within the house came from the basement.
Lincoln let out a long sigh of relief as he looked out the window, the most pressing issue had been dealt with.
"See, I never had a shadow of a doubt that he could do it!" Luan joined him by the window, keeping an eye out for Ryan.
"And he did it with four minutes to spare!" she added happily.
"Yeah, he...he's quite something." Lincoln grumbled. He didn't doubt Ryan could do, he was more concerned how Ryan did it.
He looked over at Grouse's house and saw the old man glaring at them from his bedroom window.
Luan waved at him but Grouse just shook his head and grumbled under his breath.
"You better watch yourselves, Louds!" he shouted at them in warning before closing his window shut and pulling down the curtains.
Lincoln sighed and turned around. "Well, that's one problem down."
"And we owe it all to Ryan!" Luan proclaimed, still eagerly awaiting his return at the window. Lincoln rolled his eyes.
Lucy, who was sitting on Lynn's bed, observed him. "You look sad?" she noticed. "Even though we're on the verge of getting vengeance?"
Lincoln sat next to her and exhaled tiredly. "Lucy, you know that this is not about vengeance for me. I just wanna make sure that mom and dad can return from their date without a giant mess awaiting them for once."
Lucy sent him a sympathetic look. "I understand, but it doesn't mean we can't have both."
Her small smile quickly faltered. "Besides, things will get a lot more complicated once Lola and Lisa snitch on us."
"Don't remind me..." Lincoln sighed.
"So I was thinking..." Lucy was quick to continue "...that we could stay at Ryan's house for a bit until the heat dies down."
"That's a great idea!" Luan swiftly spun around and clutched her hands with excitement. "We should totally do it!"
"Girls..." an exasperated Lincoln spoke up "...I think the guy's seen enough of us for one week. We should give him a break."
A gust of wind blew past the curtains. "Oh, I wouldn't mind the company."
Luan jolted and clutched her chest before turning around to find Ryan crouched down on the dresser.
"Ryan you scared me!" she exclaimed half-seriously.
"Sorry..." Ryan shrugged coolly "...as a ninja you sometimes forget to announce your arrival."
"So you were successful?" Lincoln asked suspiciously.
"Yep, I've knocked some sense into them. And sorry for being tardy but I had to take care of their guitars and hide them somewhere."
Lincoln started to scowl. He had a strong hunch that Ryan meant it quite literally.
"That was incredible, Ryan!" Luan beamed. "Half the neighborhood was coming at us over the noise and you've managed to save the day!"
"It was nothing, Lu." Ryan shrugged with chill confidence. "I said I had your backs."
Smiling, Luan hugged him and kissed him on the cheek, catching him off guard, and much to her younger siblings' nausea.
"Thanks, you're a real hero!"
"Eh...no...problem..." a flustered Ryan responded dumbly.
"Luan, please..." Lincoln groaned sardonically "...he needs his brain to function at full capacity if we want this to work out."
"Need what to work out?" Ryan asked, still not quite there.
"Oh, of course!" Luan laughed and stepped back to show him the bottle.
"See this, you just need to spill a few drops of it in the punch and it will toot-tor the girls a real lesson."
Ryan took it and examine it. "Give the punch a little extra punch? Neat. But what does it do?"
Luan got peeved that her pun flew over his head, but nonetheless leaned in to whisper the answer into his ear.
Hearing it, Ryan immediately cracked up with uncontrollable laughter.
"Oh, that's beautiful!" he spoke between rapid giggles, nearly falling off. "Priceless! Just priceless!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's a riot..." Lincoln deadpanned "...can you just go, so we can get this over with!"
He jolted as Ryan leaped off the dresser and landed in front of him and Lucy.
"Not quite!" Ryan pointed his finger up. "Such hilarity must be caught on tape, and who better to wield a hidden camera than a ninja!"
"Of course!" Luan eagerly agreed. "No master prank should just fade away into obscurity without any records!"
"Are you two nuts!" Lincoln jumped to his feet. "That's a bad, BAD idea!"
Ryan ignored him and looked over his shoulder. "And if memory serves, you've got a handheld camera, Lu?"
"Sure do!" Luan pulled it out of her pocket. "I always keep one on standby. Just in case."
"Guys! Have you lost your marbles?! We'll be in enough hot water with Lori as it is, without filming her embarrassing herself at her own party!"
"Oh, Lincoln, always so charmingly uncomplicated." Ryan placed his hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "You think I'm just doing this for the jollies?"
"What do you mean?"
Ryan chuckled deviously. "Don't you see? Our deal with Blondy fell through the moment those brats learned of our nefarious plans. So now we need new leverage over her!"
"Oh, I get it!" Luan joined his side. "Noting would sting her ego more than the threat of footage showing her failed house party leaking online!" she concluded with a conniving edge to her voice.
"Precisely!" Ryan nodded. "That would pressure her into bargaining with us again, not to mention other benefits."
"You mean..." Lucy quickly realized what he was getting at. "She could force Lola and Lisa to keep quiet?"
"I see strange minds think alike, Spooky." Ryan nodded affirmatively.
The goth smiled. "Of course, it takes something truly horrifying to horrify the horror."
"So true." Luan agreed. "If there's anyone who can scare Lola into submission, it's her."
"Looks like the three of us are in agreement." Ryan summarized. "And what about you, Lincoln?"
All eyes were now on the white-haired boy, who looked very uneasy about the proposition.
He didn't like the idea of pressing Lori's buttons any more than they already had, but at the same time, he realized that they were too far gone now and couldn't squander a potential solution to tie up all the loose ends.
And as much as he hated to admit it, Ryan's proposal sounded like such a solution.
"What? Where am I?"
Lisa found herself sitting in pitch-black darkness. Everything had happened so fast. Seeing Lana's horrifying appearance, being dragged away from her, hearing Lola's blood-curdling scream, it all left her mind in a state of flux. She was stunned, bewildered and terrified so much that the ensuing few minutes were a total blur to her.
"Do not be alarmed, Master Lisa. I led you to safety. As you have programmed me." came Fenton's voice and he flicked on the light switch.
Lisa saw that she was inside the bunker she herself had construed, the same place she and her sisters had sought sanctuary from Luan just a few days prior.
"I used the secret, toddler-sized secret tunnel you've installed. To reach safety bunker within minutes." Fenton explained sitting next to her.
Still looking perplexed, Lisa was finally able to properly process what she had just witnessed and she experienced an overwhelming sense of fear like she had never felt before.
She curled up and started rocking back and forth.
"Fenton..." she started with a shaky voice "...please tell me I've simply experienced a wild hallucination from the lack of oxygen within the closet, and I didn't see Lana as...as a...a..."
"Negative. My optic bio-scanners confirm that subject went through. An abnormal metamorphosis. Courtesy of the serum which appears to have. Transmutated virus subject was carrying."
Lisa gulped. There was no way a robot built by her could have misinterpreted data. It was all real, her sister had mutated.
"What have I done?! What have I done?!" Lisa rambled in utter fear and confusion.
Her mind wandered back to the ant she had injected with that same serum and how it had died and started falling apart immediately.
Lisa started shuddering. For once in her life, her natural scientific curiosity was gone and she didn't dare to dwell on the most obvious question.
That formula wasn't safe to be used on an insect, let alone a higher mammal. If it caused the ant to start decaying instantly, how was Lana still alive?
Lisa gulped. Lana's corpse-like appearance certainly made sense with the serum's established properties.
"Fenton, what's your... diagnosis on Lana's... condition?"
"Difficult to specify. Subject's condition unlike anything in medical history."
"You don't say..." Lisa snarked uneasily.
"Subject's tissue appears to be in advanced stages of decomposition. But motor functions are still running. But with minimal brain activity. A biological anomaly."
"I've...I've created a zombie!" Lisa grabbed her head and jumped off the bench, pacing back and forth in a panic.
"What did I do?! What did I do?! What have I done?! "
She had used her siblings as test subjects on occasions before, like giving Luan candy that temporarily granted her bioluminescence, but only when she was confident that her creations were safe to be used on a human being.
This was a different story altogether.
Lisa stared at the wall blankly, her heart beating a mile a minute.
"What am I suppose to do now?" she buried her face into her hands.
"Terminating defective test subject is a viable option." Fenton responded helpfully.
"No, wait! I can fix it!" Lisa's head shot up. "I can restore her back to her original form. There's no need to get emotional. Logical thinking is the solution." Lisa said to herself.
"Lana has the flue. A mutated, abnormal, artificially evolved variation of the flue, but a mere disease nonetheless. I can synthesize an antidote for it!" Lisa proclaimed in a shaky voice, trying to convince herself of her ability to do it.
"Definitely, Master. Positive thinking paves the road to success."
"Yes...yes...positive thinking. I can clean this mess up before it gets out of hand." Lisa spoke nervously, still staring at the wall.
Then something hit her. If the virus was the main reason Lana hadn't just rotted away the moment she consumed it, could that explain her ravenous behavior too? She definitely did something quite painful to Lola given that pain-filled scream she had heard. Had the minimal brain function Fenton detected reduced her to a purely animalistic state?
But Lisa quickly saw an even more obvious reason for why Lana was acting so aggressive.
She was carrying a virus. A transmittable virus. A virus that like any other had only one goal in its single-celled life, to spread and keep itself alive.
And many viral diseases accomplished that by jumping from host to host, with the former wasting away from their illness after doing their part...
Lisa's face turned as pale as a zombie's.
"What have I done..."
"So you wanna make some popcorn while we can? We'll soon be witnessing a grand spectacle!" Luan told her brother jubilantly as they exited the room, with Lucy following them.
"I don't think that seeing Lori's wrath will be that kind of spectacle." Lincoln replied morosely.
"Don't be such a worrywart, Linc." Luan nudged him playfully. "Your buddy said that he's got our backs, and I have nothing but total faith in him."
"He's not my buddy..." Lincoln thought irritably.
While they were talking, Lucy noticed something off about the living room. There was a bunch of food spilled across it, including a gnawed-up turkey from the fridge.
"Guys, look." she pointed down and the others looked in the direction from atop the stairs.
"Funny?" Luan noted jokingly. "Who taught Charles or Cliff to open the fridge?"
"Hey, where did that bouncer guy go?" Lincoln wondered as his gaze drifted towards the still abandoned velvet rope.
"Odd?" Luan remarked and then giggled. "He must be taking one hell of a bathroom break. Maybe his pals coaxed him to take part in the world's longest chugging competition!"
"But there's no one in the bathroom." said Lucy.
Luan and Lincoln looked down the hallway and saw that she was right. The bathroom was empty and its door had been left wide open.
"Maybe he's going lumberjack?" Luan joked.
Lincoln, however, got a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach and his gaze wandered to the right until his eyes widened. How did they miss that?
The door to the twins' room had also been left open.
Without a word, he ditched his sisters and rushed towards it.
"Hey, where are you going?" Luan shouted until she saw it for herself. She and Lucy grew alarmed as they noticed the open door. Wasn't this place quarantined?
Fearing the handle might be covered in germs, Lincoln nudged the door back with his foot and entered. His worst fears were immediately confirmed.
The room was empty and the blanket on Lana's bed had been tossed to the floor.
Lucy and Luan hesitantly followed him into the germ-infested room and gasped nervously at seeing the empty bed.
"Where's Lana?" Luan blurted worriedly as she looked around.
Lincoln did the same. "I don't know?" he started panicking. " She couldn't have walked away? She was so weak-"
They suddenly heard a noise from downstairs and looked back.
They heard it again. It sounded like it was coming from the kitchen.
Covered by the flashy lights and the music, and with most of the teens being distracted dancing, chatting or having a drink, a rope was lowered from above and Ryan used it to descend himself unnoticed.
Dropping in a crouched position, Ryan stealthily rolled himself towards the table before peeping up. No one was watching.
He raised the bottle up towards the punch bowl when he heard someone approaching and ducked down.
"What's taking Leni so long, Miguel? I bet she's still upstairs trying to perfect her hair and makeup or trying on that new dress she bought, just to impress that guy."
"You're probably right, girl. I keep telling her that she could do better. I mean, I'm not judging his appearance or anything, but his choice of casual wear? That shirt with those pants? It's just criminal!"
"Who's Leni again?" Ryan wondered. "Was it the chick I knocked out? That would explain her absence." he concluded with amusement.
"When you're right, you're right. Denen jeans and horizontal stripes just don't go together..."
The voices of the girl and the flamboyant guy quickly grew fainter and got tuned out by the music.
Taking another peek, Ryan saw that the cost was clear.
Chuckling quietly, he started pouring one droplet of Luan's special concoction after another into the punch.
"How many drops did Luan say?" he thought. "Meh, who cares."
Lowering his arm back down, he snickered and crawled under the table's curtains. This was too easy!
Once under, he pulled out the camera and chuckled with anticipation.
"It's a real pity that we won't be able to share this with the rest of the world. But then again, seeing Blondy's sorry expression when we lay out our terms is sure to be priceless!"
Ryan waited for a while for any telltale sound that Luan's position was starting to kick in. After a bit, he moved the curtains back to take another cautious peek when a familiar voice erupted to his right.
"What do you mean you're hiding in your bedroom!"
It was Lori! Ryan quickly jerked back under the table, but not fast enough to avoid having Lori step on his hand.
"Dammit!" Ryan clenched his teeth as he tried to suck up the pain.
"We had an agreement, you deserter!" Lori ranted angrily and unknowingly dug her heel deeper into Ryan's hand.
"What do you mean I should call an ambulance?!" Lori growled, thinking Chaz was playing her for a chump.
"What kind of an idiot do you take me for? I saw her like ten minutes ago and she looked as healthy as she ever was!"
The call abruptly ended and Lori stared at her phone flabergasted before fuming and stomping her foot on Ryan's had in rage.
Ryan jerked it back and hissed in pain as he clutched his hand.
"I can't believe the nerve of that lying, lazy tub of lard! UGH!" Lori lamented.
"Bobby! Where are you!" her voice grew fainter as she angrily stormed off.
Ryan grunted in pain and flexed his aching hand while cursing under his breath.
Lincoln, Luan and Lucy walked down into the living room. The noise from the kitchen continued.
"You think that's her?" Luan asked her brother.
"It's gotta be. There's no way she could have gone far." Lincoln replied as they came closer to the kitchen.
"There!" Luan pointed at a small blonde figure standing next to the fridge in her pajamas, with her back turned on them.
The three moved to get a closer look, but Lucy noticed something weird near the couch and went to investigate it.
She kneeled down to see a puddle of weird yellow ooze. She had no idea what it was and knew better than to touch it.
Then, she heard whimpering. Lucy looked down and found Cliff, Charles and Geo huddled together underneath the couch and shaking with terror.
Lucy immediately got a bad feeling and looked back at the strange ooze.
"That's her." Lincoln and Luan were both perplexed as they saw Lana gnawing on a cereal box and making weird growling noises.
"The poor thing. She must be completely delirious." Luan said sadly.
Lincoln facepalmed with shame. "I shouldn't have left her all alone."
Luan placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Linky. What matters is that we found her."
"Yeah, I guess..." he sighed "...now we just need to get her back in bed."
The two looked at each other nervously, and without exchanging a single word, they started playing rock, paper, scissors.
"Scissor beats paper!" Lincoln exclaimed with relief.
"Dammit!" Luan lamented and then gulped.
Lucy, meanwhile, picked up a glass bottle of the floor and carefully started pushing it into the puddle. The ooze started bubbling and melted half of the bottle instantly.
Lucy's eyes widened under her bags and she bolted towards her siblings.
"Lincoln...I think there's something wrong."
"I know..." Lincoln said obliviously, his eyes glued on Lana while Luan put on a pair of oven mitts and tied a cloth around her mouth and nose.
Tentatively, she approached Lana and slowly and gently tried to grab her shoulder.
"Lana..." she started softly "...you shouldn't be out here. You need to go back to bed."
The moment she touched her shoulder, Lana spun around and screeched at her.
Luan yelped in shock and stumbled back, while Lucy and Lincoln gasped, and the former dropped her bottle.
Lincoln managed to catch Luan from falling and helped her up to her feet, neither able to look away from the little tomboy.
"My god! What's wrong with her!" Luan screamed frantically as Lana started advancing towards them.
Lincoln looked at her agape. He had seen his sisters be in pretty bad shape during previous flu epidemics within their home, but this was a whole different story.
His sister looked like a corpse that had been floating in the water for days, her eyes looked like she had gone blind and her teeth made a pirate with scurvy look like a floss spokesman.
Huddled together, neither he or the others had time to wrap their minds around what they were seeing as they were backing away from the advancing Lana.
Shocked and confused, Lincoln held his hands up. "Lana, Lana!" he tried to reach out to her. "What happened to you! Please say something!"
No response, Lana kept moving towards them.
"Lana! Can you understand me!"
She squealed and lunged at them.
Acting quickly, Luan grabbed a chair and used it as a barrier between them and Lana.
Her body pressed against it, Lana swatted her arms at them.
"Guys! What's happening!" Luan cried while sweating bullets. "This isn't normal! What happened to you!"
Hiding behind Lincoln, Lucy replied in a shaky voice."Isn't it obvious! She's- "
Climbing up the chair, Lana pressed it down with her own weight. Luan screamed as Lana leaped at her and grabbed her face. She fell back and got pinned to the floor.
Lincoln pushed Lucy back while Lana's gaping mouth came down on Luan.
"Get her off me!" Luan pressed her elbow into Lana's chest and started pushing her back.
But Lana grabbed her arms and sunk her growing fingernails into her exposed flesh. "She's clawing me!" Luan cried in pain.
"Lana! No!" Lincoln rushed to Luan's aid and grabbed Lana's torso. He tried prying her off Luan, but Lana only hooked her nails deeper into Luan's arms.
The comedian screamed and started crying. Sweating, Lincoln grabbed Lana's pigtails and tried to pull her off.
Suddenly, he heard a snap and found himself stumbling back until he hit the fridge and fell on his butt.
Shaking his head, Lincoln looked up and saw Lucy gasping at him, and so did Luan, who quickly diverted her gaze at Lana, who was feeling the stump on her shoulders that was her torn neck.
Eyes bulging in horror, Lincoln then realized that he was holding something. Tentatively, he looked to his right and saw that he was holding Lana's still twitching and breathing head.
Lincoln screamed and dropped it. He recoiled in horror as it rolled into the middle of the kitchen.
All three of them stared in stunned horror as the decapitated Lana got off Luan and started searching for her missing head.
Holding the camera, Ryan giggled to himself as more and more of the guests started belching, which the male students didn't seem to mind, but the ladies unsurprisingly looked embarrassed and started backing away from their peers.
Those who got the toots first, however, looked like they would rather be hit by a bus than stay near whoever they were conversing with or trying to hit on. Ryan knew as much that letting loose in front of a chick would kill your chances with her instantly.
"And to think that the one girl I'm into has the exact opposite opinion on flatulence. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing." Ryan wondered as he filmed another guy involuntarily cutting the cheese in front of a girl.
Her angry reaction and his embarrassed look were priceless. Ryan tried hard not to laugh out loud.
If only he could make out what those teens were saying, the music made that nigh-impossible. Ryan considered turning down the volume on the boombox, but knew someone would turn it up again.
"Bad audio might reduce the value of this incriminating footage? Maybe me and Luan can dub it over?" he considered and cautiously hid behind the curtain as someone else passed by it.
"Lori..." Becky was cut off by her own belch as approached Lori and Bobby on top of the stairs.
"...I don't feel so go..." she stopped to belch again before continuing sickly "...and some of the others are-"
"Not now!" an impatient Lori showed her index finger into Becky's face while facing her boyfriend.
"Look, all I'm asking of you is to stand guard by the door and make sure that no one goes anywhere but the bathroom for an hour or two. Please, I can't risk something getting broken or stolen. That would tip off my folks in that I had this party!"
Bobby looked nervous. "I would do anything for you, babe. Really!" he said timidly and gulped.
"But some of those guys are pretty big and strong, and they don't like being told what to do..."
"Oh, man up, Bobby! Don't you embarrass me by looking like a whimp!" Lori retorted irritably. "This is my house! Your girlfriend's house! That's all the authority you need to tell anyone to buzz off if they can't follow the rules!"
Becky clutched her rumbling stomach. "Lori, I really don't-"
"I said, not now!" Lori shushed her and glared at Bobby.
"Just for a few more hours. Nothing more." she told her boyfriend sternly and grabbed the door handle, unaware that someone had been clawing on it for a while, trying to get in.
"But, but..."
"No buts, Bobby!" Lori retorted and opened the door when someone fell through it.
Bobby managed to jump out of the way but Becky was hit and the two tumbled down the stairs.
Gasping, Lori and Bobby rushed down.
Lincoln, Lucy and Luan were frozen stiff by the sight in front of them. Lana's headless body was searching around, tapping the floor to locate the head that was laying just inches away from her and was still breathing and darting its eyes.
It was only Lucy who managed to divert her gaze beyond the decapitated zombie and saw something appear on top of the fridge, right above Lincoln.
"Watch out!" Lucy ran past Lana and pushed Lincoln out of the away, landing on top of him as a zombified Lola hit the floor on all fours.
"Lincoln! Snap out of it!" Lucy shook her brother. He came to just as Lola lunged at them but Lucy kicked her away and into the oven.
Shaking his head, Lincoln jumped to his feet and grabbed the goth's arm.
"Come on!" they ran but Lola quickly recovered and lunged at them.
Lincoln spun around and was tackled to the floor, but he pressed his feet between him and Lola and threw her over him.
Yelping, Luan jumped up as the zombie fell on her back in front of her, and Lucy helped Lincoln up but Lola immediately rose to her feet and blocked their escape.
Luan grabbed the chair again and slammed her aside. Lola hit the wall.
"C'mon! We have to run!" Luan screamed at her siblings but Lola quickly lunged at them again.
Lucy grabbed a kitchen hammer and struck Lola's head, the force knocked her head off and it bounced off the wall.
Lucy and Lincoln ducked from it while it struck Lana, who had retrieved her head, and knocked her off balance.
She dropped her head and Luan jumped as it rolled past her. "What is this?!" she screamed.
"They're zombies!" Lucy proclaimed as both twins searched for their respective heads.
"Zombies?" Lincoln blurted.
"Yes! Don't you see?" Lucy said sullenly. "Lana died and was reborn as the undead! And she has infected Lola!"
"That's ludicrous!" Luan yelped and stumbled back as Lola's body staggered past her. "Zombies aren't real!"
"You've got a better explanation for this!" Lucy snapped at her.
"No time for arguing! We have to run!" Lincoln urged the two to make a break for it.
They quickly stopped dead in their tracks as Lola's body screwed Lana's head on and blocked their path. They heard a growl from behind them and saw Lola's head being placed on Lana's body.
They were trapped.
"Are you okay?" Bobby helped Becky up while Lori lifted the person that was on top of her friend by the arm and realized that it was her sister.
"Leni? Where have you been?" Lori asked her and her tone quickly grew enraged. "Chaz ran off and was rambling on the phone to me how you were sick or something?"
"Lana..." Leni said in a strained, raspy voice while looking around. Her bulging eyes were darting in all directions and her mouth hung open and she was drolling with her tongue out.
"Eh...is she feeling okay?" Bobby asked, noticing Leni's odd behavior.
"Did she hit her head?" Becky asked while rubbing her own.
"What's your deal! You're embarrassing me!" Lori whispered into her sister's ear.
Leni, however, kept looking around and broke free of her grasp.
"Eh, Lori? I think Chaz might have been right..." Bobby noted as Leni kept looking around and making garbled growls like a confused animal.
"Don't be ridiculous!" Lori retorted nervously. "She's always been a little loopy, you guys know that!"
She grabbed Leni's shoulder, ready to give her an earful, but jerked back in shock as Leni covered her ears and let out a loud, distressed screech, which got everyone's attention.
Ryan heard it too, dropping the camera and trying to spot to the source of the sound, but his view was blocked by the crowd that soon formed around Leni.
"What the hell was that noise?" the boy thought, slightly alarmed. It didn't sound human.
Everyone stared at Leni, spooked and bewildered, as Leni grew crazy and grabbed the boombox and tossed it to the floor.
"Leni, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Lori yelled at her, more alarmed and confused than angry.
Leni didn't respond. The boombox was still playing and the noise it was making was still causing her distress. She growled at it and started foaming at the mouth.
Those nearest to her screamed or gasped as she threw up on it and the yellow slime she produced melted it down to a steaming puddle.
Sounds of glass and other objects hitting the floor were heard everywhere as the music died instantly, everyone stared at her agape and in total silence. This included Lori.
Someone had the good sense to turn the light switch on, which was immediately followed by a chorus of horrified gasps.
Leni stood at center stage, breathing heavily. Her skin was grey, lumpy and corpse-like and her eyes milky and pupiless, and she was still foaming at the mouth. She looked up and surveyed her surroundings.
Everyone looked at her, completely speechless, including her friends.
"Leni?" Fiona said slack-jawed.
Miguel grimaced with horror. "Girl...I think you desperately need to invest in a lot of skincare products?"
"Lori?" Bobby whispered to his girlfriend fearfully. "What's going on with her?"
Lori was likewise trying to make sense of what she was seeing. Then it hit her.
"Lucy! Of course!" she narrowed her eyes and fumed. "That little twerp is a wizard at Halloween costumes and props. Her, Lincoln and those other brats must have tricked this nitwit into doing this stunt to embarrass me!"
"Everyone, calm down!" she flailed her arms up. "This is just some dumb, early Halloween prank!"
She grabbed her sister's arm and pulled her closer.
"Leni!" she growled. "This is SO not funny! And you're ruining our party!"
Leni sent her a blank stare for a second before growling at her with yellow, rotting teeth. Then, without warning, it happened.
The whole student body screamed. Ryan grunted in frustration, unable to see what the hell was going on.
Lori screamed in unimaginable pain as Leni bit into her throat and she fell back.
"LORI!" Bobby screamed as she and Leni dropped at his feet.
Bobby froze as his girlfriend's warm blood was squirted on his arm and shirt. Leni raised her head to look at him.
Shaking and whimpering with a wide open mouth, Bobby's pupils shrank as he locked eyes her.
She was hissing and her teeth were dripping with blood. Lori was lying below her, pinned down and gasping for air while clutching her bleeding neck.
"ZOMBIE!" Becky screeched and ran upstairs.
"Zombie?" Ryan blinked.
"Everyone run for their lives!" Miguel screamed while wetting his pants.
Everyone, including Bobby, ran for their lives. Leni was slow to react as everyone rushed like lighting past her, and she stood up and squealed at the fleeing crowd.
"What the ever loving hell?" Ryan's jaw quickly dropped as he finally saw the zombified Leni looming over Lori, who was holding her throat and Ryan noticed a small pool of blood forming next to it.
He saw Leni twitching and instinctively ducked behind the curtains before she could see him, his blood running cold.
He sat there stunned and wide-eyed. Leni sniffed the air and turned her gaze at the table.
"Okay, just to recap. Blondy 2 turned into a ravenous zombie and she just killed Blondy 1? That just happened?" he noted to himself.
Abruptly, an arm shot under the table and grabbed his ankle. Ryan screamed as Leni's monstrous face came hissing at him.
Ryan kicked her in the head while bumping his own head into the table.
Grunting, he scrambled away and staggered to his feet from beneath the table.
Leni rose up from the other side, teeth bared. She swatted at him, Ryan jerked back and swiftly grabbed the punch bowl.
"No point in letting good punch go to waste!" he quipped while slamming the bowl into Leni's head and spilling the punch across the floor.
Blinded, Leni stumbled back, grasping the edge of the bowl with one hand.
Stepping away from her, Ryan felt something clinging on to his ankle. He looked down uneasily and saw a severed, still twitching arm grasping his ankle.
His pupils shrinking, Ryan screamed and shook his legs frantically trying to shake it off. Ryan stumbled back, breathing rapidly when he heard a squeal and saw Leni charging at him.
"Agh hell!" he grunted and pried the arm off his leg, and used it to strike the zombie across the face. Leni was barely fazed and lunged at him again.
Ryan swung the severed arm at her but she bit into it and tore it out of his grasp, before shaking it violently.
"I wouldn't do that, I'm sure you still need that arm!" Ryan quipped nervously while looking around for any weapon. He saw a broom and a bucket of paint tucked in a corner and bolted towards them.
Screwing her arm back on, Leni pursued him only to get blue paint splashed into her face and lidless eyes. She let out a high-pitched screech and clutched her face.
Ryan laughed triumphantly when he heard an eerie moan. He turned and saw a zombified Lori standing up, growling at him.
"Oh super, their bite is infectious..." Ryan deadpanned and clutched the handle of the bucket and swung it at the charging Lori.
She grabbed it and tossed it up. It smashed the light bulb on the ceiling, leaving only the disco ball to lit the room.
Ryan grabbed the broom and dodged her attack. He jumped aside and planted his feet into the floor, clutching the broom with both hands, ready to face her.
"Restrain them!" Lincoln shouted as Lana, now in a pink dress, pounced from the couch at him.
Lincoln used one of the couch cushions as a shield and Lana landed on it, digging her teeth and nails into the fabric.
Lincoln grunted and flipped the cushion over. Lana hit the floor and Lincoln wasted no time pinning her down with the cushion and throwing himself on top of it to hold her down.
Having dropped her hammer, Lucy was struggling against Lola, now in blue overalls, using a small plastic shelf to keep her at bay. Lola was pushing towards the couch while snapping her jaws at her repeatedly. Lucy lost her footing and her back crashed into the couch, pushing it away.
Charles, Cliff and Geo crawled out from under it and bolted past Lincoln, making a beeline towards the door.
"Lucy!" Lincoln yelled as Lola now had her pinned down with the shelf. Its legs broke and Lola closed the short gap between her and Lucy when Luan grabbed her at the last second and her jaws snapped just an inch away from Lucy's face.
"Get away from her!" Luan yelled as she gripped her arms and threw her aside.
"Luan! Take this!" Lucy tossed the comedian a couch cushion as Lola jumped back to her feet.
Standing between the zombie and her little sister, Luan shielded herself with the cushion. Lola tore into it with her teeth and Luan pushed her down before jumping on top of the cushion.
"I got her!" Luan exclaimed while holding the squirming zombie under her own bodyweight.
Out of breath, Lincoln felt a twinge of relief but then they heard screams, then a whole chorus of screams.
They heard dozens of footsteps before the screaming party guests came stampeding out of the basement in a blind panic.
None of them even noticed the kids, who ducked down in fear of getting trampled as every single teenager made a mad dash for the door.
Eventually, someone blindly collided into Luan and Lucy, freeing Lola in the process.
"AHHHHH! There's more of them!" the girl screamed at Lola and scrambled to her feet.
Lucy tried helping Luan up when Lola attacked, but Luan delivered a swift kick that sent her tumbling away.
But then they heard the sound of another crash. "Lincoln!" they both screamed.
Lana pushed the cushion off her while Lincoln was lying down with Bobby on top of his legs and hips. With his head spinning, Lincoln sat up and recognized the guy who was shaking and breathing at a rapid pace.
"Bobby? What the? What's going on!"
Struggling to get up, the teenager stuttered incoherently between gasps. "Lori...Leni...zombie-AHHHHHH!"
"NO!" Lincoln screamed as he saw Lana bitting into Bobby's leg. Lincoln struggled to free himself as Lana quickly diverted her blank gaze at him.
Luckily, Lucy picked up her hammer and slammed it into the back of her head, knocking her aside. Next, she slammed it into Bobby's head, resulting in a sickening crunch.
Lincoln gasped and winced as Lucy grabbed his arm. "It's too late for him, we have to get out of here!" Lucy exclaimed while pulling him up.
A vicious growl drew their attention back to Lana. She was ready to pounce when suddenly, she was struck from behind by taser and dropped to the floor, twitching violently.
"Lisa?!" Lincoln blurted as he saw the distraught genius and Fenton standing behind the fallen zombie, with Fenton's hand being the taser. Lisa also had some sort of gun strapped to her back.
"No time for explaining!" she shouted urgently. "All non-zombified siblings retreat to my room immediately!"
"Lisa?" Luan looked up in surprise while holding down Lola. "What the hell is going on?!"
Lisa rushed to the door and pushed it shut before spinning around.
"What are you doing?!" Lincoln shouted while holding onto Lucy.
"I said, no time for explaining! Run to my room!" Lisa yelled angrily when a moan caught everyone's attention.
They saw Bobby standing up, his blank eyes looking around at everyone and he lumbered in between Lisa and the others.
"RUN! NOW!" Lisa shouted at her siblings as Bobby zeroed in her. "FENTON, TASE HIM!"
"As you command, Master Lisa." the fox obeyed.
Unfortunately for him, Bobby threw up yellow slimeball at them. Lisa dodged it but Fenton was hit and it melted most of his head of.
"Error...Damage to hardware..." his voice dropped in pitch as he started flickering and fuming before dropping to the floor.
"No!" Lisa cried in despair before seeing Bobby's hand coming down at her.
"LISA!" she heard her siblings shout.
Bracing herself, the genius ran and escaped underneath the zombie's legs. She pulled her jet injector of her back and stabbed it into Bobby's leg.
He screeched in agony as Lisa's gun filled its capsule with green blood and she dodged a swipe from him and ran.
"To my room! Now! It's our only hope!"
The rest didn't need to be told twice, Lincoln and Lucy ran after her, and Luan let go of Lola to join them.
They ran upstairs as fast as their legs could carry them, not daring to look back. Growls, screeches and footsteps made it abundantly clear what was coming.
"Run! We can make it!" Lincoln shouted while pulling Lucy after him. But the moment they reached the top, Lincoln heard a loud screech right behind him right before he and Lucy were tackled to the ground by Bobby.
"Let them go!" Luan yelled and grabbed Bobby's head and pulled it off his neck. His body kneeled up and started touching his stump of a neck while Lincoln and Lucy scrambled away.
"You want your head back, Bobby?" Luan mocked him and threw it down the hall. "Go get it!"
The headless Boddy stumbled after it while Luan helped her siblings up.
"You idiot!" Lisa yelled furiously and pointed at Bobby. "My room is in that direction!"
The brief look of triumph on Luan's dropped. "Oooppps..." she gulped.
Lincoln looked at Bobby and saw him picking up his head.
"We have to hide somewhere else, let's-" he was cut off by a pair of squeals. The siblings looked ahead to see the twins lunging at them midair.
"Run!" Lucy pushed Lincoln into Luan and the two fell out of the way, but she got tackled by the twins.
She screamed as Lola bit into her arm and Lana chomped down on her leg
Lincoln and Luan scrambled to their feet, sporting looks of utter horror.
"LUCY!" they both screamed, ready to help her, when Lisa grabbed their hands.
"Don't be foolish!" It's too late for her now!"
Lincoln and Luan stared helplessly as Lucy was being mauled and saw Bobby running at them. Reluctantly, they turned their backs and ran after Lisa.
With the path to Lisa's room blocked, they bolted into the first open room they saw and slammed the door shut and locked it.
Ryan pressed the broom's shaft into Lori's mouth as she pinned him against the wall. She squealed at him ferociously.
Even with his mask on, Ryan could still smell her foul breath and gagged.
"Bah, smells like something died in there!"
Sweating, he pushed the broom with all his might, with its shaft cutting into the corners of Lori's rotting cheeks.
Ryan suppressed a shudder as he planted his foot into Lori's gut and kicked her back. She retained her balance and charged back at him.
Ryan dodged her attack and she slammed into the wall, which barely fazed her.
Leni growled and charged at him, as did Lori. Ryan spun the broom above his head, striking them both in the head simultaneously.
The zombies stumbled back and Ryan slammed the broom's handle into Lori's jaw and then pushed its brush into Leni's eyes, making her squeal in pain. Ryan then slammed the shaft into her throat, making her fall back.
Recovering immediately, Lori grabbed hold of the shaft and she and Ryan fought over it.
Unable to pull it out of her grasp, Ryan eventually let go, resulting in Lori losing balance and falling back.
Ryan desperately looked for a way out. He saw the rope he had used to get in still dangling in the corner, but Leni rose up and was standing between him and it, hissing viciously.
Behind him, Lori stood up and hissed as well.
Holding his ground, Ryan slowly backed away until he hit the table. Taking a brief glance at it, Ryan saw nothing on it except for a remote.
It was the remote for the disco ball, he quickly realized. He looked back to see the zombified sisters advancing towards and the hanging rope behind Leni.
Taking a deep breath, Ryan grabbed the remote and braced himself. He only had one shot.
"Night vision, don't fail me now..." he told himself sardonically and made a mad dash.
They were in Lynn's and Lucy's room, on the floor and panting rapidly. The zombies had eventually stopped banging on the door.
Once she caught her breath, Luan could finally let the true horror of their situation sink in and she started shaking uncontrollably as she pulled herself up.
"They're all...gone..." she stammered feebly with a bleak look in her eye.
Still panting, Lincoln stumbled up to her to give her a comforting hug, for what little it was worth.
"Lucy...the twins...Luna, Leni and Lori probably too...all gone..." she buried her face into her hands and started sobbing.
"Luan..." Lincoln said meekly and out of breath "...we...must barricade the door."
"No...need for that..." Lisa panted and staggered to her feet. "Those...eh "zombies" lack the necessary problem-solving skills to even deduce how to manipulate a mere door handle."
Luan and Lincoln suddenly looked at her. Lisa gulped, she said too much already. Lincoln narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously.
"How would you know that?" Luan asked, her voice cracking.
Lisa started sweating. "I...well...I...kinda..."
She felt chills as she saw both of her siblings put two and two together.
Luan grew a scowl, while Lincoln's face turned madder than Lisa had ever seen.
He finally spoke but through clenched teeth. "What. Did. You. Do!"
Trembling, Lisa raised her hands up defensively. "Just let me speak! I can explain!"
Lisa screwed up royally this time. Lincoln's reaction about what she had done will definitely not to be a pleasant one.
And the heroes are down to four, or maybe just three? Things are looking grim now. They are trapped, the seeds of a zombie apocalypse have been planted in their very home, and they are just a hallway away from Lisa's lab but have to get past and then hold off six or probably more zombies in order for Lisa to produce a cure.
And then there's the matter of how long folks like Lana and Leni will last after they had already successfully spread the virus before falling apart?
But most importantly, will they clean up this mess before mom and dad return home!
