Chapter 5

X X X

The cheerleader screamed in terror, as the zombies came closer and closer.

"No!" she cried, "Like, please don't eat me! I'm like, too young to die!"

Suddenly, to her surprise, the zombies exploded and two teens from her neighborhood stood just a few feet away, triumphantly brandishing water guns.

"Objection noted and sustained." Zeke remarked.

"Umm... yeah..." Julie added, "We're kinda still working on our one-liners. You okay, Tina?"

"Julie? Like... oh my God! That was like, totally unbelievable! Oh... hi, Zeke. Did you like, just come back from a movie or some junk?"

"Huh? Oh, the glasses. Nah, I just thought they made me look... you know... badass."

Tina shot him a weird look.

"Just come with us." Julie told her, "We'll take you somewhere safe."

"Okay... like, whatever."

As Zeke and Julie proceeded through the yard, with Tina in tow, Julie took out the device and started to examine its functions some more. Then she gasped excitedly and cried, "Zeke, check this out!"

Zeke looked at the device.

"Wow!" he said, "Its got a built-in radar too?"

"Looks like it. I'm guessing these three blips on the screen are us. So that one there must be..."

"AAAH!" a voice screamed.

"Yep." Julie mused, "Another living person in distress. Come on!"

The three of them ran in the direction of the scream, the blip on the radar screen getting closer to their position as they ran. Suddenly, after Zeke looked past the zombies heading towards the victim, he became filled with dread upon seeing who that victim was.

"Oh no..."

"What?" Julie asked.

"Oh my God... like, it's Ms. Crabtree!" Tina responded, "The meanest school teacher in the whole world!"

"Oh..."

"You dirty creeps stay away from me!" Ms. Crabtree screamed at the zombies, "I'll give you an F! You hear me?"

"Should we, or shouldn't we?" Zeke asked Julie.

"Zeke..."

"Oh, all right."

Zeke reluctantly helped Julie blast the zombies coming for Ms. Crabtree; who looked up in surprise, then glared with disappointment at Zeke.

"Well, look who it isn't." she said, "You two never could pay attention long enough to pass a test, and now you're playing with water guns and 3D glasses at a time like this!"

"Hey!" Tina snapped back, "Like, they totally just saved your life from those nasty and like, totally disgusting things!"

"Yeah." Zeke added, "So... you're welcome?"

"Don't talk back at me like that, you little ingrates! If I have to put up with any more of..."

The trio rolled their eyes as Ms. Crabtree babbled on.

"We don't have time for this." Julie muttered to Zeke; who nodded.

"Look, Ms. Crabtree," he cut her off with, "we've got a neighborhood full of people to rescue. You want to come along, fine. You don't, it's your funeral. Let's go, girls."

With that, the trio moved on.

"Hmmph!" Ms. Crabtree scoffed, "Those troublemakers! Saving the neighborhood indeed!"

She started to walk away, until she saw another even bigger swarm of zombies approaching from a short distance away.

"...Wait for me!" she cried, turning around and running to catch up to her rescuers.

X X X

Mr. Johnson dug his spatula under one of his hamburger patties and casually flipped it into the air, watching it fall back on to the grill. He then proceeded flipping the rest of the patties as his wife approached with a plate full of hamburger buns; which she placed on the barbeque shelf.

"Has anyone even called yet?" he asked her.

"Nope, still no sign of them. I wonder what's... did you just hear something?"

Mr. Johnson paused to listen, then shook his head and shrugged before he began placing the hamburgers on the buns.

"I just don't get it." he said, "I thought they'd be here by now."

Soon after hamburgers were prepared, the back door swung open and a voice called, "Mr. Johnson!"

The couple turned to see Zeke, Julie, the cheerleader, and the teacher coming their way. In Zeke's arms was their sleeping baby.

"Did... we invite any of them?" Mrs. Johnson whispered to her husband, "And... what is he doing with Tyler?"

As the group approached the couple, Zeke handed little Tyler to his mother and said, "You guys alright?"

Mrs. Johnson looked at Zeke questioningly as she took her baby.

"You two are out here barbequeing, while your infant son was almost eaten alive?" Ms. Crabtree berated them, "You get an F!"

Zeke, Julie, and Tina sighed and covered their faces with their palms; as Ms. Crabtree wrote an F on her notepad, tore out the page, and handed it to Mr. Johnson.

"What?" Mr. Johnson retorted, "What the heck's going on here?"

"Well, there's like, these totally nasty and disgusting-..." Tina started to say.

"Let's just cut to the chase." Julie cut her off, "The city's been invaded by zombies!"

"Yeah." Zeke added, "And the authorities are having trouble dealing with them, so we're here to save you."

"Zombies?" Mrs. Johnson blustered, "Is this some kind of joke? There's no such thing as-..."

Suddenly, she was interrupted by a loud moaning noise as three zombies approached from the other side of the backyard. As the couple screamed, Zeke and Julie quickly dispatched the zombie trio with their guns.

"Do you believe us now?" Julie asked.

They stared in shock at the zombie remains, before the sounds of a dog's growls and barking filled the air.

"Oh no!" Mr. Johnson cried, "Rudy's tied up over there!"

"I'll get him." Zeke volunteered, "Julie, you see about getting that door fired up."

Julie nodded and pulled out the device, as Zeke ran to find the neighbors' dog. As Julie examined the controls and prepared to set the coordinates, Tina leaned and over to her and whispered, "So are you like, still seeing him, or some junk?"

"For now." Julie responded, "We'll see how things go from here, before I make my final decision."

Zeke didn't have to go far, before he saw the dog growling and barking viciously at a single zombie coming towards him. After Zeke disposed of said zombie, Rudy stopped barking and stared for a moment before turning his head in Zeke's direction. He then let out a friendly bark and started panting and wagging his tail, as he recognized a friendly face.

"Hey, Rudy! How ya doin', boy?"

Zeke untied Rudy's leash, and was soon overwhelmed by the typical canine affection.

"Yeah, I know." he said, petting the dog and wiping his own face, "Good to see you too. Now lets get you outta here."

Zeke took hold of Rudy's leash and ran with him to the survivors' position.

"I got him, Julie." he called, "Let's go!"

"Hang on." Julie replied, "I'm still setting the... wait... okay, I got the coordinates set! Here we go!"

Julie pushed a button on the device. A short beam shot out of it and an exit door- like the one that had previously taken Zeke and Julie home- materialized at the end of the beam. The other survivors all stared in shock.

"Head through that door." Julie ordered, "It'll take you to the Fort Wilhelm Military base."

"Whoa..." Tina cried, "That's like, totally cool!"

"...You sure this thing will work?" Mrs. Johnson asked.

"Trust us." Zeke assured her, "We've been through this door before. It works."

The survivors looked at each other. Then Tina shrugged and went first through the door. Ms. Crabtree then reluctantly started to follow.

"You two had better be right about this," she told Zeke and Julie, "or else, I'll-..."

"You'll give us an F." Zeke and Julie said together, "Yeah, we know."

"Now don't you..."

Suddenly, a low deep growl from Rudy shut her up.

"...Nevermind!"

With that, Ms. Crabtree ran through the door. Zeke smiled and stroked Rudy's head.

"Thanks, Rudy." he said.

"Being a good boy as usual." Mrs Johnson added with a smile as she went through the door with the baby.

Mr. Johnson nodded in agreement and started towards the door. Then he stopped and ran back towards the barbeque, holding up his index finger. He grabbed the plate full of hamburgers, ran back to Zeke and Julie, and held the plate out to them.

"Don't want these to go to waste." he said, "Here, have one for saving us."

"Oh... well, we did kinda skip lunch." Zeke replied, gratefully taking one, "And come to think of it... I have been craving a good burger all day. Thanks."

Burgers weren't Julie's most favorite of foods, but she couldn't deny the fact that she was hungry too. So out of politeness, she took one with a smile and said, "Thank you, Mr. Johnson."

Mr. Johnson then noticed Rudy looking up at him, panting and wagging his tail.

"Yes, Rudy," he said, "you can have one too, for shutting up Ms. Crabtree, as soon as we arrive at the base."

"Err... you might want to hurry though." Julie told him, pointing out another group of zombies coming their way.

He nodded as Zeke handed him Rudy's leash. Taking hold of it; while being careful not to drop the platter, Mr. Johnson lead Rudy through the door. Julie then went after him. As Zeke started after her, he turned to face the zombies.

"Sorry, deadheads," he remarked, taking a bite ouf of his burger, "but this is one barbeque you're not invi-..."

Zeke was interrupted as Julie's hand came out the door, grabbed his shoulder, and pulled him through. The door then closed and vanished. The zombies stared in confusion, then groaned in disappointment and shuffled off. Little had anyone noticed that Michael, the mysterious stranger that had been assisting the teenagers in their adventure, had been watching them through the living room window. As the zombies left, he smiled briefly and muttered, "Very good so far. But you still have a long way to go."

X X X

"So... if I've got this straight..." the soldier inquired, "you two fought off the zombies with holy water, gathered up these survivors, and teleported them all here with that door that just appeared?"

"Yep." Zeke replied, pocketing his 3D glasses, "Pretty much."

"Corporal!" a Lieutenant shouted, as he approached, "What's going on here?"

Julie suddenly recognized the officer.

"Uncle Harry?"

Her uncle looked at her in surprise.

"Julie! What are you doing here?"

"Saving the neighborhood?" she offered.

"I don't know if you can believe this, Sir..." the Corporal told the Lieutenant, "but apparently, these two have been fighting off those monstrosities in the city by squirting holy water at them. They also say that they used some strange gizmo to teleport these other survivors here."

"Is that right?" Harry asked the teenagers.

"Yep, and there's more victims where these ones came from." Zeke responded with a nod, "So we'd better get back to it. Julie?"

"Right."

Julie began to set the device's coordinates back to their neighborhood, before her uncle Harry put his hand on her shoulder.

"Now hold up a minute!" he said, "I don't think Command will look too kindly on me allowing you two to go back into a danger zone. Unless... you could do us a favor. Some of our boys were sent to the local Roy's Mart to look for survivors and still haven't reported back yet. If you could find those men and bring them back to base, along with any other survivors you may come across, then perhaps we can let you have your little adventure."

Zeke and Julie looked at each other and shrugged.

"Alright, Sir." Zeke replied, giving a salute, "You can count on us. Let's go."

Zeke took his 3D glasses out of his pocket and put them on, as Julie set the coordinates to Roy's Mart and activated the door. Harry watched as the two teenagers walked through the door; which vanished soon afterwards, and then turned to the crowd.

"Okay," he said, "so if you folks would just come this way... say, you didn't bring any bratwurst, did you?"

X X X

To be Continued