Zombie Surf Commandos from Mars! Read Free

creature grunted and gurgled and whined some more, then snapped up the beach ball. He held it out in one hand, made his other into a fist, and served the ball high into the air.
    Within seconds, he and his fellow zombies were playing a heated game of beach volleyball.
    â€œIs this weird or is this weird?” asked Holly.
    Liz nodded slowly. “Both.”
    At one point, an ugly creature leaped for the ball, missed, and fell flat in the sand.
    Kra — thump! The creature shattered into a dozen parts — hands, arms, legs, feet, head — all went scattering across the sand.
    â€œI’m gonna be sick!” Holly gulped.
    In a flash, however, another creature picked up the detached head and spiked it over the net.
    â€œPoint!” groaned the zombies.

4
    Brain Eaters!
    â€œOh,” gasped Holly, cupping her hand over her mouth. “That’s just gross!”
    â€œRight,” whispered Liz. Then, taking herself by surprise, she added, “But a good lesson in team spirit.”
    Something told her she was right about that. Team spirit. Principal Bell always talked about it.
    â€œExcuse me,” said Jeff, “but unless we plan on being zombie food, we’ve got to get out of here!”
    He looked around. “Maybe we can bolt for the clubhouse while they’re playing head ball.”
    Suddenly, the creatures stopped playing.
    â€œOr maybe not,” Jeff said.
    The creatures shuffled around the cook-out fire that the teenagers had left burning. They splashed water on it using an abandoned beach pail. A thick puff of smoke filled the air. They sat down and breathed the smoke in.
    Their dead eyes bulged.
    One of them stood up. He was taller than the rest. His head had pulsing knobs all over it and his Ping-Pong eyeballs rolled from side to side.
    â€œGood-looking guy,” Liz whispered. “He must be their leader.”
    Another creature picked up the set of bongo drums the teenagers had left behind and began tapping on them slowly, rhythmically.
    Tap-tappa-tap. Tap-tappa-tap.
    The tall one moved to the center of the group and started swaying back and forth to the beat. All the bulging Ping-Pong eye-balls looked to him. He began to sing. The song went like this —
    Once, we were so cool and shiny,
Now we are dead and we’re whiny.
Hey! We’ve all gone so flaky
And now our poor hearts are achy.
    To get to our planet so far —
The planet that we call Mar —
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
    â€œMar — zzzzzzzzzzzz?” Jeff snorted into Liz’s shoulder. “That doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œThey’re dead, Jeff,” said Liz. But before she could brush her shoulder, all the creatures rose to sing a second verse!
    Our skin is dry like crepe paper,
If we don’t eat brains — we’re vapor!
Fresh brains are good for what ails us,
Until the mother ship sails us
    Back to our planet so far —
The planet that we call Mar —
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
    At that instant, the knob-faced creature pointed up to the sky directly over the mountains to the north. All the zombies looked.
    â€œMars is that way,” mumbled Liz. “These zombies are from Mars!”
    A tear rolled from one of knob-head’s eyeballs and disappeared in the flaky skin of his cheek.
    â€œAnd they’re homesick,” Holly whispered. “That’s so sad. I wonder if they need help or — ”
    â€œWe need brains!” the zombie leader shouted loudly. “Living, breathing brains! Or else we will all dry out and die. When you see a good brain, put a little mark on their forehead, like this!” He tapped at the air. “It means — good eats for later!”
    Then the bongo pounding started again. This time it was faster, harder, and more violent than before. The groaning and droning and moaning got louder. The creatures stomped around in the sand. Some of them began to wail like wolves.
    â€œI think maybe