Broken Heart 7.5 - The Adventures of Zombie Larry by Michele Bardsley Page A

bad.”
     
    “Uuuuhhh.”
     
    “Well, at least you’ll never lose that eye again.” She grabbed a Kit Kat and handed it to him. “C’mon. I want you to scare my brother.”
     
    The zombie stuffed the entire candy bar, wrapper and all, into his mouth.
     
    Jenny laughed. “Happy Halloween, Larry.”

I REALLY DIG YOU
     
    “It’s a shovel,” Jessica Matthews said as she accepted the object from Patsy. She looked around the cemetery, and shuddered. She thrust the shovel back at her friend. “No. Hell, no. You tricked me.”
     
    “I promised you Godiva,” said Patsy, “but only after you do me this one little favor.” She plucked her own shovel from the trunk of her white Mercedes. “It won’t take long.”
     
    Jessica glared at Patsy, who ignored her and walked down the nearest row of tombstones.
     
    “Fine!” said Jessica stomping after her, “but I want two boxes of Godiva.”
     
    Patsy stopped at a grave and peered down at the piles of dirt. Jessica squatted next to her and examined the hole. It was easy to make out the ripped open coffin. “Are those chains?”
     
    “I didn’t know what else to do,” said Patsy. “He keeps getting out.”
     
    “Who?”
     
    “Larry Stotten.”
     
    “And he is…?”
     
    “I don’t know. Some guy who died in 1954.”
     
    Jessica stood up and looked around the cemetery. It was quiet. The full moon hung in the sky like a white chocolate truffle nestled against a sky of dark chocolate. Mmm. Chocolate.
     
    “There he is!” yelled Patsy.
     
    The vampire queen took off and Jessica followed. It was only after they reached the zombie that she remembered as a vampire of the Family Ruadan, she could fly. She looked down at her muddied shoes and sighed.
     
    “Hey Larry,” said Patsy. “Time to go night-night pal.”
     
    “Noooooo.”
     
    “Dude. He talked.”
     
    Patsy tossed Jessica a glare. “I don’t care if he sings opera. He can’t wander around the freaking town.” She aimed the shovel at his knees and WHAM.
     
    Larry the zombie went down howling.
     
    “Grab his head!” shouted Patsy as she sat on his squirming legs.
     
    “How about no?”
     
    “Three boxes, okay? Just hold on to his damned head so I can drain his ju-ju.”
     
    “That sounds perverted.”
     
    “Jessica!”
     
    “Fine!” Jess dropped her shovel and knelt next to Larry. He had wispy hair and gray skin and for some reason, his left eyeball was attached to his forehead. “Ew. What up with that?”
     
    Patsy spared a glance and grimaced. “Every time he gets out something weird happens to him.”
     
    “Is this the same guy who bit Meyer?”
     
    “No. If you’ll recall Meyer kicked that zombie’s head off.”
     
    “Oh. right .”
     
    Jessica grabbed Larry’s head and the eye still in its socket rolled up to look at her. “Sorry, dude.”
     
    His arms stretched toward her, but his coordination sucked and he didn’t do much other than wiggle his fingers at her.
     
    “Noooooo.”
     
    Jessica felt sorry for him. What was wrong with having a zombie for the town mascot? It wasn’t like it would be weird or anything.
     
    “Pleeeeaaassee.”
     
    “His breath is rank, but I swear I can smell Kit Kat.”
     
    “You can detect Kit Kat taint on zombie breath?”
     
    “It’s a talent.”
     
    Patsy shook her head and started muttering the spell that would turn poor Larry from zombie to corpse. A minute later, he stopped moving and lay still. Then she said, “I think we should chop him up.”
     
    “Not for all the Godiva in the world,” said Jessica. “Let’s just get him back into the grave. And you know what? If he rises again, just leave him alone. He was kinda nice for a zombie.”
     
    Patsy scooped up Larry and carried him to the grave. After getting him tucked in, her and Jess piled on the dirt until the hole was filled.
     
    “I need a shower,” said Jessica.
     
    “Me, too. Let’s get outta here.”
     
    They walked to Patsy’s