Hey Poptropicans, this is a guest post by Magic Kid. Enjoy!
And we’re back (probably sooner than you thought)! Back with the fifteenth episode of Zombies, Zombies, ALWAYS ZOMBIES!
If you missed it, you can catch the previous episode here, or if you would like to start from the beginning, click here. Please enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed writing it. 😈
ZOMBIES, ZOMBIES, ALWAYS ZOMBIES!
A Zomberry Series
Episode Fifteen: I Spy
The three friends were in that hot air balloon and had been scanning the ocean for hours. As there wasn’t much to do other than occasionally steering the ship, they had settled for a game of I Spy, which was still very boring.
Icy Stone
I spy with my little eye something… blue.
Jazzy Hawk (semi-gloomily)
Water.
Icy Stone (sarcastically)
Wow? How could you have guessed?
Truth be told, all they could see WAS water. The ocean stretched to all the corners of the horizon, leaving almost nothing but a blue expanse, speckled with a handful of islands. None of the islands they passed looked like it had anything similar to the helicopter they had seen on it. Every island was full of zombies, little purple dots from the view on the hot air balloon, and they served as a reminder on how much damage the apocalypse had done. On how much they had to save.
Clumsy Bird was looking through binoculars through the horizon, keeping an eye out for any upcoming islands.
Clumsy Bird
I spy… OH! An island!
Hawk
Really?
Birdy
Yeah! Wait— no it’s Shark Tooth Island. Dang it.
They had come to the conclusion that any island that they recognized didn’t have the place they were looking for on it. They assumed that that helicopter went to an unknown island, and anyway, a helicopter landing pad hadn’t been spotted yet.
They weren’t sure what they were doing, or what they were looking for. But so far, whatever they had been trying to do hadn’t been successful. It didn’t make sense, but it was what all three of them thought.
Stone
How much longer d’you think it will be before we find him?
Hawk ran his fingers through his hair.
Hawk
I don’t know.
Birdy
It can’t be much longer. I’ve counted at LEAST thirty islands pass.
Stone
Good. Because I am HUNGRY.
Hawk
Don’t we have some fruit over here?
He lifted up a burlap sack that had been resting against the chair Birdy had been perched on to look out into the sea.
Stone
Heck yeah! Thanks!
She began sorting through the fruit until she found a banana, which she peeled and ate.
Birdy (still looking through the binoculars)
Shark fin, Shark fin—Oh! Another island. I think it’s… Twisted Thicket. Yeah, look at all those trees…
Stone had finished her banana and was looking at the sack for another fruit.
Stone
AW COME ON!
Hawk
What?
Stone pulled out a handful of blueberries. Birdy turned her head in the direction of the yell and gasped.
Birdy
Not those!
Hawk
Chuck ‘em all off!
Stone promptly threw off all the blueberries in her hand, as well as the ones remaining in the sack. She seemed to have lost her appetite because she stopped looking through the bag and instead gazed out at the vast expanse of blue.
The sun was now high in the sky, and it wasn’t hard for all three of them to notice yet another island appearing at the edge of the cobalt horizon. This island caught their attention.
It had dark gray clouds hanging over it, and it was in ruins. It didn’t look like the same kind of ruins as the other islands however, like Time Tangled, where you could tell that there used to be an island there. This island looked like the apocalypse was APART of it.
It almost looked on purpose, with the upside-down school buses and smashed windows in apartments. The moment they saw it, all three of them, Hawk, Stone, and Birdy, knew that this was the place. Most of the island was blocked off by a large wall.
Birdy
THIS IS IT! THIS IS IT! PREPARE TO LAND!
Hawk took the steering arm and lowered the heat going into the balloon, causing it to drift lower. They saw a black helicopter, very similar to the one that they had left Toothpick with, fly over the wall!
Stone
Ohmygosh WE MADE IT!
Hawk
This is the place!
And feeling victorious, they headed towards the wall.
Inside the wall, at the very top of the tallest, most sinister tower, Agent Thorn — the spy that had captured Toothpick — knocked at Mr. Gambit’s door.
Mr. Gambit
Come in.
Agent Thorn
Sir! We got another!
Mr. Gambit was looking out the window, down at one of the labs, far, far below him.
Mr. Gambit
Which one?
The spy walked up to stand beside him.
Thorn
Witty Toothpick — or Pick, as his friends call him. He’s the one with the blue hoodie and headphones.
Mr. Gambit
Ah.
They stood in silence for a moment. Thorn, thinking it’d be best to leave, started to make her way to the door.
Mr. Gambit
This time I won’t mess this up.
Thorn
Sir?
Mr. Gambit
Do you remember— well, it was a few years ago— another zombie apocalypse, but it only took up this island?
Even though she had been only twelve when it had happened, Thorn remembered. VIVIDLY.
Agent Thorn
Yessir. I was there.
Mr. Gambit turned around
Mr. Gambit
So you grew up on this island?
Agent Thorn nodded. Mr. Gambit’s face was still in the dark, so the spy couldn’t make out his face. However, she could tell he was wearing sunglasses.
It suddenly struck Thorn that she had never seen his face before.
Mr. Gambit
Hmm, I don’t remember any Thorns…
Thorn
I changed my name before I started doing this, sir, for security reasons.
Mr. Gambit
Ah.
They remained in silence for a few more seconds.
Mr. Gambit
Do you know who started the first apocalypse?
Thorn
Samuel Brains, sir. Ironic last name, if you ask me—
Mr. Gambit
And what happened to him?
Agent Thorn thought for a second.
Thorn
Everyone in this city chased him away. He was never seen again.
Mr. Gambit
Wrong.
Thorn
Sir?
Mr. Gambit
After a dabble in taking over the world with a poorly executed apocalypse, Samuel Brains got chased away, and giving the whole island the feeling of victory. Little did anyone know that Samuel Brains had not given up yet. That he was young and foolish, and had much to learn. Little did they know that he spent the next few years in hiding, coming up with a shiny new plan. A winner’s plan. Not only would the apocalypse, his attempt on taking over the world, stretch to all corners of Poptropica, but it would also be more orderly. He wouldn’t rely on little girls selling his spiked smoothie. Instead he would get help — a team of scientists, pilots, and others — to hit Poptropica from all directions. That way, everyone would be under his control.
Mr. Gambit paused, while Thorn thought through that little speech. It was sounding like—
Mr. Gambit
And then he changed his name.
Pause.
Mr. Gambit (continued)
Security reasons.
Agent Thorn couldn’t believe it! Could Samuel Brains and Mr. Gambit—No. No. No. But she could see it. It made sense.
Mr. Gambit walked into a red light from one of his machines, illuminated.
Agent Thorn gasped. Even though he was in a neat suit, seemed more strictly in power, and slightly deranged, there was no question about it.
He was Samuel Brains.
TO BE CONTINUED
Hope you enjoyed this guest post by Magic Kid. If you did, you might also enjoy their Pop Quiz: Which Pop Character Are You? post.
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