The Swiss Family RobinZOM Read Online Free Page A

Lurcher,
wearing a huge pair of baggy shorts, approached Ernest. Bill’s
heart was in his throat. Only once the Lurcher was down, his head
caved in, did Bill breathe again. The Lurchers were disembarking
from the ship faster now, forming tight bunches of twos and
threes.
    “ When will they go off?”
Fritz said. “Do you think there’s a problem with them?”
    “ I don’t know,” Bill
said. “They should go off any min-”
    KA-BOOM! KA-BOOM!
    The two explosions happened in quick succession. The
boat shuddered. A large hole was rent from the stern. The Lurchers
pivoted on the spot to look back at the noise’s origin. Bill, Fritz
and Ernest leapt forward and beat at the Lurchers. They fell to the
sand. Overcoming their stupor, the remaining Lurchers turned and
stumbled toward Bill and his sons.
    “ Form up!” Bill
said.
    They formed a line, and
as the Lurcher s approached, the Robinsons
pulled back their weapons. The Lurchers raised their arms toward
Ernest and Fritz, but the Robinsons fell on them. A large male
Lurcher with exposed chest, and what looked like female breasts,
fell to the ground at Fritz’s feet. The Lurcher opened his mouth to
bite, but Ernest was there, and buried his golf club in its head.
Fritz nodded his thanks.
    “ Bloody ankle biters,”
Fritz said.
    KA-BOOM!
    T he cruise liner leaned over dangerously to one side. The
Lurchers pressed up against the deck’s railing spilled over the
side. Some landed on their heads, which exploded like watermelons.
Others fell in the water, feet unable to find the bottom, and were
swept up with the tide and taken out to sea. But most landed in the
shallows, got to their feet and limped onto the beach. The cruise
ship was on fire amidships, the flames licking the porthole
windows. The stern dipped lower into the sea, lifting the bow up
out of the water and into the air.
    “ Where’s the last
explosion?” Ernest said. “Shouldn’t there be one more?”
    “ Something must have
happened to it,” Bill said.
    “ The ship’s not going to
sink without it.”
    “ Might not sink with it
either. It’s a big boat.”
    “ And the Lurchers will
keep coming!”
    Bill looked along the
beach to find Lurchers heading toward the
jungle.
    “ Hey!” Bill shouted at
the Lurchers and waved his arms. “Hey!”
    He turned to his boys.
    “ We can’t let them get to
the jungle!” Bill said. “We’ll forever be hunting them
down!”
    “ Hey!” Fritz said toward
the wayward Lurchers. “Hey! Hey! Over here! This way!”
    A Lurcher before him
opened her mouth wide and growled. Fritz
knocked the Lurcher’s extended arms aside, and then followed with a
swift swing of his baseball bat at her head.
    “ They’re not coming
toward us!” Ernest said.
    “ I’ll go get their
attention,” Fritz said.
    “ No,” Bill said. “We need
you here. Both of you. Otherwise we’ll get overwhelmed.”
    “ I’ll go,” Jack
said.
    Bill turned to look at
him. He looked so small.
    “ No,” Bill
said.
    “ Who’s better than me at
making noise?” Jack said.
    “ He’s got a point there,”
Ernest said, tripping a Lurcher over and bringing his golf club
down on the back of its head.
    Bill was torn. The Lurchers
were closing on the jungle.
    “ We need him to do it,
Dad,” Fritz said. “If he doesn’t, we might as well give up
now.”
    “ Okay,” Bill said. “Okay.
But don’t get too close.”
    “ I won’t,” Jack
said.
    He took off at a run, Nip
curled about his shoulders. A Lurcher took a swipe at him as he
passed.
    “ Stay away from my son!”
Bill said, swinging the machete down and removing the Lurcher’s
head.
    Bill ’s heart was in his mouth as Jack approached the wayward
Lurchers.
    “ Hey!” Jack said. “Hey!
Uglies!”
    The Lurchers turned to
look at him. Jack paused and took a step
back. Their faces were torn and shredded with blood seeping from
cuts and gashes. They groaned at him with their death rattle.
Something green grew across their faces.
    “