Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Zombies

First published in Great Britain in 2020

by Egmont UK Limited

2 Minster Court, 10th Floor, London EC3R 7BB

Text copyright © 2020 Katie Tsang and Kevin Tsang

Illustration copyright © 2020 Nathan Reed

Additional interior illustrations copyright © 2020 Egmont Ltd

First e-book edition 2020

ISBN 978 1 4052 9572 7

eISBN 978 1 4052 9573 4

www.egmont.co.uk

A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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FOR OUR DAUGHTER, EVIE

-Katie & Kevin Tsang

CONTENTS

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

CHAPTER 1: THE TIME HAS COME

CHAPTER 2: CONFESSIONS IN THE CRAFT CORNER

CHAPTER 3: WHAT EVEN IS A ZOMBIE WEREWOLF?

CHAPTER 4: THE LAST BREAKFAST

CHAPTER 5: THE MANSION

CHAPTER 6: DEADLY SERIOUS

CHAPTER 7: SILVER AND SQUIRT GUNS

CHAPTER 8: CROWNS IN THE CLOSET

CHAPTER 9: DOWN BELOW

CHAPTER 10: QUAIL, SQUAB AND PIGEON

CHAPTER 11: NA-NA THE PUMPKIN

CHAPTER 12: KEEP IT CASUAL

CHAPTER 13: MUMMIES AND MARTIAN ROCKS

CHAPTER 14: ZOMBIE ATTACK!

CHAPTER 15: BREAK IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

CHAPTER 16: MELTING ZOMBIES

CHAPTER 17: UNDEAD AFTER ALL

ENDNOTES

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

BACK SERIES PROMOTIONAL

CHAPTER 1

THE TIME HAS COME

My name is Sam Wu and I am NOT afraid of zombies. Not zombie werewolves, not mummy zombies, or any other kind of zombies.

I’ll admit that I had to work my way up to not being afraid of zombies. I don’t actually know if there is anything scarier than an undead zombie chasing you and your friends.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Before I faced the zombies, I’d already come face to face with ghosts, sharks, the dark, and spiders. And I’d proven again and again, how NOT afraid I was.

Little did I know this was all to prepare me for my greatest challenge yet.

Because not only are zombies the

SCARIEST thing I’ve ever faced (not that I’m afraid of them) but on top of everything, I had to work together with my greatest nemesis.

Ralph Philip Zinkerman the Third.

Ralph was the reason I had to prove I was brave in the first place. He was the one who started calling me Scaredy Cat Sam when the incident that will never be spoken of again1 happened at the Space Museum.

But then after the incident, Ralph and I had to work together to face the dark, and Ralph even became a part of my very own SPACE BLASTERS crew2. But that didn’t make us best buddies or anything like that. It’s a little confusing when your nemesis suddenly becomes part of your team. Or when they suddenly need your help with something. But as Captain Jane from SPACE BLASTERS always says, you never know who might turn out to be an ally in a time of need.

I think that is also what my dad means when he says it’s important to ‘be the bigger person’. He doesn’t actually mean be BIGGER, which is what I thought when he first told me that.

So when Ralph and his twin sister Regina (who is about a million times nicer than him) asked me and my best friends Zoe and Bernard to help them, I knew I had no choice.

I had to do what Captain Jane and Spaceman Jack (and my dad) would want me to do.

It was finally time to face . . .

THE ZOMBIE WEREWOLF!

CHAPTER 2

CONFESSIONS IN THE CRAFT CORNER

It all started when I noticed that Ralph and Regina kept falling asleep in class.

Ralph might be my nemesis, but I didn’t want Regina to get in trouble, so I threw a balled-up piece of paper at her head to wake her up. It just bounced off her, and she kept sleeping.

“Regina!” I whispered as loud as I dared. Nothing. Ralph drooled a little bit next to her.

“Regina!” I tried again. No response.

When our teacher Ms Winkleworth turned back to the board, I threw an eraser at Regina.

Unfortunately, I don’t have great aim. The eraser hit Ralph instead.

“Ow!” he said, jolting awake and rubbing the back of his head. Regina must have heard him, because she woke up too, blinking sleepily. Ralph looked around and saw me staring straight at him. Then he threw the eraser back, way harder than I had.

“Ow!” I said, as the eraser hit me in the nose.

“What is going on?” said Ms Winkleworth, who had turned around just in time to see the eraser bounce off my nose. “Ralph, are you throwing things?”

“Sam Wu threw his eraser at me first!” said Ralph.

Sam, is that true?” said Ms Winkleworth.

I wanted to explain that it was because Ralph and Regina had been sleeping and I was trying to help, but I didn’t want to be a tattler (even though Ralph had just told on me). So I tried to be the bigger person and just shrugged. “It was an accident,” I said. “It just . . . flew out of my hands. Like magic.”

“Maybe it was a ghost!” said Bernard, who always has my back. He is one of my best friends and is the smartest person I know. He’s basically a walking dictionary.

“Exactly,” I said, giving Ms Winkleworth my most serious face.

Ms Winkleworth sighed. “Sam, erasers don’t just fly out of people’s hands,” she said. Then she went and wrote both of our names on the board and circled them. “You two will both have to stay inside today at break and help tidy the craft corner.”

“That’s not fair,” Ralph whined. “Sam Wu started it.”

“Well, next time you should both think twice about throwing erasers in class,” said Ms Winkleworth.

And that was how I found myself in the craft corner with my nemesis, Ralph Zinkerman the Third.

“You should do the tidying,” he said when Ms Winkleworth was at her desk going through some papers. “This is your fault!”

“I was trying to help you!” I spluttered. “Well, I was trying to help Regina, but you were asleep too! I could have told on you, you know.

But I didn’t.” I held my head a little higher when I said this.

Ralph said.

“I do NOT drool,” Ralph said with a snort. He is the master of snorts.

“You did,” I said. Then I frowned. “Why are you both so tired?”

Ralph sighed and sat down. “None of your business,” he said as he held back a yawn. “And I’m not tired.”

“I’m just trying to help,” I said.

“Why?” said Ralph suspiciously.

I had to think about that one. It was true, Ralph was my nemesis. He always made fun of me in front of everyone and he called me names like Scaredy Cat Sam and Sam Wu-ser (which he thinks is funny because he makes my last name sound like loser).

But even if Ralph wasn’t always my friend, Regina was. And I had a feeling that whatever was bothering Ralph would be bothering her too. Plus, I’d learned from SPACE BLASTERS that sometimes being a good Captain is checking in on all of your crew, even the ones you don’t like as much.

“Because we’re in the same crew,” I said.

Ralph snorted (like I said, he is the master of snorts) and rolled his eyes. “That was one camping trip in the woods,” he said. “And don’t think it means we’re best friends or anything now. Because we’re not.”

“Suit yourself,” I said, and turned to organize some paint brushes. I tried to whistle too, to show how much I wasn’t bothered, but I don’t know how to whistle, so instead I kind of just blew air out of my mouth and hooted a bit.

“Why are you making train noises?” Ralph said. “You are so weird.”

“I’m just whistling,” I said. “Minding my own business.”

Ralph scowled. “Fine! I’ll tell you. Regina will probably tell you anyway. She’s convinced that you and your friends are the only ones who can help us. I don’t know why.”

“Really?” I said, standing up a little straighter. It was nice to feel appreciated.

Ralph paused and then looked around to make sure nobody could hear him. “Do you remember what Regina said is trapped in our basement?”

I gulped. Ralph couldn’t be talking about what I thought he was talking about . . . could he?

“You don’t mean . . . ” I couldn’t even say it.

Ralph nodded solemnly.

“It’s louder than ever. We can’t sleep at night because we’re worried it’s going to get out.”

I gulped again.

“And eat us,” he added, in case it wasn’t clear. “We don’t know what to do.”

“Well,” I said, trying to show how brave I was even though I was starting to sweat, “the first thing we need to do is to get everyone in our crew back together if we’re going to face . . . THE ZOMBIE WEREWOLF.”

CHAPTER 3

WHAT EVEN IS A ZOMBIE WEREWOLF?

My best friends Zoe and Bernard couldn’t believe it when I told them we needed to have a top-secret meeting with Ralph and Regina that day at lunch.

“What?” said Zoe. “But Ralph just got you in trouble!”

“Trust me,” I said. “It’s serious. They need our help.”

“With what?” asked Bernard. “Being their personal alarm clocks?”

“Yeah, why do they keep falling asleep in class?” said Zoe.

“They need help with the zombie werewolf,” I said, waggling my eyebrows to make sure Zoe and Bernard knew exactly how serious this was.

“Ohh!” said Zoe, and Bernard’s mouth dropped a little bit open.

They definitely knew what I meant. Regina had been telling us for a while about this mysterious zombie werewolf in their basement, and each time she did, I said that of course we’d come to help her. But I never thought we actually would have to. Captain Jane on SPACE BLASTERS says that you should never offer something if you can’t follow through, and I guess I’m learning that the hard way.

“Sam, we don’t know anything about zombie werewolves!” Zoe said, looking nervous. “That is too serious and too dangerous for us.”

“We’re official Ghost Hunters! And Spider Catchers! And snake wranglers! If anyone can do it, we can,” I said, with more confidence than I felt. Another thing I’ve learned on SPACE BLASTERS is that sometimes, even if you are scared, you just have to act like you aren’t, and sometimes you can trick yourself into being Not Scared. This doesn’t always work for| me, but I like to try it anyway.

“What do any of those things have to do with zombie werewolves?” Zoe went on.

I paused.

“Nothing!” Zoe said, throwing her arms in the air.

She was right.

“Well, you might have a point,” I said slowly. “We don’t know anything about zombie werewolves. But we didn’t know anything about sharks or ghosts either, until we did some research.” I turned to Bernard with a big grin. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Bernard?”

Bernard loves research so I thought that this would definitely get him on board.

But he just scratched his head. “I don’t know, Sam. Some things, even research can’t prepare you for. I’m not even sure what a zombie werewolf is. Are you?”

“And what if it’s a trap?” said Zoe. “What if Ralph is inviting us over just to use us as BAIT for the zombie werewolf? That sounds like something he would do.”

This was NOT going well.

“Regina wouldn’t do that,” I said, but I wished Zoe hadn’t put that idea in my head. “And Ralph can be evil, but he isn’t that evil.” At least I hoped he wasn’t.

Just then, Regina bounded over to us, with a huge smile on her face. Ralph was trailing behind her, sulking.

“Ralph told me the good news!” she said breathlessly. “You’re going to help us with our zombie werewolf problem!”

“You bet we are!” I said.

Zoe and Bernard groaned.

“I knew we could count on you,” said Regina.

A very small part of me regretted previously telling Regina so confidently that we could help with the zombie werewolf. I hadn’t thought we’d actually have to face it. It is like that one time SPACE BLASTERS on when Spaceman Jack offered to help save a whole planet from invading evil aliens, and then when the aliens arrived he realized just how scary they were, but he stayed to help because he’d said he would. Plus my dad always says that . . .

“A WU IS ONLY AS GOOD AS THEIR WORD.”

But still, I wondered why now was the time we had to take action. It wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to wait a little bit before facing the zombie werewolf.

“So have things got worse?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual.3

Regina lowered her voice. “We are in desperate need of help, and soon. I think we’re running out of time. The zombie werewolf is getting stronger. At least it’s definitely getting louder. It could break out of our basement at ANY MOMENT!”

“Erm, have you thought about telling your parents?” said Bernard. “That sounds like something they might want to know about.”

Regina waved her hand in the air like she was flicking a fly out of the way. “We’ve tried. But they never believe us.”

“All they do is say that we shouldn’t go in the basement because it is off-limits,” added Ralph darkly.

“Probably because there is a zombie werewolf down there,” said Bernard. “That makes sense to make it off limits.” Then he furrowed his brow and I knew he was thinking extra hard. “How far away is your basement from the rest of the house? Are there windows? Stairs? How many exits are there?”

“See! These are the kinds of things we need to think about,” said Regina enthusiastically. “You should all come over this weekend so you can see for yourselves what we’re dealing with.”

“If we make it to the weekend,” Ralph muttered. Then he looked straight at me. “And if you’re not too scared to come over, Sam Wu.”

“I’m NOT too scared,” I said, even though my heart was beating very fast. “Of course we’re coming over. We’re going to come over and we’re going to solve the mystery of the zombie werewolf. Once and for all.” I gave Ralph a triumphant look.

He looked back at me sceptically, and I expected a signature Ralph snort, but at least he didn’t do that.

Zoe sighed loudly. “Well, I guess that’s settled then. Your parents can call our parents?”

Regina and Ralph nodded.

“I still don’t think you’ll be able to do anything useful,” said Ralph, “but Regina is convinced.”

“Ralph, you know we don’t have any other options,” said Regina. “They’re our only hope!”

Ralph snorted this time but didn’t say anything else.

And I tried NOT to panic.

CHAPTER 4

THE LAST BREAKFAST

My parents were thrilled that I was going over to Ralph’s house.

“I told you that things would work out, Sam,” said my dad at breakfast on Saturday. “I knew that you and Ralph would become friends eventually. I’m proud of you.”

I didn’t know how to explain to my dad that this was a MUCH BIGGER SITUATION than the history between Ralph and me. So I just took another bite of my congee4 and tried to enjoy it. If things didn’t go well today, it might just be the last time I ever ate it.

Now that it was actually time to face a zombie werewolf, I was starting to have SERIOUS second thoughts about going over to Ralph and Regina’s house.

What was I thinking? I should have listened to Zoe and Bernard. And now if anything bad happened, it was all going to be my fault. I might be leading everyone into certain doom!

My little sister Lucy came twirling into the kitchen, with her cat Butterbutt right behind her. I realized I needed a moment alone with Lucy, to ask her to look after my pet snake Fang in case the zombie werewolf got me. Lucy is one of the few people brave enough to handle my ferocious, man-eating snake5.

Luckily, just then the phone rang. My dad answered and started speaking in Cantonese6, so I knew it was probably family in Hong Kong which meant he’d be a while.

“Lucy,” I said, putting on my most grown-up voice. “I have something important to ask you. But you can’t tell anyone, okay?”

“Okay!” said Lucy, with her mouth full of congee. “I love secrets!”

“Lucy, it’s serious,” I said.

“You think everything is serious,” she said, swinging her legs under her chair and kicking me.

“This time it really is!” I said. “Do you want to know or not?”

“Of course I want to know. I like to know EVERYTHING.” She grinned.

It was true. Lucy was always getting involved in whatever me and my friends were doing. But this time it was too risky.

“I’ve got to go on a mission today. And it’s a dangerous one. Maybe the most dangerous one I’ve ever done,” I said.

“Can I come? I love missions!” she said, taking another big slurp of her congee.

“Lower your voice!” I said, looking around to make sure nobody had heard her. “And no, it’s too dangerous. It could be a matter of life and death.” I paused. “Which is why I need you to promise me something.” I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to scare Lucy, but there was nobody else I could ask. “If something happens to me, will you look after Fang?”