Max Brallier - The Last Kids on Earth and the Zombie Parade

First published in the United States of America by Viking,

an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016

This edition published in 2019

By Egmont UK Limited

The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN

Text copyright © 2016 Max Brallier

Illustrations copyright © 2016 Douglas Holgate

The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.

First e-book edition 2019

ISBN 978 1 4052 9510 9

Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1744 1

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.

Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

To Ruby. If the world crumbled and the monsters were a-comin’, you would make for a fantastic partner in adventure.

– M. B.

For my parents: For not only supporting, loving, and encouraging me at every turn, but also dropping me off regularly at the next-door neighbours who unbeknownst to you put me in front of pretty much every horror movie available at the video store when I was eight.

– D. H.

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2016 This edition published in 2019 By Egmont UK Limited The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN Text copyright © 2016 Max Brallier Illustrations copyright © 2016 Douglas Holgate The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted. First e-book edition 2019 ISBN 978 1 4052 9510 9 Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1744 1 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. Stay safe online. Any website addresses listed in this book are correct at the time of going to print. However, Egmont is not responsible for content hosted by third parties. Please be aware that online content can be subject to change and websites can contain content that is unsuitable for children. We advise that all children are supervised when using the internet.

Dedication To Ruby. If the world crumbled and the monsters were a-comin’, you would make for a fantastic partner in adventure. – M. B. For my parents: For not only supporting, loving, and encouraging me at every turn, but also dropping me off regularly at the next-door neighbours who unbeknownst to you put me in front of pretty much every horror movie available at the video store when I was eight. – D. H.

Map of Wakefield

chapter one

chapter two

chapter three

chapter four

chapter five

chapter six

chapter seven

chapter eight

chapter nine

chapter ten

chapter eleven

chapter twelve

chapter thirteen

chapter fourteen

chapter fifteen

chapter sixteen

chapter seventeen

chapter eighteen

chapter nineteen

chapter twenty

chapter twenty-one

chapter twenty-two

chapter twenty-three

chapter twenty-four

chapter twenty-five

chapter twenty-six

chapter twenty-seven

chapter twenty-eight

chapter twenty-nine

chapter thirty

chapter thirty-one

chapter thirty-two

chapter thirty-three

Acknowledgments

About the Authors

Back series promotional page

OK, so . . . we are going to be eaten. Devoured. Swallowed whole. Or maybe swallowed in bits. Really, whole or bits? Does it matter? Bottom line: EATEN.

’Cause see that train-sized beast behind us? It’s not a train. It’s a humongo worm monster. The Wormungulous.

Now, why are we running from a humongo worm monster?

A very good question.

With a very silly answer. We are . . .

See, about a month ago, I defeated this big evil beast named Blarg. So I was like, ‘We’re heroes! Post-Apocalyptic Action Heroes. And Post-Apocalyptic Action Heroes need quests!’

We’re basically the modern version of old-timey King Arthur-y knights. And old-timey King Arthur-y knights were always questing all over the place. That was when my best friend, Quint Baker, declared, ‘We should build a bestiary, friend!’

What’s a bestiary, you ask?

Also a good question! I asked Quint the same thing. Quint looked at me like I was completely brain-dead, grabbed the dictionary, and read, ‘An illustrative, encyclopedic compendium detailing a myriad of mythical creatures.’

‘That just sounds like a fancy way of saying “monster notebook”,’ I said.

‘But better!’ Quint said. ‘“Notebook” implies school and study. “Bestiary” implies BEASTS. A book filled with crinkly yellow pages that smell of ancient history.’

I was def digging that, so I said . . .

And now we’re building a complete bestiary of every single strange creature that has arrived in the town of Wakefield after the Monster Apocalypse began this past summer. You need two things for a bestiary entry:

One: a picture. That’s my job. You know that’s my job ’cause I’m Jack Sullivan, monster photographer extraordinaire.

Two: you need INFO. Like stuff about the monster – strengths, weaknesses, where does it hang, what does it eat, what are its hobbies, does it stink like evil, yadda, yadda, yadda.