Sam Wu is Not Afraid of Zombies. Katie Tsang

      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