First published in the United States of America by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2015
This edition published in 2019
By Egmont UK Limited
The Yellow Building, 1 Nicholas Road, London W11 4AN
Text copyright © 2015 Max Brallier
Illustrations copyright © 2015 Douglas Holgate
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
First e-book edition 2019
ISBN 978 1 4052 9509 3
Ebook ISBN 978 1 7803 1745 8
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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To Alyse, for support, advice, direction, and love and love and love. You’re my cutie.
And another thing . . . This book is sort of a love letter to a group of great friends: Mikey, Mouth, Data and Chunk. Roberta, Teeny, Samantha and Chrissy. Angus and Troy. Gordy Lachance and Chris Chambers. Scotty Smalls and Benny the Jet. Corey, Haley and Jimmy. Thanks, friends – and thanks to all who made you.
– M.B.
To Allyson and Angus, may we never have to enact zombie plague survival plan alpha or beta, but know that if we do I wouldn’t want to spend the apocalypse with anyone else.
– D.H.
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH SERIES:
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
and the ZOMBIE PARADE
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
and the NIGHTMARE KING
THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH
and the COSMIC BEYOND
Contents
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
Acknowledgments
About the Author
That’s me.
Not the giant monster.
Beneath the giant monster. The kid on his back, with the splintered bat. The handsome kid, about to get eaten.
Forty-two days ago, I was regular Jack Sullivan: thirteen years old, living an uneventful life in the uninteresting town of Wakefield. I was totally not a hero, totally not a tough guy, totally not fighting giant monsters.
But look at me now. Battling a gargantuan beast on the roof of the local CVS pharmacy.
Life is crazy like that.
Right now, the whole world is crazy like that. Check the shattered windows. Check the wild vines crawling up the side of the building.
All of these things are not normal.
And me? I haven’t been normal, well, ever. I’ve always been different. See, I’m an orphan – I bounced all over the country, different homes, different families, before landing in this little town of Wakefield in December.
But all that moving, it makes you tough: it makes you cool, it makes you confident, it makes you good with the girls – it makes you JACK SULLIVAN.
Oh crud!
INCOMING MONSTER FIST!!!
Yikes.
Almost got a monster fist to the skull there.
I’m at CVS because I need an eyeglass repair kit – those little tool sets that dads buy for when their glasses break. I know, that’s a lame thing to need. But I have a walkie and that walkie is busted and to fix that walkie, I need a really really really tiny screwdriver and the only place to get a really really really tiny screwdriver is in an eyeglass repair kit.
This was supposed to be a quick, easy trip to the pharmacy. But one thing I’ve learned about life after the Monster Apocalypse: nothing’s quick and nothing’s easy.
This monster here is the foulest, most ferocious and just plain horrible thing I’ve encountered yet. He’s straight-up –
KA-SLAM!
Yikes!