The Chicken Zombies

Chapter 35-- We're Soaring, Flying!

The next day at seven in the morning, still in their gala attire, Abi and Noah, Ace and Shakira met at the airport.

They all looked exhausted. Eyeliner was smudged around Shakira's tired eyes that she hadn't bothered to wash off; Abi's lips were still stained a shade of red. Noah had bags under his eyes, and Ace was slightly more irritable than normal, having dealt with early-morning Shakira.

Abi was attempting to hug Ace and Shakira, neither of whom are huggers, and said, "Oh, I'm so glad that you two are okay!"

"Yeah, me too," responded Shakira, rubbing her eyes. She yawned. "Any word on the other three?"

Abi shook her head. "Nothing."

"Sooo what? We're just gonna leave them in London and hope they make it out alive?" said Noah, whose words slurred together as a side effect of the drugs. "'Cause that sounds like a horrible plan."

Abi threw her hands up. "I don't see what else we can do! We have to defeat Rosenpinis first. Then we can come back for the rest of them, I guess."

"It kind of sounds like that's the only option," agreed Shakira. She bit the inside of her cheek.

Ace nodded. "I don't think there's any other way."

Noah heaved a sigh. "Fine. But if Mama Jones asks us about Hillbilly, one of you has to deal with her." He turned and walked towards where their jet was being stored.

Abi stared guiltily after him. "He really doesn't like this idea, and I don't blame him, but I just feel really bad. He's very upset."

"Just give him time to cool off; he'll be fine later," Ace said. He paused a moment before saying. "Speaking of, what happened with Pierre last night?"

Abi's eyes widened. "Oh, gosh, I don't even know! I was so tired, I slept right through Pierre! No wonder the receptionist was glaring at us as we left the hotel."

They all boarded the jet. Suddenly, Abi, who had been walking to the bedroom, screamed.

"What is it?" demanded Noah, ever the loyal boyfriend, as he raced to her side.

Abi's fright quickly turned to anger. "DOLPH ZIEGLER! DO YOU REALIZE HOW WORRIED WE ALL WERE ABOUT YOU? AND YOU DIDN'T THINK TO CALL?"

Now, it was clear for everyone to see Dolph, who had seemingly been sleeping. His hair was matted to one side, and he was not wearing a shirt. "Well, I-" he started.

"AND NOW YOU THINK IT'S OKAY TO JUST SCARE THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF ME? I WALK IN HERE TO TAKE A NAP, AND THERE'S A BODY ON THE BED! I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD!" She paused, taking a breath. "But I am so glad that you are OKAY!" Abi all but tackled Dolph in a hug.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, still half awake and dazed. "Um, thanks."

Then, Abi smacked him. "Now, why didn't you text or call saying you were okay?!"

"Well, I had escaped, but I didn't know if you guys had or not- I was all by myself- So I just hopped in a limo and drove to the airport as fast as I could. I decided to spend the night here and see if you all would show up. I knew you'd have to get in the plane eventually. But, Abi, the reason I didn't text or call is that I, A: Don't have my phone; B: Wouldn't know any of your numbers even if I could call you; And C: Was tired. I went right to bed," explained Dolph. "Any more questions?"

They looked at each other, silent.

Dolph spoke again. "Actually, I've got one for you. Where are Dante and Hillbilly?"

"We don't actually know," admitted Shakira.

"Do you think Rosenpinis...?" Dolph trailed off.

Noah sighed. "You know, I don't really want to think about that right now. The best thing we can do is hope they're alright. In the meantime, we can stop Rosenpinis."

Dolph glanced at Ace. "And your family?"

"They're fine. I just called this morning. Alex is a little frazzled, but Mom got nearly everybody out in time. She saw it." Ace rolled his eyes. "However, they have no idea what happened to Dante and Hillbilly."

"I'm glad that your family's okay," Abi said. She paused. "Should we leave now, or wait to see if Dante and Hillbilly are safe?"

"I say we go, save humanity, and if Rosenpinis doesn't have them, we come back to London and try to track them down," said Dolph.

Noah nodded solemnly. "I guess I agree."

"Me too," murmured Shakira.

"Okay." Abi took a breath. "Jet, take us to Jimville, Iowa."

"Setting flight coordinates to Jimville, Iowa," responded the automated voice of the jet. "You should arrive in nine hours, twenty-eight minutes. Please fasten your seatbelts." And the countdown of the jet began once more, though everyone was far more confident in flying this time.

They took off.

Bored and anxious, the fourth hour into the flight, the gang was silent. Shakira was stress-eating microwavable mashed potatoes. Abi and Noah were napping, and Dolph was doing sit-ups as Ace watched CSI on TV.

They had all changed out of their gala outfits, and were again wearing Hillbilly and Betty May's emergency clothes, which consisted mainly of oversized hoodies, jeans, and t-shirts.

The TV screen flickered, all of the sudden. Ace raised a brow but thought nothing of it. They were on an airplane, for goodness' sakes, the service couldn't be perfect.

It flickered again before going completely black. "Dammit," hissed Ace.

"Wathup?" said Shakira, mouth full of instant potatoes.

"Bloody television just shut down." Ace lightly shook the TV.

"Oh. Well that thuckth," muttered Shakira. She swallowed the food. "Did you hit something on the remote?"

"Not to my knowledge."

Dolph sat up from sit-ups. "That's weird. It was fine earlier."

"Yeah."

Suddenly, Ronaldo Rosenpinis' ugly face appeared on the screen. Shakira screamed.

"MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Rosenpinis laughed maniacally. "You have all fallen right into my trap!"

"Um, Abi, Noah, old chums, you may want to come look at the telly," Ace called to the bedroom.

"Huh?" murmured Abi sleepily.

Rosenpinis leered into the camera. "And I bet you've been wondering where THESE PEOPLE have been!" He moved the camera to show Dante and Hillbilly behind bars.

Everyone gasped.

However, neither Dante nor Hillbilly looked overly concerned. Hillbilly saw the camera, nudged Dante, and smiled.

"Dante look! A camera!" He waved. "Mom, if you're out there, HIIIIIIIIIIII!"

Rosenpinis threw something at Hillbilly, who dodged. The supervillian looked back at the camera. "Your friends are the stupidest people I've ever met. And so... I'm going to make them into MY MINIONS! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"You wouldn't," said Noah, sounding very superhero-y.

"Oh, but I would," Rosenpinis taunted.

Shakira held her hands out in front. "Wait, wait, wait. What is this plan you're talking about?"

"Well, Shakira, I may have tampered with your jet a bit while my minions invaded the gala."

Abi glared at Rosenpinis' image on the screen. "What did you do?"

"Let's just say I'm the captain of this ship now! MWAHA-"

Hillbilly's voice was heard in the background. "Um, actually, Mr. Rosy-Pennis, they're on a jet. My jet. So you wouldn't be the captain of the ship, you'd be the pilot of the-"

"Oh, shut up!" exclaimed Rosenpinis. "And as for your other question, I'll leave you on this note: I'll see you soon." And then the screen went back to CSI.

Dolph, Abi, Shakira, Noah, and Ace looked at each other, confused.

Noah was the first to speak. "What did he mean by-"

But he was abruptly cut off by the silencing of the jet's engine.