Arthur's house was packed that night. He, Brain, Francine, Muffy, and George were in the dining room, discussing plans while they ate some dinner. Surprisingly, Arthur's dad has cooked some decent grub, although Muffy had pretended to poke her nose up at it.

Arthur took one more sip of his soup before addressing the others.

"Guys, we have a problem. Buster…..is back!" Aside from Brain, everyone else looked fairly happy. Cries of, "Where is he?" and "Where has he been?" and "WHY?" filled the room. Arthur held his hands up.

"Guys….Brain explained it all to me. It turns out that Buster is some kind of freaky zombie, and he probably wants to kill us all. Brain thinks that Binky may have already fallen…." Arthur tried to explain calmly, although his voice shook, probably from the mashed potatoes stuck in his teeth.

The silence was loud, as the gang took it in. Muffy fainted. No one bothered to pick her up, although Arthur was tempted to drop the remainder of his soup on her.

"Arthur, what do we do? I'm scared, and if even Binky was no match, we're doomed!" Francine cried, twisting her napkin in stress. Brain nodded.

"Maybe we should tell our parents, or call the police," Brain suggested. Arthur immediately shook his head. He didn't want any of them to get involved. Brain narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, I know why, Arthur. You're just scared that they'll blame you, since PAL KILLED BUSTER IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

Everyone in the room (except Muffy) looked at Arthur in shock and anger. Pal, who had been nibbling on the table's wooden leg, looked up and barked. Arthur blushed.

"Maybe Pal killed Buster, but I didn't know about it!" Arthur lied. "And besides, wasn't it your fault that he turned into a zombie, BRAIN?"

Brain gulped and looked around for support. He was given none.

"It was for science," Brain muttered under his breath.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Francine screamed at him. Brain didn't answer, and just looked at his brown shoes.

Francine couldn't believe this! The whole situation was absurd. She got up from the table, shaking her head.

"I'm sorry guys, but I'm out of here." Running towards the door, she came face to face with Buster, who reached for her throat. With a scream, she slammed the door shut, not hearing the "OW".

Scared, the kids all ran upstairs to Arthur's room, locking the door behind them. Brain closed the windows. They all huddled, wondering who should speak up first. In the end, it was Brain who broke the silence.

"OK, maaaayyyybbbbeeee the science excuse is pretty lame. But, guys! I have created the world's first zombie. That is a very large step for mankind, and dead people!" Brain was saying excitedly. Francine slapped him, causing him to burst into tears. This briefly caused laughter among the group.

"That was funny!" George said, giggling. He stopped when he noticed everyone staring at him like he grew a third antler. "What?"

Arthur shakily pointed a finger at him. "Who the heck are you, weirdo?" George sighed. This ALWAYS happened to him. He was so quiet and forgettable, people tended to not even realize he was there.

Brain snapped his fingers. "We should use him as zombie bait! George is very expendable, after all." George shook his head. Just because he was a nobody, and not very smart, and had no friends, did NOT mean he was expendable! He didn't notice Arthur and Francine sneaking up behind him. OOF!

Quickly, they knocked George out, and threw him out the window. The three kids all smirked, feeling just dandy, when it hit them: where the deuce was Muffy?

Downstairs, still at the table, Muffy finally woke up. Shaking her head, she finished her soup, and headed to the door. She had the oddest dream, with Buster being all dead and stuff. Walking down the street, she was tempted to call Bailey to give her a lift, but it would be such a waste to not take advantage of this lovely summer night.

But then Buster jumped out from behind a bush. Muffy gasped, "How rude!" and tried to dash past him, but Buster lunged and grabbed her ankles. Muffy kicked him in the head, but nothing happened.

"WOE IS ME!" Muffy yelled as she decided that Buster eating her might not be so bad, as long as his breath didn't get worse after becoming a zombie…

To Be Continued

Author's Notes:

My first Arthur series. It should be noted that it takes place after ALL my other Arthur one-shots, so Read Those First, please! Thanks!