The dark, foreboding night sky was covered by haunting and gloomy clouds that vowed the worse to come. The habitats were utterly empty, not even a whisper of noise from the tiniest of cracks, all except for the lemur enclosure, the only sanctuary. The Zoo was eerily quiet, except from the deep and drawled out moans and shuffling of feet that could be heard if someone was to listen close enough.

The source was rotting, blood thirsty, dead-hearted devil spawn that could only be described as zombies. The whole Zoo was overrun with them in vast numbers, so much that even the penguins had fallen victim to their unforgiving shredding bites and scarring claws. However, Julien and Marlene were the last animals who were not infected...Yet.

Maurice and Mort had just taken a hit from one of the many rooting corpses for Marlene and Julien, but now they had joined the overwhelming zombie ranks that were targeting the mammals. It only added to the numbers of the undead creatures, and it wasn't in the remaining mammals favor. They were being cornered in the lemur habitat by every animal that had been infected in the Zoo and Central Park with no signs of possible escape. No matter how much they did to protect themselves they were destined to die. King Julien and Marlene backed up further into a corner of bamboo, hearts pumping blood so fast that is hurt, as the zombies approached.

Julien, the self-proclaimed lemur king, looked at his boom box that was next to him and hugged it as if it was to be his savior. "Why must the handsome king that is me be a disgusting zombie?" Julien wailed.

"Julien, I'm here to!" Marlene shouted crossly, scowling at the pathetic site that she was basically forced to watch. She couldn't believe she was going to die with him of all the possible animals, the guy who never found her as an equal. She pulled him by the tail when one undead creature made a lunge for the monarch, tugging the boom box along, and brought him to the very edge of the habitat.

They watched with fearful anticipation as the zombies loomed closer, their eyes sunken in or bulged out of their skulls with a rotting aroma reeking from them. That is when Julien received an idea.

"I know the zombies weakness!" he announced pointedly, clear excitement and confidence ringing through his voice.

"You do? What is it?" Marlene asked eagerly, curling her paws up into fearful fists.

Julien didn't respond and simply pulled out a tape with speed quicker than Marlene had ever seen and inserted it into the beloved boom box of his. He hastily pressed the play button, and clenched his eyes tight, hoping for some kind of miracle, as the lyrics and music poured out of the boom boxes speakers.

"Oh no Julien, that'll never work!" Marlene groaned and smacked her forehead with her furry paw.

It took a moment to process but the music soon thundered throughout the previously hushed Zoo.

"It's close to midnight…and something is lurking in the dark."

Julien opened his eyes when he didn't hear the crush of grass by faltered and uneven steps. He grinned, as his plan was working, while Marlene was gaping from surprise of it all. In front of them were a cluster of undead animals that were making attempts to dance to the eerie music while the others stared with dumb and blank looks.

"Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart."

A luminous, green beam of moonlight shined down from the barely parted clouds and reflected off the zombies, which terrified and shook Julien and Marlene to the core. The zombie's diseased and brittle features were brightened at the full moons light, some kind of slime coating their outer hides.

Their hearts rate went faster, and they could have just stopped right there and be helpless victims for the zombies but the instinct to survive pulsed through their veins. They weren't going down just yet.

"You try to scream, but terror takes the sound before you make it."

Julien tried to scream when they turned their heads in his direction but nothing came out, only a small almost inaudible squeak. The animals just couldn't move from the pure horror of the sight and inevitable terror coursing through their veins. The zombies' blood shut eyes, their diseased flesh, and brittle fur or feathers making them look sickingly fragile but rotted. A living corpse.

"You start to freeze as horror looks at you right between the eyes. You're paralyzed!"

They watched in pure terror, as the zombies stared right into the depths of their eyes. Their soulless eyes in the bulged and puffy sockets made them shiver. They just couldn't turn away from it, frozen by the depthless looks, and could only watch as the zombies approached. Although some of the semi-dead creatures were fidgeting from the music; it didn't seem to stop them.

"'Cause this is thriller! Thriller night! And no one's going to save you from the beast about to strike. You know its thriller! Thriller night!"

Marlene felt that the song was tying into what was happening around her and Julien, though the lemur king could care less. Nobody could save them now. The penguins were zombies and they couldn't help them anymore. In fact, they were the ones in the front of the army of zombies and were most likely the ones leading them to their demise.

Julien finally decided to move out of mortal terror and the need to save his own royal hide and ran past the zombies, holding his rather large boom box still.

"Hey, wait up!" Marlene shouted and started running after him while avoiding the zombies swishing appendages. The anxious Asian otter was soon able to catch up to Julien at the Zoovenier shop door, breathing heavily as she tried to get back to a normal pace. "What…are we…going…to do?" Marlene panted between breaths.

"We must fight back!" Julien exclaimed bravely, a paw to his chest as he posed.

"You? Fight?" Marlene scoffed and looked at him with pure disbelief. She stopped when they both heard the familiar groaning of approaching zombies. "Never mind that! Quick, in there!" Marlene ran into the shop, Julien right at her tail.

"You're fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller night!"

Julien took a foam finger for protection and made a barricade out of popcorn sacks with the help of the beautiful otter.

"You really think this will work?" Marlene whispered to Julien anxiously as they both jumped over the sacks so they were hidden and protected. For now anyway.

"Of course silly otter," Julien whispered back confidently. "I've seen it all the time on the, uh, box thingy."

"You mean the television?" she asked with evident exasperation

"Uh, yes…that thingy."

"You hear the door slam and realize there's nowhere left to run."

Just like the song said; the door to the Zoovenier shop slammed shut by the powerful wind, or was it just the wind?

Marlene started to shake violently next to Julien, shuddering even though it wasn't cold. "Why did we hide hear?" she whimpered and cupped her face with her paws. "We just trapped ourselves…"

They both crouched down lower into the sacks of popcorn, hoping they wouldn't be spotted.

"You feel the cold hand, and wonder if you'll ever see the sun."

"GAH!" Marlene yelped in surprise when she felt a hand rest on her shoulder.

Julien placed a finger on her lips and made a 'shh' sound. "It's only me, your king," Julien told her. Marlene took a shuddered intake of breath. It was only Julien.

"You close your eyes and hope that this is just imagination, girl!"

Marlene did just that and wished it was only a dream, pleaded it was all fake and just some kind of cruel trick. Julien wanted it desperately to be a dream too, but they both knew it was far too real to possibly be a dream, much more like a nightmare actually.

They gasped silently when they heard an awkward pattern of footsteps coming toward them.

"But all the while, you hear the creature creeping up behind. You're out of time!"

Julien looked over the popcorn sacks but immediately regretted when his nose was inches away from the cold one of Maurice. He screamed and took Marlene's paw in his. He jumped over the sacks, Marlene in one paw, and his boom box in another.

"Cause its thriller, thriller night! There ain't no second chance against the thing with forty eyes, girl! Thriller, thriller night!"

Julien dropped his boom box and Marlene and jumped up to the doors knob. He turned it briskly and the door opened as the result. He dropped to the ground and took his boom box while gesturing Marlene to follow him. She did not hesitate to do so. The two raced out of the Zoovenier shop and looked for a new and better place to hide.

But where was there to hide?

"You're fighting for your life inside the killer, thriller night!"

"Let's go to the penguin habitat! They will have weapons we can use," Marlene told him, both mammals still running. Julien agreed, not like he was going to argue anyway, and they ran even faster so they could have a chance to defend themselves.

They set their course for the penguin habitat and whipped their heads around to spot any threat. They saw none so far.

"Night creatures calling, the dead start to walk in their masquerade. There's no escaping the jaws of the alien this time! (They're open wide...) This is the end of your life."

They ran even faster when they heard the all too familiar moaning sounds of the somewhat decomposed zombies. The fur on their necks rose and bristled when they heard a loud wail echo throughout the Zoo, no doubt from one of the undead creatures.

The two mammals let out high pitched screams as a bundle of new zombies came in upon them from the bushes and light-posts. They hadn't even made it halfway to the habitat, and the zombies had somehow caught up to them! The two animals held onto each other for dear life as the music continued to blare throughout the Central Park Zoo.

Fred, the penguins, Max, and Roger started surrounding them, closing in with obvious intentions to devour them.

"Boomy box, please give us the answers to be rid of these zombie freaks!" Julien pleaded.

"They're out to get you, there's demons closing in on every side. They will possess you, unless you change the number on your dial."

"What?" Julien shouted, outraged. "How will that help? I don't even have the cellular of phones!"

"Julien! Now's not the time, we have to get out of here!" Marlene cried out and gripped his shoulder. She glanced around helplessly; the zombies still approaching them.

"Idea!" Julien exclaimed and pointed a finger to the sky. He picked up his boom box and suddenly threw it at Max. It knocked the zombiefied cat over and, with that, Julien and Marlene raced over the cat, trampling him. Julien rushed back over and managed to get his boom box before he raced after Marlene towards the storage room.

They went through the opened wide garage door, zipped behind some crates, and sat in silence while trying to slow down their panicked breathing.

"Now is the time for you, and I to cuddle close together, yeah."

Julien decided to follow the song and cuddled up against Marlene, finding it the perfect excuse to make a silent move and woo the beautiful mammal. Honestly, he didn't mind being so close and he wasn't afraid to voice that opinion either.

"Julien, what are you doing?" Marlene growled. She tried to shove him off, but he held on tight.

"Trying to protect you of course, silly otter," Julien explained his lie as if it was no big deal.

Marlene eyed him skeptically. More or less she bought it, but since when did Julien want to protect anyone? That's when something hit her unexpectedly. "Julien, why is that song still playing? It's attracting the zombies with its sound!"

"What?" he scoffed. "No way, I turned it-" Julien eyes went wide at the realization, but it was too late for that anyway.

"All through the night, I'll save you through the terror on the screen. I'll make you see that this is a thriller, thriller night. Cause I can thrill you more than any ghost would every dare try. Thriller, thriller night."

Marlene and Julien froze when they heard the frightful sound of uneven footsteps. It got closer and closer and, to their horror, a zombie turned its head around a corner and spotted them. It was all the more horrifying because it was their previous long term Zoo protector, Skipper.

"So let me hold you tight and share a killer, driller, chiller, thriller here tonight! 'Cause this is thriller, thriller night! Girl, I can thrill you more than any ghost would every dare try. Thriller, thriller night!"

Skipper slowly approached with limping pace towards the two as they tried to scramble away throughout the storage room. They ran in circles around Skipper but soon found themselves back where they had started, exchanging confused glances. It was brief before they were once again cowed by the undead penguin. They were trapped in a corner with no easy route to escape and could only watch as Skipper approached.

Skipper got even closer till he was looming over them and reached out for the otter. He gripped with his crusted, slimy flipper around Marlene's furry arm.

The Asian otter let out a startled screech and tried to get away, but his grip was too strong. "Get out of here Julien!" Marlene shouted.

"You don't have to be telling me twice!" Without a second thought, Julien scrambled away, taking his boom box with him. He ran out of the storage room, and heard the terrible crunching sounds of Skipper having his much desired feed.

"So let me hold you tight and share a killer, thriller, ow!"

"Marlene!" Julien cried out in despair with sudden guilt in his chest. She was gone, and he was the only one left. He wanted to protect her, but instead; he had just left her there to save his own hide. He stared in anticipation at the storage room garage.

"(I'm going to thriller ya tonight...)"

Julien continued to watch the storage room as agonizing seconds ticked away. Moments went by before Skipper came out, a zombiefied Marlene at his side. Julien gasped in horror when all the other penguins unexpectedly appeared and made their way to him. He looked up at the Zoo clock tower. It was almost midnight. Hours away from the sunlight that might give him some hope.

He froze, fur bristled, when he thought he saw red eyes staring at him from the tower, but he shook it off and instead ran away from the approaching zombies. He felt pricks of tears approaching his eyes as a deeper voice came into the track.

"Darkness falls across the land. The midnight hour is close at hand. Creatures crawl in search of blood. To terrorize y'alls neighborhood. And who ever shall be found, without the soul for getting down, must stand and face the hounds of hell and rot inside a corpse shell."

Julien didn't even pay attention to the next part of the song. He was far too terrified too. He kept running but eventually he couldn't handle it anymore and his lungs became his downfall.

King Julien collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, and stared up in horror when every zombie that used to be his friends surrounded him. They got closer and closer, till the point where zombie Private was right in his face. He was no longer visible in the crowd of zombies, who were all trying to get a taste from the lemur.

The ring-tailed lemur clenched his eyes shut and screamed in pain when Fred bit his leg. A sickening smell entered Julien's nose, but he became less concerned about it when a zombiefied Marlene bit his nose and started to rip it off, much like a shark would to a seal.

"The foulest stench is in the air. The funk of forty thousand year and grizzly ghouls from every tomb, are closing in to seal your doom..."

After many sickening crunches; Julien arose from the ground, a green furred and rotting zombie, with his boom box still playing that haunting track at his feet. The zombies parted away from the lemur, blood dripping from their mouths. The zombies turned to the clock tower and blankly stared at it as if held an answer to an unspoken question.

"And although you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver. For no mere mortal can resist the evil of the thriller!"

The whole Central Park Zoo echoed with evil laughter that resonated from the same bell/clock tower. A shadow with red eyes was where the laugher emitted from. The shadow stared down at its new slaves from his post on the clock tower like a dictator to an army. "And now onto New York!" the shadow announced in a low, cold, menacing voice. "Then the world…"