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The Candy Kingdom screams. Finn, Jake, Lumpy Space Princess, and Lady Rainicorn tear through the saccharine streets, a tide of Candy Zombies swarming them, their vacant eyes fixed on living flesh. A lurching, moaning mass surges behind them. Finn, with a guttural cry, flings a fleshy, gurning candy zombie from his back, its sugary grip momentarily broken. They burst through the massive front gate of Princess Bubblegum's castle, the wood groaning under their desperate force.
"Hurry, Lady!" Finn bellows, his voice raw with exertion.
Lady Rainicorn, a shimmering rainbow blur, rockets through the opening just as the gate slams shut with a thunderous thud, the heavy latch clicking into place like the final, dreadful tick of a doomsday clock. Finn leans against the reinforced wood, chest heaving, the acrid scent of decaying candy filling his nostrils.
"It's happening again," he rasps, his eyes wide with a familiar horror.
A calm, almost resigned voice cuts through the panicked air. "That's right, Finn."
Finn's head snaps up. "Princess!"
Princess Bubblegum stands before them, her pink form a beacon of order amidst the chaos, though her shoulders carry the weight of a thousand regrets. "The zombie infection has spread across the kingdom once again," she states, her voice tinged with self-recrimination, "and once again, it's all my fault."
Her explanation spills out, a confession laced with scientific precision. She was in her lab, she recounts, meticulously testing a sample of the very zombie flesh that had plagued them before – a foolish, dangerous relic she'd saved. Cinnamon Bun, oblivious and ever-hungry, lumbered into the sterile environment. He'd whined about his rumbling stomach, but Bubblegum, consumed by her research, had barely registered his presence. Then, with a sickening crunch, he'd devoured the highly contagious zombie flesh.
"I escaped," Bubblegum continues, her gaze distant, haunted by the memory, "but I wasn't able to stop Cinnamon Bun from infecting the rest of the kingdom." A flicker of hope ignites in her eyes. "The good news is, I still have all my notes for making the antidote formula."
"Oh, sweet!" Finn exclaims, a spark of his usual optimism returning.
"Let's board up the windows, then we can get started," Bubblegum instructs, her voice already shifting into a commanding tone.
But the reprieve is fleeting, a cruel joke played by the universe. Before they can even move, the glass of a nearby window shatters inward with an explosive crash. A dark, lean figure bursts through, propelled by unholy hunger. It's Marceline, her eyes glowing with a malevolent, zombified light, her usually vibrant hair hanging in stringy, lifeless clumps. She moves with horrifying speed, a blur of fangs and claws.
"Princess!!" Finn screams, the sound ripped from his throat as Marceline’s jaws clamp down on Princess Bubblegum's neck. The princess gasps, a choked cry escaping her lips before she's yanked backward, dragged through the jagged window frame by the monstrous vampire queen.
Finn, propelled by a desperate, futile courage, lunges for the window, his hands seizing Bubblegum's arms. He pulls, straining against the terrifying strength of zombified Marceline.
"Don't worry, Finn," Bubblegum chokes out, her voice already distorting, fading, "You have the notes on my formula. Just let Science do the work. Science... is... maaaaaaaa raaaaaaaa...!" Her words devolve into an inhuman growl, her eyes clouding over, her skin turning a sickly green. She is Full Zombie™.
"No...!" Finn whimpers, his grip failing.
"Get that zombie outta here!" Lumpy Space Princess shouts as a wooden board appears in her hands as if by magic.
With a primal roar, she bludgeons the zombified Princess Bubblegum and Marceline, a sickening thud echoing through the castle. Finn shrieks, a sound of pure agony and despair.
"Aw, nah!" Lumpy Space Princess declares, her face a mask of disgusted determination. "I am not getting eaten by zombies tonight."
She spins, already moving to board up the shattered window, her movements surprisingly efficient. Undead faces, grotesque parodies of candy citizens, begin to peek through other openings, their moans a chilling chorus. Lumpy Space Princess doesn't hesitate, smashing them with a hammer, the satisfying crack of wood on reanimated candy flesh a grim lullaby.