The Barely Believable Adventures of Molly and Fritz: Brussels Sprouts and Zombies

By N.D. Byma

Molly and her little brother Fritz are normal kids that live normal lives, until one fateful evening when their world is turned completely upside down. Forced to face their fears with only each other to rely on, these clever kids will need to use every trick they can think of as they face off with a kitchen full of vicious Brussels sprout monsters and, a short while later, a classroom full of elementary student zombies. Can these young heroes break the curse and defeat these nefarious foes in time? Find out in The Barely Believable Adventures of Molly and Fritz!

• Language: English
• Publisher: N.D. Byma
• Release date: Mar 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005088712

N.D. Byma

N.D. Byma is a writer and storyteller from Hillsboro, Oregon with a passion for creating stories that speak to both children and adults at the same time.His books can be found in churches, schools, libraries, hospitals and other locations around the country.

Book preview

Introduction

At first glance, you would probably assume that Molly and Fritz are normal kids that live normal lives. They live in a normal small town in a normal house at the end of a normal cul-de-sac and attend a normal elementary school. Molly is a very normal 10-year-old and Fritz is a fairly normal 9-year-old, though he stands nearly the same height as his big sister.

Being normal kids, Molly and Fritz do normal things in their normal daily routine. Molly loves rock music and writing stories, but Fritz prefers athletics and any music that makes him want to dance. These activities may make them unique to some, but to Molly and Fritz, this is normal.

One thing that certainly isn’t normal is that Molly and Fritz are cursed. You heard me right. They don’t know it yet, but Molly and Fritz have a curse on them that will cause them all sorts of trouble in the story you are about to read.

At this point, no one is really sure where this curse came from or why it showed up at all, but we will learn more about that as the adventure plays out. For the time being, all you need to know is that Molly and Fritz are cursed. But they don’t know that yet.

Part 1:

Veggies of DOOM

Chapter 1

Our story begins with Molly and Fritz coming home from school on a beautiful spring day. Both of them were quite tired from a wonderfully normal day of classes and stood up from the school bus’s sticky blue seats quickly as it chugged to a stop in front of their house at the normal time of three o’clock. Without any unnecessary fanfare, they grabbed their bags and said goodbye to their friends, who you will be introduced to later. They also made a point to say goodbye to their white-haired bus driver, Mr. Knight, before walking down the steps and out the folding bus doors.

The yellow doors squeaked closed behind our soon-to-be heroes, and the big metal machine grumbled away slowly, leaving behind only a small puff of black smoke. They had survived another wonderfully normal day at school and the finish line was in view.

On this particular day the sun was out, and the air was fresh as our cursed comrades slowly walked up the driveway to their house. Like most normal days before, Molly’s and Fritz’s backpacks seemed to feel heavier and heavier with every step they took toward the front of the house, but the backpacks weren’t actually getting heavier. What Molly and Fritz felt was the weight of anticipation knowing that they were mere moments away from dropping their book-filled bags on the floor inside the home’s entryway and nothing, not even a massive beast, could prevent them from that moment of sweet relief. 

The sound of the big yellow bus had faded almost entirely by the time they reached the front door of their quite plain and normal house. When they finally opened the big wooden door and stepped inside, it was impossible to do anything except let out a collective sigh when their bags fell to the floor with a loud THUD. Unfortunately for Molly and Fritz, this relief was going to be short lived. The very moment their backpacks landed, they heard the loud sound of claws scraping on the hardwood floor and glanced up just in time to see a massive beast barreling down the stairs with our heroes in its sights. 

Okay, well, I may have exaggerated that part a little bit. The massive beast charging toward them was actually a very friendly dog and, if I were to be totally honest with you, I would have to also point out that this far-from-threatening dog wasn’t massive at all. His name was Ogre, and he was a panting, drooling, clumsy pug that stood no larger than an average house cat. Nevertheless, our heroes were greeted by this small, drool-dripping pup when they entered the house and, like most normal days, they ran right over and dropped to their knees to snuggle Ogre gleefully.

So, there you go. Molly and Fritz are normal. They live a normal life and, at this point, they are covered with normal drool from a small and excessively drooly dog. Unfortunately, this is where normal ends for our heroes, and some truly odd things begin to happen.

Chapter 2

A very uneventful afternoon drifted into the beginning of an unexciting evening with both of our heroes upstairs in their rooms finishing their homework for the day. Molly’s assignment was a book report that was due in the morning, and it didn’t prove to be a challenge at all. Like most projects, she breezed through her report with laser focus, stopping briefly here and there to sing along to the loud rock music keeping her company through her speakers. She was confident her report was another slam-dunk A+, because, well, it was.

Meanwhile, Fritz was finishing his math homework assignments the way he usually did, which is quite different from how his sister did her work. Dance music thumped through the sound system in his room and accompanied him while he worked away and, though his worksheets could have really benefitted from him taking his time and focusing, he fully intended to pay as little attention to them as possible. 

Fritz didn’t double-check his work. Nope, he quickly came up with an answer and wrote it on the paper without a second thought. His goal with homework was never to get the problems 100% correct. No, he only focused on reaching the end of the page as quickly as possible. Did he get a lot of questions wrong because of this approach? Yes. Did he care? No. Fritz intended to be a star athlete or professional dancer when he grew up, and he didn’t see how math was going to help with that.

With both of our heroes’ homework finished to wildly different levels of quality, it was only a matter of time until dinner would be ready. Like clockwork, the moment they packed their completed assignments away, they heard the welcome sound of Mom yelling from downstairs that dinner was nearly complete. This was amazing news because both Molly and Fritz knew that they would soon fill their grumbling bellies full with something delicious that Mom had whipped up. This also meant that before any belly filling could happen, there was a table to be set and juice to be poured. These were Molly’s and Fritz’s responsibilities, and the faster they were done, the faster they could dive into their dinners. 

With a ruckus similar to the sound of stampeding rhinos, Molly and Fritz came downstairs at lightning speed. Not because they were merely hungry. No, they were starving. They were ravenous. They really, really wanted to eat! Bursting into the kitchen, they found Mom and Dad finishing the dinner preparation by the stove, and Molly and Fritz got right to work completing their pre-dinner chores.

Displaying near superhuman speed, Molly and Fritz completed the pre-dinner duties and it was finally time to eat. Plopping down at the big wooden table in the dining area right beside the kitchen, Molly and Fritz breathed in the delicious smells of their upcoming feast. It was at this exact moment—with dinner no less than a moment away—that Fritz thought to ask a very important question.

Hey, Mom, he said. "What is for dinner anyway?"

Lemon and herb grilled chicken, Mom said without missing a beat. 

Woohoo! Molly and Fritz replied.

With creamy mashed potatoes, Mom continued.

Yes! Molly and Fritz chirped in unison.

And cookies & cream ice cream for dessert, Mom concluded.

This final statement brought about a roar of celebration from Molly and Fritz. If you didn’t know any better, you would think they just watched their favorite sports team make the game-winning score with two seconds left on the clock. Needless to say, they were very happy and very hungry.

But Mom wasn’t finished. She had one more thing to say, and the kids could barely hear her over their cheering. But they did hear. And when they did, all of their joy and cheers met a sudden