6teen: Dude of the Living Dead

6teen: Dude of the Living Dead is the first hour-long special of 6teen. It is the last episode of the first season. It first aired in Canada on October 27, 2005 and in the United States on October 23, 2008. Something strange is going on in the mall. Everyone has a sickly grey pallor, is moving slowly, has bad teeth, and smells horrible. It's almost as if the dead have started walking around...

Plot
Jude is napping on the job at Stick It when he is suddenly awoken by Coach Halder, who is in the mood for a spicy chicken stick-it. Jude is leery of selling one to Coach Halder, as the sauce has melted the spoon, but when Coach Halder insists, Jude hands over a stick-it. He is immediately rewarded when Coach Halder bites into it and goes into convulsions due to how spicy the food is. These convulsions end with Coach Halder breathing fire; however, he's alright as soon as the fire sets off the water sprinklers by Stick It, and he pops up, asking to get two more stick-its. Jude happily obliges, saying that they're on the house due to the amazing show Coach Halder put on.

Later on, Jude meets his friends over by the Big Squeeze, where he prepares to nap. However, before he can settle in, he sees an ominous figure in the distance. When he tries to show the figure to his friends, however, there's nothing there, leading the group to conclude that he needs to get more sleep rather than staying up until 4 A.M. to watch B-movie marathons. A discussion ensues, but is broken up when Jen arrives with a giant zit in the middle of her forehead. Jen tries to play it off, but the size of it makes her unable to do so. It's about then when an ashen-faced Tricia arrives, demanding service with grunts and groans. Caitlin gives her a lemonade, but Tricia leaves without paying, leaving Caitlin to remark to her boyfriend that her former friend really needs a spray-on tan.

Her boyfriend has to get going, though, so he takes off. At that moment, Starr catches Jude's attention while rollerblading through the food court–right up until she runs directly into a lamp post. Jude's response is to wave back at her, much to the disappointment of his friends, who think that he should go talk to her rather than letting her come to him. However, this conversation is once again short-lived, as Jonesy brings up his new job at Not Quite Naked, whose main attraction is a peephole in a certain changing stall.

Soon enough, everyone goes to work, and while at the lingerie store Jonesy decides it would be a good idea to call Wyatt and talk to him while peeping. Wyatt agrees to do so when Jonesy rationalizes it by saying that Wyatt can act as a guard to make sure he doesn't cross too many lines. Wyatt, already on the verge of giving in, agrees to this idea, not noticing what's happening behind them: Serena comes up behind Chad and bites him. He does notice when Chad falls over, however, and rushes over to make sure that Chad is okay. When the only response he gets from Chad and Serena are grunts, he accepts that Chad is probably alright, and decides to take another break.

As usual, Wyatt decides to go to the lemon on his break, but when he gets there he finds that Caitlin has gone elsewhere. Jonesy is waiting for him, however, and has an alternate suggestion: go to Wonder Taco for lunch. Wyatt thinks that this is a good idea, and they head over only to find that Wonder Taco is deserted–that is, until Julie appears out of nowhere, startling them both. They soon get over their shock, however, and Jonesy orders a taco for each of them. Julie swiftly hands the food over, but leaves her thumb in Wyatt's taco. The duo don't notice the thumb until they're several feet away from the taco shop, but once they do, they realize that something is horribly wrong.

While Jonesy and Wyatt deal with their taco problems, Jude and Jen have their issues at work. Jen is dealing with Coach Halder pointing out her zit every chance he gets, while Caitlin is no help, choosing to spend her time talking about how perfect Talon is. Jude, meanwhile, is goofing off again–until a cowboy comes up to Stick It and begins strangling him. In response, Jude offers the cowboy an extra-spicy stick-it, which leads the cowboy to collapse in front of the store from the scent but thankfully stop strangling Jude.

Jonesy, meanwhile, has returned to work, and is in the middle of peeping on a beautiful blonde while talking to his friends when his entertainment is interrupted. The culprit is an angry, grey-pallored Stuart Goldstein, who breaks into the blonde girl's changing room and proceeds to attack her. This frightens Jonesy, drawing Goldstein's attention, and the pharmacist then tries to break into Jonesy's changing room by going through the wall. Luckily for Jonesy, his cries of fear are heard by Jude and Wyatt, who rush over to Not Quite Naked in order to help their friend. When they get there, they fight off Stuart Goldstein and use a bra to temporarily keep him tied down before running out of the store with a single conclusion: they have to tell the girls about this.

However, Nikki has already come to the conclusion that she's surrounded by zombies. In this case, it's not just her usual snark about the shoppers at the Khaki Barn; rather, it's the fact that the shoppers are acting like literal zombies, to such an extent that even the Clones have noticed. Despite her misgivings, however, when she calls Jen, her sporty friend just brushes her off. After all, Jen's biggest problem is her pimple–until Coach Halder as a zombie tries to attack. She fights him off and stuffs him into the penalty box, but realizes she has to find help and leaves the Penalty Box behind.

Jen runs into the boys, but zombifications are now happening all around in less and less subtle manners. Even as they walk, Pokey the Panda gets zombified by three children. However, the Khaki Barn is right around the corner, and rescuing Nikki is now their main objective. When they arrive, they work their way past the zombies, hiding whenever possible, until they reach the change room Nikki usually hides in. When they open the door, however, Nikki screams in fear until she realizes who they are. At that point, they start to make their way out of the store, but Jude remembers that the Clones are still trapped inside. Thinking quickly, Jonesy distracts the zombies and leads them towards him so that the others can get the Clones out.

Once outside the store, the group seeks shelter from the zombies. While hiding behind a stand, they contemplate what might have happened, and settle on Jude's conclusion: a zombie outbreak. However, before they can figure out exactly what to do to deal with the zombies, they realize that there's a very big problem facing them: Caitlin isn't with the group.

The group decides to try and find Caitlin by checking her favorite haunts. However, she's not in the lemon (which some zombies have begun rolling), at Albatross & Finch, or by the photo booth. Wyatt soon remembers that this afternoon she had a date to go to the movies with Talon, and that is indeed where she is. Unfortunately, while getting popcorn, Talon had his hand bitten by a little kid. As the movie starts to play, Talon turns into a zombie, but when he turns to bite Caitlin, he gets gum stuffed into his mouth to cure his rancid breath. While Talon chews, the rest of the group shows up in the Gigantoplex, and they get Caitlin to leave with them.

The group makes their way to the food court, where they are confronted by Darth. When the group confirms that they are human, Darth allows them entry, and informs them that the zombies headed for the south end of the mall a while ago. The group knows that the zombies will return, however, and when Darth suggests they go to Stereo Shack to check the news, everyone thinks it's a good idea. The only problem is that the electronics shop is on the other side of the mall, so it seems like it will be a hard journey, and when Zombie Chad shows up, it seems like it may soon be the end.

That is, until an arm reaches out from behind a corner, grabs the zombie, and dismembers it. The owner of the arm then steps out, revealing himself as Ron the Rent-a-Cop. After the group proves that they aren't zombies, they discuss what's happened while Caitlin heads to the bathroom. Ron reveals that he's put the mall in lockdown, and just as he points this out, Caitlin comes back, dragging Talon with her. To protect herself from injury, she's taped over Talon's mouth and put mittens on his hands. Her friends try to convince her that Talon is dead, but Caitlin refuses to hear it, and states that she's found out that zombies like jujubes. To prove it, she tells Talon to sit; when he does so, she peels off the tape on his mouth and throws a jujube in. Unfortunately, while the tape is peeled off, Talon lets out a roar, attracting the attention of every zombie in the mall and leading them to the survivors' location.

The group notices this and runs for an elevator. When it finally lets them board, they ride up to the upper level that most of the zombies just vacated. From there, the group makes its way to Stereo Shack, where Ron orders Jen to get them weapons from the Penalty Box and orders Darth to open the doors. Jen quickly comes back with the weapons, and the group enters–all except Talon, whom Ron holds back until Caitlin reluctantly allows him to shut out her zombie boyfriend before the rest of the zombies arrive. Talon tries to reach in to Caitlin, but gets his arm severed when the security gate shuts on it.

With the store secured, Darth switches on a television to a news program. The program reveals that the mall has been infected with zombies. It's at this moment that things get worse, as Kristen has begun to turn into a zombie. The reason for this is not a bite, but rather a scratch from a zombie. To make matters worse, the lights go out.

As the survivors huddle in Stereo Shack, Nikki notices that Caitlin is clutching Talon's severed arm. Caitlin justifies this somewhat macabre behavior, however, by saying that it's helping her survive Phase 1 of a breakup: the "eat everything in sight" phase. This reminds Ron to check for rations, and soon enough the rations are put under the guardianship of Jude, who passes the time by playing a video game that Darth bribes him with.

Meanwhile, Kristen completely turns and bites Chrissy, causing Kirsten to demand she be bitten as well. In response, the remaining survivors do the only thing they can and lock the Clones in the back room of the store. However, while the survivors are distracted by this situation, the zombies manage to force a hole in the door right next to the rations. The only thing the group members can do at this point is watch the zombies eat their food–including Jude's pocketed stick-its, which cause the three zombies who try them to fall over.

In response, the group forms a desperate plan: get to the breakers and turn on the power in the mall. There will be two teams: away team and base team. The base team ends up being comprised of Jen, Caitlin, Darth, and Jude, while the away team is made up of Ron, Jonesy, Nikki, and Wyatt. The base team will communicate with the away team through walkie-talkies, while the away team will use Ron's cart to get to their objective faster.

The away team doesn't get far. When they're only about halfway to their destination, Ron's security cart breaks down. This leaves the away team stranded, with zombies coming for them. Taking stock of the situation, Ron concludes that there's only one solution: a sacrifice. He hands his keys to the three teenagers, tells them to run to his office (as there is a breaker in there), and then fights off the zombies as best he can while the trio of away team survivors run for his office.

Once they find the right keys, the three survivors manage to slip inside and flip the breaker. However, turning on the power does more than just turn on the lights: it also turns on the security cameras and the monitors in Ron's office, revealing the full extent of the zombie outbreak throughout the mall. This worries the away team; however, the home team has problems of their own. The zombie hordes have gathered around Stereo Shack, and are on the verge of breaking in. It's at that moment that a news bulletin comes on the TV: the city has managed to quarantine the zombies inside the mall, but at the cost of sacrificing the entire mall, as anyone still trapped inside will likely die. However, the bulletin has one piece of crucial information for any survivors who might be watching–

Before the newscaster gets to deliver the information, however, he gets cut off. Jude has cut through the cord of the television set with Darth's lightsaber. Seeing this, everyone yells at him, but Jude is distracted by something he's just noticed: the dead zombies around his stick-its. Slowly, a realization begins to take shape in his head. As soon as this realization comes to fruition, an update from the away team comes through the walkie-talkie: the only survivor left is Starr, who is hiding on top of Vegan Island. As soon as he hears this, a steely glint enters Jude's eyes, and he calls Starr on his cell phone to tell her that she won't be getting eaten.

As soon as he hangs up, the Clones break out of the back room, but he beats them back with his skateboard and then gives a rousing speech to the gathered group, concluding by saying that his insanely-hot hot sauce is lethal to zombies. He then outlines the plan: Jonesy, Wyatt, and Nikki will get the zombies to come to Stick It by announcing a huge sale, and then both groups will meet at Stick It to brew a bunch of hot sauce and use it to mow down zombies. In order to move about the mall, they'll use the air vents in the ceiling.

The first part of the plan goes off without a hitch, but the second part–getting to Stick It–does not. The zombies break into Stereo Shack just after Jonesy's announcement gets broadcasted, and the group barely makes it out alive–and then, only because Darth stayed back and sacrificed himself to the zombies. The away team likewise has some trouble getting out because the zombies break in, but all three make it out alive.

The survivors have now been whittled down to seven: Caitlin, Jen, Jonesy, Jude, Nikki, Wyatt, and a stranded Starr. The six that are together then split up again to get necessary supplies, except for Jude, who goes off to rescue Starr. He does this by lowering a rope from an air vent directly above the peak of Vegan Island, barely rescuing her from the rising tide of zombies. Soon, though, all seven find themselves at Stick It, with hot sauce brewed and squirt guns ready.

One of the soldiers is not ready, however. Caitlin is still broken up about Talon. However, Nikki is able to talk her back into action by turning Talon's zombification into psychological ammunition for Caitlin to use in the fight. This rares Caitlin up to fight, and the seven begin mowing down zombies as soon as they arrive. They manage to finish all of them off just as they run out of ammunition, but this isn't the end of the road. It seems that the zombies they killed were only the first wave, and the second wave is attacking them while they're defenseless. With nowhere to turn, Jude asks Starr for a kiss goodbye. As he's receiving it, a zombified Jen rises up, raises her fingers to her pimple, and pops it all over Jude and Starr, causing Jude to puke in Starr's mouth again.

Suddenly, Jude wakes up. A television in his room is on, and states that the channel he was watching has wrapped up its' 24-Hour Monster Movie Marathon. Jude chuckles, remembering the dream he just had, and then collapses onto his bed, exhausted.

The next day, when he comes to the mall, Nikki remarks upon his exhausted state, remarking that he looks like the living dead. Jude is shocked by this turn of phrase, but his attention is soon distracted, as Starr runs into a lamppost while waving to him. However, this time around, he goes over to her, helps her up, and asks her out. Starr agrees to go out with him, and Jude returns to the table, where Jonesy hi-fives him. However, at that moment, he hears a slurping behind him, and turns around to find Jen...with a humongous zit on her forehead, just like in his dream.

Quotes
Coach Halder: Give it to me, sissy boy! Jude: I've never seen one that huge before! Jen: It's not that big. Jonesy: Dude, it's big. Jonesy: I'm not gonna see anything I haven't seen before. Wyatt: Cleverly rationalized. I guess as long as you tell me everything, I'll be able to let you know if you'll be going over the line. Jonesy: They do. They just almost never hire guys to work there. Wyatt: So how'd you get a job? Jonesy: I told them I was gay. Wyatt: It's okay, we're gay. (Jude's eyes bulge.) I'll explain later. Kristen: They're pastier, too. Kirsten: And they're not really paying. Nikki: You wear your pants way too high. Caitlin: It's not just anyone's arm! It's Talon's arm! Nikki: You mean like, alive? Kirsten: Yeah! Alive, and out of the loop! Jen: No! Even zombies are grossed out by my zit! Caitlin: And I'm gonna die single!
 * Jude: You sure about this? It's pretty hot.
 * Jen: Whatever. It's just a little zit.
 * Wyatt: Jonesy, this is insane! You can't do this!
 * Wyatt: So if everybody knows about the peephole in the change room, why don't all guys apply there?
 * Coach Halder: Hey Dobbs! Check this out! This is the MVP of zits, right here!
 * Manager: Hey, you can't go in there!
 * Chrissy: Have you noticed the customers are pushier today?
 * Ron: Prove you're not zombies. Say something.
 * Jen: (in the elevator) Good song.
 * Caitlin: I can't believe it! I finally find the perfect guy, and he's a zombie!
 * Nikki: Wait a minute...is that an arm you're holding?
 * Kirsten: No fair! You guys are going to be undead, and I'll be all un-un-dead!
 * Old man: We may be slow but we're not dead yet, buddy boy!
 * Caitlin: Are you okay?
 * Jen: Great! I'm gonna die with the world's biggest zit!
 * Starr: Hi Jude. How's it goi– (She skates into a pole.)

Trivia
Reason for firing: During the dream, he wasn't fired because of the mall being overrun with zombies. However, in real time, he never worked at the store. Reason for break-up: During Jude's dream, he was turned into a zombie and he stood her up after he asked Caitlin to prom.
 * Jonesy's job: Not Quite Naked
 * Caitlin's boyfriend: Talon

Errors

 * As the zombies near the survivor's following Talon's call, they run and Caitlin doesn't place the tape on his mouth. While they're inside the elevator, Talon's mouth is taped shut.
 * Talon loses his left arm as a store gate severs it, revealing to be his left arm. When Caitlin later spoke to him, his right arm was missing. During the Stick-It siege, Talon's right arm was still missing.
 * Before the zombie attack at Stick-It, Caitlin has mascara on her face while crying over her boyfriend Talon. A few scenes later, the mascara on her face is gone.
 * The Cowboy is seen among the first wave of zombies at Stick-It. However, after the first wave is defeated by Jude's Stick-It sauce, the Cowboy is seen in the second wave of zombies, appearing to be unharmed.

Episode connections

 * This episode, next to "Snow Job", is an hour-long episode.
 * A flashback is shown in this episode of Ron the Rent-a-Cop in Vietnam as a soldier. This is the second time one of his flashbacks is shown in the series; he flashes back for the first time in "The Swami."

Cultural references

 * A caricature of the late Michael Jackson can be seen amongst the zombie crowd in two scenes. He is also seen wearing an outfit based on his appearance in the music video for the song Thriller.
 * Something that may have influenced the ending is the movie "Nightmare on Elm Street". In the movie, time is reset to the day on which the movie started. Once again, some of the same things happen (although things quickly go wrong in the movie).
 * The scene where the gang recite a long list of things they hate about zombies is a reference to a similar scene in "Do the Right Thing".
 * Ron yelling "FREEDOM!" references Braveheart.