The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel (25 page)

* * *

Hellion knelt down next to the bushes and waved for the crowd of men behind her to do the same. She kept her eyes on the distant flicker of light in the forest
emanating
from the zombie village. Dressed in all black like the others in the group, Pink crawled up to her in the darkness and whispered, "This still doesn't seem like a good idea.
I have
got a real bad feeling about this one. It's not too late to turn around and go back to the city."

"These Second Lifers are our best chance to prove they deserve equal treatment. The spoon
fed media is making it sound like the military attack the other night was their fault. This colony has lived out here for years without a single incident of ever attacking anyone. These are the peaceful beings and we need them to understand
that
not all of the humans want to fight. If we make this gesture, they will understand
,
we are here to help them and we can show our close
-
minded society how we can all live together."

A young man wearing a black knit hat and dark shirt jogged up to the group from the road. Hellion cautiously stood up to talk him. Scanning the ranks of her group, she asked, "What did you find?"

Trying to catch his breath, he said, "They don't have any guards, fences or barriers to their town. We can walk right in."

She stepped out onto the road and motioned for the others to stand. "We're going in
,
boys. Remember, stick to the plan. Hand out the flowers and try not to show fear. They need to know we are here to help. If you have the opportunity, try giving them a hug."

Hellion led the group of activists down the road to the large
Cottonwood
trees
,
which acted as the front entrance to the zombie village. In the forest, a few small fires lit up small patches of darkness
,
showing glimpses of the primitive dwellings, the undead had built. Occasional silhouettes staggered on the edge of the light, only to disappear back into the darkness
quickly
. Even though she told her people to remain calm, she had a hard time controlling the fear which pulsed through her body. From the darkness, she could hear a low moan
,
which intensified her trembling. Waving her hand forward, she led her people off the road and into the dark forest.

As she approached the first primitive hut, she could hear staggered footsteps from the blackness around her, crunching the dried leaves and sticks on the ground. The low toned moaning of the undead built up
,
causing her to clench down on the flowers in her hand.  Hellion swallowed hard and with a slight bit of tremor in her voice, she said, "Okay folks, here we go. As the Second Lifers approach, smile and hand them a flower."

A
gray-skinned
zombie, wearing a decayed brown suit and tie, swagge
re
d into the flickering firelight. The right half of its leathery
scarred
face had decomposed all the way to the skull. It raised one arm out toward her and moaned as it slowly approached.
Footsteps
and
groans
from more living dead increased from the darkness
,
telling her she had been surrounded. Hellion held out a flower and said, "We bring you a message of peace and love. Our mission is to end this war and allow our people to live together with tranquility."

The gray skin closed the distance between
them, reached past her gift,
and grabbed her hair. Pulling her head toward its face, the zombie opened its mouth wide
,
ready to
bite
off her flesh. Dropping the flowers on the ground, she thrust the palm of her hand into the chest of her attacker. Her hand plunged through the brittle chest cavity into the dried lungs of the undead. Retracting her hand from its body, she tried to shake off the dried crumbles of organ tissue. While the zombie still tried to bite her face, she threw an elbow into its head and dislocated its lower jaw. Pulling herself away from the Gray Skin, she heard the screams of her people
,
mixed with the loud moans from the undead
,
resonating
from the darkness. Many of the men and women called out for help
,
but their words quickly turned to cries of agony.

Hellion turned to run
,
but another Gray Skin grabbed her arm. As she kicked, screamed and fought to get away, several more of the living dead, materialized from the darkness, and latched onto her shoulders and legs. Frantically convulsing her body to get free, she saw one of her men fall into the ring of light from a nearby fire. He had six zombies on top of him, ripping off pieces of flesh from his still living body. They bit into his shoulders, arms and legs
,
feasting on his muscles
,
as his clothes became saturated with blood. His battle tapered off until he no longer had enough life to continue the fight. The undead fed off him like lions on a fresh kill.

The sight of her friend being eaten alive
,
made her fight with more
intensity,
but the large number of zombies had her confined as she screamed for help. Her pleas only merged into the darkness with the cries of her people who were in the same dire circumstance. She could no longer pull her arms and legs free
as she felt the rough skin and sharp pieces of bone clench down all over her body. Thrown off balance and pushed to the ground, she felt her clothes being torn off and the boney fingers of her attackers
scraping
at her skin. Her struggle and cries for help ended when she felt teeth bite into her shoulder and tear out a small chunk of her muscle. She knew there would no longer be any hope of surviving.

A zombie
,
engulfed in flames, fell on top of Hellion and her assailants. The undead pushed their flaming member off
and
the fire spread to several of them. Free from her
aggressors
, Hellion
remained
on the ground, as she stared at the stars above
her,
no longer trying to escape from the horde.

Pink landed on one knee next to her and pulled her friend's arm. "Come on! We need to get out of here."

While continuing to stare at the night sky, Hellion said, "I'm dead. They've already contaminated me. Even if I get away, I'm still turning into one of them. You need to get away from me before I turn." She rotated her head to see her friend. "You need to run. It's important you live and tell the others what happened. Tell them we were wrong."

One of the men from the group grabbed Pink's arm and said, "Come on! We need to run now!"

Four Turkey Vultures hobbled on the marble floor of the former city library and scattered the flock of Ravens already scavenging the area.
Dispersed
throughout the building,
gray-skinned
zombies mixed with less decayed undead
,
as they paced on their never ending walk. Patches of sun streaming through the broken windows highlighted the various colors of
decomposition
in their skin. Their frayed clothing showed fashion styles going back for several decades. It didn't
matter,
if the body was a gray skin or a newly deceased, the living dead viewed each other as how they appeared during their life.

In the meeting room, Prometheus spoke with Nemi, Greg,
Constance
and Midnight. Pointing to the new arrival, he said, "The fair Midnight can be of the upmost value to our clan and our overall cause."

Nemi asked, "How can she be so valuable as to warrant the use of assigned body guards? Our appointed leaders do not have such a luxury."

"Her gift to the descendants can be used to our advantage. She can see the disease in the bodies of the living."

"I still don't see how that is of any benefit to us." Greg asked as he shifted his sword on his hip.

Prometheus motioned to Constance
, who
continued the explanation, "Princess Rachel and I have spoken with many of the newly arrived moderns. They tell us the livings are working on a potion, which will kill us
,
if we bite into their flesh. If we are to continue feeding to release our gifts, our new sister will be beneficial to our survival
,
if she can see if into the livings
that
carry this plague. We will lessen the risk of biting into
flesh,
which can
vanquish
our souls from the world without passing our strings of life."

John from
Las Vegas
ran into the room wearing a dirty and torn wedding dress. With panic in his voice, he announced, "Captain Bartholomew and Captain Quinlan have come under attack on the perimeter. It's a big strike with helicopters and heavy armor. They need all of us to hold the line."

As Greg ran out of the room, he said, "Prometheus, you gather all in this building. I will round up those in the streets. We will rendezvous at the perimeter."

* * *

Smoke canisters covered the block in a cloud of haze. Helicopters fired rockets into the buildings. The resulting fireballs blew large holes in the structures and rained glass and concrete down on the streets below. Rocket powered grenades
,
fired from various locations on the ground
,
sent the flying machines into blazing wrecks. Living soldiers wearing gasmasks fought in hand-to-hand combat with the small army of undead. Several light armored vehicles shot streams of flames from their gun barrels across the waves of
gray-skinned
zombies
,
turning them into walking
firebombs
.

Prometheus led a large group from the library towards the battle. They quickly joined in killing the humans by thrusting long pikes into their attacker's chests. As each living soldier fell,
the undead swarmed them and
fed off their bodies. Making his way through the chaos, Prometheus met up with Captain Bartholomew
,
who fought off a non-stop stream of human military. He wielded his sword with ease
,
thrusting and slashing his aggressors
,
making each move a lethal blow. Patricia fought next to him with the same artistic skill in swinging her long blade. The two pirates made the fight look more like a dance than a deadly defense. The humans appeared clumsy and out of their league when it came to fighting master swordsman. While thrusting her blade into a soldier, Patricia said, "It's like these men have never fought with a sword before. They have no ability to counter some of the most basic attacks. They don't even know how to place their feet when thrusting or deflecting."