Read Online Erik Handy by Hell of the Dead - Free Book Online Page B

another man who didn't care.
    The constable straightened to attention when the two approached him.
    "That's one unnecessary tragedy ended," Raymond said, more to Jacoby than anyone else. "You can thank me for cleaning up your mess by tendering your resignation when we get back to town."
    You bastard, Jacoby thought. He was about to argue --
    "Captain!" yelled one soldier. All eyes were on him as he pointed to the border of the village. They followed his arm, finger, and saw --
    The first zombie cleared the dark jungle. Just behind him, the others.
    They should have been nothing but decayed matter, but the magic driving them forth gave them a stronger form, better to break their targets! The living didn't know any of this. All they could fathom was that these strangers were . . . wrong . 
    The villagers tried to run, but the half-distracted soldiers managed to keep them at bay. A few villagers thought the newcomers looked familiar.
    Nolan stepped beside the just-as-beguiled Raymond. "Who are they?" the priest asked.
    The zombies were closer, but still far off.
    One of the village women stepped away from her group and pointed at the other villagers. She started to laugh as if she'd lost her mind. "You're dead!" she shouted at them. "You're all dead!" She then made out what had to be her brother -- her dead brother -- and she realized in that horrible moment that she would die, too.
    The villagers were becoming visibly uneasy and agitated. These pale strangers weren't exactly strangers after all. They were family, neighbors, victims. Those guilty of wronging these unfortunate souls, dooming them in one way or another, felt their hearts drop into their stomachs. The bloody past had caught up with them.
    The soldiers looked at one another, wondering what was going on and what would happen next.
    Jacoby edged toward a jeep. No one paid attention to him.
    The zombies advanced slowly --
    -- then --
    -- without warning --
    -- sprinted to their human targets, the villagers.
    At first.

Chapter 33
    The soldiers formed a line between the strange intruders and the villagers. They raised their guns, ready to fire at the newcomers.
    "Hold!" Raymond ordered.
    The zombies were a few yards from the line.
    The soldiers stood steady, nervous.
    THUD. THUD.
    From behind, some of the villagers threw rocks at the backs of the soldiers and the oncoming zombies. The soldiers turned to retaliate just as the zombies swept through their line.
    For the most part, the zombies ignored the soldiers. Their targets were the villagers.
    One of the soldiers, bombarded by rocks by one side and zombie on the other, fired a shot.
    True Hell now broke loose.
    The zombies were upon the villagers just as the first bullet hit the back of the head of one of the undead. The bullet sunk into the thing's skull. The impact didn't slow the thing down.
    Bullets slammed into the zombies to no effect. This gradually dawned on, and dismayed, the soldiers.
    Undeterred, the zombies continued their rampage.
    The male villagers tried to fight off the new army with stones and bare hands, but the zombies would not quit. The female villagers joined in on defending their men and themselves by laying into the zombies with rocks and soft fists.
    A villager lost his eyes as a zombie -- his neighbor he killed after bedding the man's wife -- raked at his face. Another villager went down under the weight of two zombies -- his two sisters he raped and murdered -- digging into his flesh.
    Although the zombies numbered ten and the villagers and soldiers combined outnumbered them, the zombie remained steadfast in their mission. The zombies who had gotten the upperhand on their victims clawed and pulled at their victims' faces and throats.
    A soldier tried to pry one off a villager, but the zombie knocked him away, paused, and then thought.
    The zombie then turned on the soldier.
    As if telepathically connected, his brethren split their focus on the villagers and the soldiers.
    No one was safe.