A year passed and although she felt better about her life and her place in the world, something still nagged at her, something she couldn’t put her finger on until one day, closing up her shop a little early one afternoon, she walked down Main Street and stopped in front of Drake’s Diner, long-since closed. She stood on the sidewalk and knew exactly what she had to do.
From there, it only took a short talk with Mayor Reed before the city gave the property and building to her. She went to work, cleaning and scrubbing and getting it ready to open again. And with the help of Charlotte Johnson—who, the night of the murders, had left town after her rendezvous with Aggie and traveled to Hazard to watch a movie and stay in a hotel; her husband had come home, found her gone, and was promptly killed by the Black-Eyed Children—she got Drake’s Diner up and running again.
Every day, she and Charlotte—who worked as cook at the diner in memory of and honor to her lost love Aggie—fed the folks of Constance and any and all passersby, still playing the oldies rock and roll on Sam’s jukebox.
And as time passed, Sadie felt more at peace, the shadows and the darkness becoming a thing of the past. Until the day that the strange little man came back to town and sat on a stool at the diner and ordered a hamburger and fries.
Jacob looked much the same, if a little older and more harried. He had dark circles under his eyes and grief seemed only a blink away from consuming his face. When he sat, Sadie had been arguing with Charlotte about an order she’d taken. She turned around and there he was. She nearly dropped the plate of food she’d been carrying.
“Oh,” was all she said.
Jacob grinned. It looked good on him, if a bit out of practice. “Hello, Sadie,” he said.
She hurried the plate over to Dan Gunderson, a new resident of the area, the guy that had bought Burke’s farm and was bringing in his first crop of tobacco. He was a nice fellow and she was glad he’d moved to Constance. But he was no Burke. When she gave him his food and a smile, she returned to Jacob, a pit of fear boiling in her stomach.
“Can I take your order?” she said.
“Burger and fries,” he said. “And a diet soda. I’ve got to watch my figure.”
She stared at him. “Was that a joke?”
“I’m afraid I’m not good with humor.”
“No,” she said. She turned and gave the order to Charlotte who went to work on it with a harrumph. Getting to know Charlotte had been one of the other good things to happen to her in the time since the horrors, but there were days that she thought Charlotte was still an old biddy, and today was one of them.
Sadie looked at Jacob.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m back here,” he said. “There is no need to worry. As I said before, this place is safer than it’s ever been. There is no trouble headed your way.”
She nodded, relieved. A lump formed in her throat. She was afraid to speak.
“And I’m sure you’ve wondered why I never returned since that day,” Jacob said. “I have been pursuing the entities that escaped that night. I have, regrettably, not had much good luck in finding them. They are in hiding, biding their time to do their evil. But when I do find them, I assure you, I will put them down.”
“Order up!” Charlotte said. Her sudden cry jolted Sadie, making her jump nearly out of her skin.
“Why are you here, then?” Sadie said. “I don’t mean to be ungrateful, but…”
Jacob held up his hand. “I understand,” he said. “I wanted to come to check up on you, and I wanted to come sooner, but obligations pressed.”
“You are a lonely, sad man, Jacob,” she said. Her hand flew to her lips to push the words she’d just blurted back in, but it was too late. They just came of their own accord.
Jacob smiled and nodded. “I have a trail of ghosts that follow me, and shall follow me, all my life,” he said. “They haunt me. They are the souls of those I failed, and every night when I close my eyes, I see them.”
“I’m sorry,” Sadie said.
“Order up!” Charlotte said. Sadie spun, shot Charlotte the evil eye, grabbed the plate of food, took it down the counter to some guy that was passing through, and walked back to Jacob.
“It’s okay,” he said. “You have your ghosts, too.”
Sadie nodded.
“They are here, now,” Jacob said. “You cannot see them, but I can.”
“Don’t,” she said.
“Sam is here, standing right next to you, with a big grin on his face,” Jacob said. “He is proud of you.”
Tears rolled down Sadie’s cheeks. She couldn’t move or speak.
“And back in the kitchen, Aggie is fussing at that woman you have working here… Charlotte is her name? Yes, he’s telling her that she’s left my burger frying for too long,” Jacob said. He laughed and shook his head.
“Please,” Sadie said. “Don’t.”
“And sitting here next to me is a man named Burke. He seems like a pleasant fellow,” he said.
“Why are you doing this to me?” she said. “I put it all behind me. Now you come here and tear it all open again.”
“Because,” he said, standing to his feet. “Not all things are bad. Your friends are here, they surround you. They are happy and content, and they wanted you to know that. You see, not all the ghosts I see are full of hate and spite towards me. Some come and visit and tell me to go places, to deliver a message to those they care for.”
She trembled, her legs wobbling beneath her.
“Sam wanted me to tell you he loved you,” he said. “And that he was proud that his last moments of life were spent by your side.”
She could not stop crying.
“He is here with you, and although you cannot see him, he swore he would always be with you,” he said. “So I came to check on you, and to tell you these things, and I will pass on now. There is much work to be done still, and I have only a limited time in this world.”
Jacob reached out, took Sadie’s right hand into his, raised it to his lips, kissed the back of her hand, turned, and walked out the door.
She never saw him again.
From that moment forward, every day and night, she made it a point to speak to the ghost of Sam, even though she never saw him and never heard a word he spoke back to her.
And sometimes, every now and then, she could feel him next to her; she could smell him and touch the heat of his body, and Sadie knew that even though there was great darkness in the world, there was also much goodness.
For the rest of her days, it was the goodness she tried to dwell on.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Kelly M. Hudson is from Kentucky and currently resides in California. He has over two dozen short stories published in various anthologies, as well as the zombie novel, The Turning, which is available from Living Dead Press and on Amazon.com. If you wish to contact Kelly or find links to other stories he’s had published, please visit www.kellymhudson.com for further details.
THE WAR AGAINST THEM: A ZOMBIE NOVEL
by Jose Alfredo Vazquez
Mankind wasn't prepared for the onslaught.
An ancient organism is reanimating the dead bodies of its victims, creating worldwide chaos and panic as the disease spreads to every corner of the globe. As governments struggle to contain the disease, courageous individuals across the planet learn what it truly means to make choices as they struggle to survive.
Geopolitics meet technology in a race to save mankind from the worst threat it has ever faced. Doctors, military and soldiers from all walks of life battle to find a cure. For the dead walk, and if not stopped, they will wipe out all life on Earth. Humanity is fighting a war they cannot win, for who can overcome Death itself? Man versus the walking dead with the winner ruling the planet. Welcome to The War Against Them.
THE TURNING: A STORY OF THE LIVING DEAD
by Kelly M. Hudson
The Dead Walk!
And no place on earth is safe from their ravening hunger. Civilization falls, l
eaving groups of struggling survivors to navigate a world that has descended into Hell.
Jeff Richards is one such survivor. He and his lover Jenny flee their home in the Bay Area and take a perilous journey through Northern California into Oregon, seeking shelter in rural areas to avoid both the living dead and that most treacherous animal of all: their fellow humans.
But can a man who has lost everything, including his humanity, ever be reborn?
When the dead walk, will any of us survive?
Or will we all join the ranks of the undead to forever walk the earth.
END OF DAYS: AN APOCALYPTIC ANTHOLOGY
VOLUMES 1-3
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
Our world is a fragile place.
Meteors, famine, floods, nuclear war, solar flares, and hundreds of other calamities can plunge our small blue planet into turmoil in an instant.
What would you do if tomorrow the sun went super nova or the world was swallowed by water, submerging the world into the cold darkness of the ocean? This anthology explores some of those scenarios and plunges you into total annihilation.
But remember, it’s only a book, and tomorrow will come as it always does.
Or will it?
KINGDOM OF THE DEAD
by Anthony Giangregorio
THE DEAD HAVE RISEN!
In the dead city of Pittsburgh, two small enclaves struggle to survive, eking out an existence of hand to mouth.
But instead of working together, both groups battle for the last remaining fuel and supplies of a city filled with the living dead.
Six months after the initial outbreak, a lone helicopter arrives bearing two more survivors and a newborn baby. One enclave welcomes them, while the other schemes to steal their helicopter and escape the decaying city.
With no police, fire, or social services existing, the two will battle for dominance in the steel city of the walking dead. But when the dust settles, the question is: will the remaining humans be the winners, or the losers?
When the dead walk, the line between Heaven and Hell is so twisted and bent there is no line at all.
RISE OF THE DEAD
by Anthony Giangregorio
DEATH IS ONLY THE BEGINNING!
In less than forty-eight hours, more than half the globe was infected.
In another forty-eight, the rest would be enveloped.
The reason?
A science experiment gone horribly wrong which enabled the dead to walk, their flesh rotting on their bones even as they seek human prey.
Jeremy was an ordinary nineteen year old slacker. He partied too much and had done poorly in high school. After a night of drinking and drugs, he awoke to find the world a very different place from the one he’d left the night before.
The dead were walking and feeding on the living, and as Jeremy stepped out into a world gone mad, the dead spotting him alone and unarmed in the middle of the street,
he had to wonder if he would live long enough to see his twentieth birthday.
THE CHRONICLES OF JACK PRIMUS
BOOK ONE
by Michael D. Griffiths
Beneath the world of normalcy we all live in lies another world, one where supernatural beings exist.
These creatures of the night hunt us; want to feed on our very souls, though only a few know of their existence.
One such man is Jack Primus, who accidentally pierces the veil between this world and the next. With no other choice if he wants to live, he finds himself on the run, hunted by beings called the Xemmoni, an ancient race that sees humans as nothing but cattle. They want his soul, to feed on his very essence, and they will kill all who stand in their way. But if they thought Jack would just lie down and accept his fate, they were sorely mistaken. He didn’t ask for this battle, but he knew he would fight them with everything at his disposal, for to lose is a fate worse than death.
He would win this war, and he would take down anyone who got in his way.
ETERNAL NIGHT: A VAMPIRE ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
Blood, fangs, darkness and terror...these are the calling cards of the vampire mythos.
Inside this tome are stories that embrace vampire history but seek to introduce a new literary spin on this longstanding fictional monster. Follow a dark journey through cigarette-smoking creatures hunted by rogue angels, vampires that feed off of thoughts instead of blood, immortals presenting the fantastic in a local rock band, to a legendary monster on the far reaches of town.
Forget what you know about vampires; this anthology will destroy historical mythos and embrace incredible new twists on this celebrated, fictional character.
Welcome to a world of the undead, welcome to the world of Eternal Night.
DEAD HISTORY 2
A Zombie Anthology
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
From the dawn of mankind, the walking dead have been with us.
The greatest moments in history are not what they appear.
Through the ages, the undead have been there, only the proof has been erased, documents destroyed, and witnesses silenced.
The living dead is man’s greatest secret.
In this tome, are a few of the stories of what really happened all those years ago.
History isn’t alive, it’s dead!
INSIDE THE PERIMETER: SCAVENGERS OF THE DEAD
by Alan Spencer
In the middle of nowhere, the vestiges of an abandoned town are surrounded by inescapably high concrete barriers, permitting no trespass or escape. The town is dormant of human life, but rampant with the living dead, who choose not to eat flesh, but to instead continue their survival by cruder means.
Boyd Broman, a detective arrested and falsely imprisoned, has been transferred into the secret town. He is given an ultimatum: recapture Hayden Grubaugh, the cannibal serial killer, who has been banished to the town, in exchange for his freedom.
During Boyd’s search, he discovers why the psychotic cannibal must really be captured and the sinister secrets the dead town holds.
With no chance of escape, Broman finds himself trapped among the ravenous, violent dead. With the cannibal feeding on the animated cadavers and the undead searching for Boyd, he must fulfill his end of the deal before the rotting corpses turn him into an unwilling organ donor.
But Boyd wasn’t told that no one gets out alive, that the town is a death sentence.
For there is no escape from Inside the Perimeter.
Men of Perdition Page 26
