Serial Killer Z: Shadows

by Philip Harris

  I limped to the stern. A faint smell of burning hung in the air around the engine. After a couple of minutes of fumbling, I managed to unlock it and tilt it back. It was heavy and difficult to move. When the blades did finally come out of the water, there was indeed a piece of rope caught in them.

  The rope was wrapped tight, but eventually I managed to pry it loose. The last loop had embedded itself deep between the blades. I leaned out over the boat, digging my fingers into the mechanism to try to work it free. The blades shifted slightly, and I had the sudden realization that I probably should have disconnected the engine before putting my hands near the razor-sharp blades. Then the rope slipped free. I unwound the last coils and dropped them back into the water.

  A hand lunged out from beneath the boat and grabbed my wrist. I fell forward. My knees caught on the back of the boat. Pain reverberated through my legs. I started to tip. Crying out, I grabbed the engine. It swung around, and my grip almost slipped.

  Fingers clawed at my arm as a zombie hauled itself up and out of the water. I tried to fight it off, but its weight was threatening to drag me over the side, and I didn’t dare let go of the engine. The zombie bit down on my arm, but there was no way he’d be able to bite through the thick leather jacket.

  Using the engine for leverage, I hauled myself back onboard the boat. The zombie came with me. Pain raced up my leg, and I screamed. I punched the side of his head. At the same time, I rolled, using my momentum to twist from the thing’s clutches.

  It worked. The zombie slid back off the boat. I kicked at his head with my good foot but missed. He started to go over the back of the boat anyway. Then his hands found purchase. He dragged himself back onto the deck, landing with a heavy thump. I scrambled backward and as I did, I realized two things.

  First, the zombie was Eduardo. His face was split almost down the middle, exposing the pink muscle beneath, but the water had washed away the blood and left him recognizable.

  The second thing I noticed was that his entire lower body was missing. His waist was a mass of ripped and mangled flesh. Shreds of muscle and fat hung where his legs had been. He left a dark, bloody trail as he dragged himself toward me across the deck of his boat.

  I reached into my jacket for my toolkit, but it was wedged into the pocket. I struggled with it for a couple of seconds before giving up. Zombie Eduardo would be on me before I could get it free.

  Eduardo made a wet, gargling sound. Oily liquid flowed from his mouth. I scrambled farther away from him, pressing myself into a corner to give myself a few more seconds to think. I could jump overboard. Maybe he’d follow me. I suppressed a bitter laugh. Or maybe Eduardo had the same intellect as Monstro, and he’d simply wait for me to try to get back onto the boat.

  He crawled closer to me, clawed hands grasping for my leg. I kicked him in the face. The sudden movement sent pain streaking down my leg. I screamed. Taking a deep breath, I pulled my legs away from Eduardo and forced myself to my feet. The world spun around me. The edges of my vision began to fade. I stumbled, fell against the console, and almost collapsed. I reached into my inside pocket again and pulled on the toolkit. It started to come loose then caught.

  Eduardo groaned again.

  A wave hit the boat, and I struggled to stay upright. Clenching my teeth against the pain in my leg, I tried again to wrestle the toolkit out of my pocket. It popped free. I almost dropped it, just managing to pin it against the console.

  I flicked open the catch and lifted the lid. For an instant, I thought the scalpels were gone. Then my eyes focused, and I saw them lying there in the dark velvet. My hands shook as I removed one of them. I let the case slide off the console. It thumped onto the deck.

  Eduardo’s fingers wrapped around my leg. His mouth yawned wide. I let myself fall and slammed the scalpel into the back of his head. Bone cracked as the scalpel pierced Eduardo’s skull.

  Agony tore through my leg and this time it was too much. The world went black.

  Chapter 50

  Ocean

  I woke lying in a pool of blood. It took me a few seconds to realize it was black and belonged to Eduardo not me. His body was lying in the middle of the boat. A river of blood ran from his tattered waist to the stern. His head was pressed face first into the floor, more blood pooled around it. The silver scalpel protruded from the back of his skull.

  Rain had begun to fall, and the sky was darkening. I leaned my head back and opened my mouth. The rain was cool and refreshing. I stayed that way for a while, gathering my thoughts. I was alive, which was good. The pain in my ankle pulsed and wavered, but it was bearable. Also good. Eduardo was dead and when I checked my leg, there was no bite. Very good. I still had no supplies and no real weapons. Not good. I looked up at the console with its map. At least I had a destination.

  I counted to four, then pulled myself upright. The pain in my leg wasn’t as bad as I’d feared. I retrieved the scalpel from Eduardo’s skull, wiped it on his jacket and put it away. I considered putting the case into the boat’s storage compartment then thought better of it and slipped it back into my jacket.

  It took me a good twelve minutes to drag Eduardo’s body over the side of the boat. By the time I was finished, I was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. My leg was aching. I dry swallowed another handful of painkillers from the medical kit and hoped for the best.

  I pushed the boat’s engine back into the water then hobbled over to the pilot’s seat and sat down. I could still hear sirens in the city, but the gunfire had stopped. The power was out, and the fires had spread. The whole left side of the city was ablaze.

  A distant whump-whump-whump sound caught my attention. A bright light shone from the direction of the city, and it was getting closer. I dropped to my knees, crying out as fresh pain shot up my leg.

  A few seconds later, light washed over the boat as a helicopter swept past overhead. I peered over the side of the boat, expecting the chopper to start turning back toward me. Instead it carried on, heading west out over the ocean. Something hung from beneath the chopper, a mesh sack carrying something large and heavy, but I couldn’t see what.

  I waited until the helicopter was out of sight, then pulled myself upright. Leaning heavily against the console and fighting down the urge to throw up, I turned the ignition to the ON position. I closed my eyes, counted to four, and pressed the starter. The engine spluttered then caught. I let it run for a few minutes while I checked the map again. Then I pushed forward on the throttle and set off toward my new home, the city burning in the distance behind me.

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  Thank You

  Thanks for reading Serial Killer Z: Shadows. I hope you enjoyed the book.

  This is the third novel in the Marcus Black series and my favorite so far. When I started writing these books, I didn’t know that Cali was going to play such an important role. The third book was intended to be quite different, but when I reached the end of Sanctuary and Marcus discovered the message written on the wall in his cave, I realized the story was going in a different direction. It happens like that sometimes. The stories take on a life of their own, and the ideas just start tumbling onto the page. It’s one of the things I love about writing.

  Sometimes those ideas come from other people. My editor, Jessica West, made a comment about one of the later scenes that resulted in a brand-new chapter that had me chuckling madly to myself. It’s just one of the ways Jessica made this book better, and I am eternally grateful for her input.

  Often those sparks of inspiration come from readers. One of my advance readers, Evette, made a comment about the first book that immediately woke up my muse and sent me off down a new and exciting path. The first hints of that idea are sprinkled here and there in the book you just read, but the seeds are sown for future books.


  That original third book I mentioned? It’s called Dead Isle and it will be released next year. It starts right where Shadows left off, with Marcus in the boat, trying to find a new home. If you’d like to know when it’s available (and get it for a discounted price), you can sign up for my newsletter by clicking here - http://smarturl.it/SKZ3Newsletter. I’ll also send you a free copy of the prequel to Serial Killer Z, Infection. Subscribers get discounted and free books, behind-the-scenes extras, and all sorts of other goodies.

  If you enjoyed Shadows (or even if you didn’t), I’d really appreciate a review on whichever site you bought it from. Those reviews make it easier for readers to find books they’ll enjoy and enable me to continue writing.

  Thanks again for reading.

  Philip Harris

  19 November 2017

  About the Author

  Philip Harris is a speculative fiction author and video game developer. Originally born near Oxford, England, he now lives on the West Coast of Canada where he spends his days developing video games and his nights writing speculative fiction—anything from horror to science fiction to fantasy.

  His first publication, Letter From a Victim, appeared in the award-winning magazine, Peeping Tom, in 1995. His published books include The Leah King Trilogy and an homage to the old pulp science fiction serials—Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet.

  His short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies and magazines including The Jurassic Chronicles, Tales from the Canyons of the Damned, Bones, Uncommon Minds, and The Anthology of European SF.

  He has also worked as security for Darth Vader.

  For up-to-date information on new releases, free ebooks, and other exclusive extras, please sign up to the mailing list at http://smarturl.it/SKZ3About.

  www.solitarymindset.com

  philip.harris@solitarymindset.com

  Also by Philip Harris

  Serial Killer Z

  Infection (Prequel)

  Serial Killer Z

  Serial Killer Z: Sanctuary

  Serial Killer Z: Shadows

  The Leah King Trilogy

  The Leah King Trilogy Box Set

  The Girl in the City

  The Girl in the Wilderness

  The Girl in the Machine

  Other Novels

  Glitch Mitchell and the Unseen Planet

  Short Stories

  Bottled Lightning

  Curfew

  Serial Killer Z: Shadows

  by Philip Harris

  Copyright © 2017 by Philip Harris

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author or publisher.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living, dead, or undead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN (Print) 978-1-988968-06-3

  ISBN (Ebook) 978-1-988968-07-0

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  Cover design by Bookfly Design

  Edited by Jessica West

  Proofreading by Pikko’s House