By the Blood of Heroes
Page 34
There were relatively slim pickings that night, for both sides in the conflict had policed their wounded and dead pretty well, removing them from the place of battle. Only those who had died somewhere between the two sides, in the region known as no-man’s-land, still lay where they had fallen.
One particularly enterprising rat wandered deep into the heart of the conflict and was rewarded with the discovery of an entire corpse trapped within a cocoon of wood and canvas. The rat stared at the corpse for some time, debating, and then moved forward on its stubby little legs to sink its teeth into the decaying flesh and feast.
No sooner had the rat gotten close enough to take a bite than the corpse came alive with a jolt, its hand snapping out, seizing the rat in its unyielding grip and squeezing until it could no longer be counted among the living.
The hand retracted back into the shadows beneath the wreckage of the brightly painted aircraft, only to be replaced by the sounds of eating a few seconds later.
Acknowledgments
Like most books, By the Blood of Heroes wouldn’t have happened without the assistance and input from a group of incredibly awesome folks, including: my terrific editor, Will Hinton, whose timely suggestions made this a better book; my marvelous agent, Joe Monti, who heard my pitch for an “alternate history series set in World War One but with steampunk and zombies!” with complete enthusiasm and who went on to make it a reality by selling it; and to my loving and ever-patient wife, Dawn, who supports my literary endeavors no matter how crazy the storyline.
And, last but certainly not least, every reader who has ever picked up one of my books with the expectation of being entertained. I hope I have lived up to my end of the bargain.
About the Author
JOSEPH NASSISE is the author of more than a dozen novels, including the internationally bestselling Templar Chronicles series (The Heretic, A Scream of Angels, A Tear in the Sky) and several books in the Rogue Angel action/adventure series from Gold Eagle. He is a former president of the Horror Writers Association, the world’s largest organization of professional horror writers, and a multiple Bram Stoker Award and International Horror Guild Award nominee.
www.josephnassise.com
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Also by Joseph Nassise
The Great Undead War
By the Blood of Heroes
The Jeremiah Hunt Chronicle
Eyes to See
The Templar Chronicles
The Heretic
A Scream of Angels
A Tear in the Sky
Infernal Games
Credits
Cover design by Richard L. Aquan
Cover illustration by Larry Rostant
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BY THE BLOOD OF HEROES. Copyright © 2012 by Joseph Nassise. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN: 978-0-06-204875-2
EPub Edition MAY 2012 ISBN: 9780062048776
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