The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel

by Michael Wallace

  Rainart, who wore a blaze orange hunting vest over a brown t-shirt with a shotgun hole blasted through his chest, stepped up to the table and explained, "Many of our clans across this land and those beyond the great sea have been eliminated. The livings have come up with a potion which will eliminate our souls from these bodies and send them on to another world." He looked at the large wound in his chest. "I guess they will be killing us more dead than we already are in this world. We have heard from many of our brother clans their numbers are no longer on the increase. In some areas the returned souls have been eliminated entirely and the humans have reclaimed their land once occupied by re-ans.”

  Patricia replied, "But this may not be such a bad situation as it be our purpose to help our descendants survive, not eliminate them. This increase in population must mean they are no longer dying from the Omega plague."

  Isaiah interjected, "Their deaths from the Omega virus continue to rise. Our numbers are declining because if we try to feed on livings, who have ingested this potion, our soul will leave this body in a most painful way. We have watched many of our brothers regain the ability to feel pain only to experience the most torturous suffering imaginable. It is giving the livings the opportunity to collect more soldiers and build their armies up to greater numbers."

  Bartholomew pointed to the city map stretched out on the table. The area in the city, which they occupied, had been circled. “Aye, me men, tell me the living soldiers have pushed their ranks all the way up to this river. They be having more troops and more machines which belch out the black smoke and make the ground rumble.” He pointed to an area north of the train station. “Over here, they have spotted two of those demon dragons the moderns call tanks. With our armory in short supply, we will have hard luck storming those beasts with mere side arms and swords. It be more fierce an opponent than any Spanish man-o-war I ever done battle with on da sea.”

  Greg polished the blade of his sword with a scrap of leather while scanning the map and said, “Clan Titus, led by the warrior woman Hellion, still has a good supply of modern munitions. Many of their weapons can cause great damage to these beasts. We used many of these to bring down the metal flying dragons. I have not seen any in the air for many days and nights. It may be possible we have hunted them into extinction which only benefits both or our clans. Perhaps we can talk to Hellion and make some kind of trade.”

  “Ever since that she devil took to be leader of that village, they are no longer interested in siding with the likes of us.” Bartholomew replied.

  “The only way we be getting weapons from their clan would be to take them in battle.” Patricia said as she placed her hand on the pommel of her sword.

  Greg checked the faces of those at the table. “I do not wish to fight against our brothers even if they disagree with our purpose for this world. We must find another way to defend ourselves against these metal wyverns.”

  An explosion across the street rocked the library and sent glass and debris flying across the room. Those in attendance, staggered and tried to keep their balance as a cloud of dust and smoke rolled through the building. A gray skin zombie ran into the room and announced from the doorway, “The heavy dragons are here and they are belching out the fire and thunder.”

  As another explosion shook the ground from just outside the entrance to the building, Vic ran toward the door carrying bottles filled with gasoline and rags protruding from the tops. “Follow me my friends, I’ll show you how we fight these bastards.”

  Captain Bartholomew followed behind the man from Chicago and asked, "How we be fighting these dragons with these little lanterns?"

  "Trust me these will work. It's how the Russian people fought off German tanks during World War II."

  In the bright sun, outside the library, an M1 Abrams tank sat one block down the street and rotated it’s turret toward the library. The gray colored heavy machinery had been completely blanketed with living dead like ants on sugar. They all tried with no success to stop the enormous piece of metal pounding it with axes and clubs. The side streets filled with so many undead trying to join the fight, it looked like a parade.

  Vic used a cigarette lighter to light the end of a Molotov cocktail and ran toward the vehicle. With a massive muzzle flash, the huge cannon fired a round, which penetrated the second floor of the library and detonated inside spraying glass and concrete down on the street and adding to the brown dust and smoke cloud enveloping the battle scene. Vic continued his charge, as an explosion on the street corner, immediately followed the second muzzle flash, where Vic had recently stood. As the smoke cleared, only a small crater remained.

  A line of soldiers brandishing flamethrowers moved in front of the tank, laying down a wall of fire torching the hundreds of zombies who tried to surround the living army. Bartholomew grabbed Prometheus’ arm and said, “Come me friend. This battle be already lost. We must pull our crew back to the underground bunker so we may continue our fight another time.”

  * * *

  In an abandon high school surrounded by sandbag bunkers and patrolling soldiers keeping watch, Daniel closed up his laptop and stuffed it into an olive green military rucksack. The sound of diesel generators chugged in the background. Heavy electrical cables ran across the floor to all the equipment like black vines on the jungle floor. The only computer in the room was constructed from scavenged electronics. The monitor consisted of a laptop screen connected to an old smart phone as the processor and memory storage. Most of the glass test tubes and beakers had been replaced with plastic water bottles and pieces of scrap metal pounded into the shape of cups and bowls.

  At the opposite end of the makeshift, primitive lab, three re-ans stood inside tight vertical steel cages. The bars were made from welded re-bar with rust spots showing signs of age and wear. Even though there was no room for them to move, their hands and legs had been chained to the ground with heavy metal riveted restraints and with leatherhead straps immobilizing them. The way Daniel and Lisa argued over the hiss and screeches of their prisoners, they had become immune the sounds.

  Lisa placed several ampules of vaccine into a padded case taking extreme care of the valuable contents almost as if she handled nitroglycerin. “You can’t leave the project at this point especially after all we have done to get here. We still have distribution logistics and follow up with the other cities. The military is going to fly us to Germany for the meeting with the European team. Berlin is said to be 75% clear of re-ans as of last week. When this is all over, there's going to be all the post trial analysis and data collection. We're going to have foundations and governments throwing grants at us for the rest of our lives.”

  “I don’t give a damn about this anymore. I'm done helping my fellow man for the greater cause.” Daniel cinched the top of his pack closed. “We came up with the cure. You can take all the glory for all I care. All I want to do is destroy those bastards and send them back to hell where they belong.”

  “But we have so much more important work. We have to collaborate with Dr. Becotte in Seattle on the Omega virus. It doesn’t matter if we eliminate the re-ans if we are going to be wiped out by this next plague.” She swept her hand in front of her drawing attention the room. "As primitive as this may be, we are still one of the most advance labs in operation, today. We are in the best position to stop the outbreak."

  Throwing the bag over his shoulder, he replied, “I have full faith in you and Dr. Becotte saving the world. You can have my Nobel and use it as a doorstop if you want. I’ve already talked to John Colton who heads the civilian brigade here in Denver. His unit is going to be made full-fledged soldiers,in a few weeks, which means they get to use the big guns…for as long as we still have guns. I have to report to him in the morning, and his camp is in the trees on the edge of the red zone by Sloan's Lake.”

  Lisa stepped up to him, placed her hand on his chest, and said, “Look, I’m sorry about Wendy. I feel just as guilty as you do, but it’s time to move on now. When this is all over
, it will be a new world for all of us. We are all going to be different people; a new society will exist across the world. You and I can start new lives together. How can we go through all of this and not be together in the end?”

  “You want to see how I’ve changed. You want to see why we can't be together anymore?” Daniel gently pushed her aside and grabbed a syringe and an ampule with the vaccine. He filled the syringe and stepped up to the nearest caged re-an and jabbed the needle into her neck and pressed the plunger down.

  The naked decayed gray-skinned woman with the rotted teeth and partially exposed ribcage shook violently, while she let out a high-pitched scream, similar to the squeal of a hog being slaughtered. The undead woman in the next cage, shook with apparent anger groaning, hissing and spitting toward the two scientists.

  Lisa called out, “What are you doing? You can’t inject the vaccine directly into a re-an. You know that’s going to-”

  Daniel interrupted, “I’m well aware of what’s going to happen. I'm glad it's going to happen and I would do it personally to all the meat bags if I could.”

  The female re-an injected with the vaccine continued to shake, hiss and spit up blood. Slowly, color returned to her skin changing it from gray to the peachy flesh tone of the living. Her white hazed over eyes cleared to show her brown pupils and her lips went from black to red as she changed back into a person. The excruciating high-pitched scream took on a deeper tone, sounding more human. Coughing up large amounts of blood, the dead woman turned her head toward Daniel and said the human words, “Kill me.”

  The angry scientist stood, watching her shake and suffer from the effects of coming back to life in a rotted body. As she finally quieted her screams and went limp inside her constraints, it seemed to send a message of fear into the other two re-ans as their moans and hissing intensified. They fought against their chains as their cages shook and rattled. Daniel turned back toward Lisa and said, "You're right about a new world. The only people left will be the survivors, and the strong. I promise you, the strong will show no mercy to these creatures."

  Chapter 18

  An orange glow from the fires scattered around the city reflected off the low clouds in the night sky. Occasional gunfire and distant explosions filled the background as the ongoing battle with the humans continued. General Brown sat on the cracked and broken concrete sidewalk, with his back against the only wall still standing in the remains of the old train station. He drank black coffee from a thermos with much of it dripping out of the bullet hole under his chin. Prometheus stood a few feet away and asked, "Can you really feel intoxicated from that strange brew?"

  "I can't feel the numbness, but I'm aware of all the effects. Things get blurry, I get all dizzy, and then I stop caring about the stresses of all this mess." Brown flicked his wrist out at the street and crumbled buildings.

  A young soldier with a five-inch hole through his chest walked up to him with an empty metal cup. "Hey Drips, can I get some of your Joe?"

  Brown stretched his arm out and poured some coffee into the dead man's cup. As he poured, he spotted through the chest hole, his former body stagger around the corner. He stood and shoved the thermos into the soldier's hands and quickly walked toward the corner. "Hey, that's my body and I want it back."

  The large living dead person, still wearing the General's uniform, stopped and gave him a quizzical stare. Brown closed the distance and shouted, "Give me back my body before I have to beat you out of it."

  As he drew close, he saw the dried blood around his body's mouth and nose which brought back the sensations he had when he died.

  The soul inside the large former general replied, "And how do you propose we switch bodies?"

  "I don't give a damn how, it just better happen. I'll give you three seconds before open a can of whoop-ass on you."

  His body stared back with the same type of tempestuous expression he often gave to those who annoyed him. "I don't think so."

  Brown reached his former self and gave him a push to the chest which did nothing to move the giant zombie. "This is my body and I'm taking it back."

  His former self gazed down on Brown, and said, "I was 5' 4" and spent my entire life looking up to everybody. I had to stand, on my toes to reach anything. Women would not even give me a second glance. Even though I'm stuck in this hell," he waved his hand around at the surrounding buildings under the orange sky, "it's nice to finally be tall. I think I'm going to find a basketball court so I can finally see what it feels like to dunk a ball."

  "That's it; I'm going to kick your butt, which happens to be my butt."

  Brown threw a punch which landed in the center of his old chest and didn't even phase the tall undead. With much ease and only one hand, the man pushed him to the ground. Drunk from the coffee, his legs shook as the former general stood and took another swing at the large zombie in front of him. Before his fist came close to landing on its target, the large body smacked him on the side of the head, and sent him staggering into the street. As he turned back toward his former self, a grenade exploded and ripped the left arm off of his old body.

  Prometheus saw several living move around the corner with flamethrowers. They laid down a wall of flames while more grenades arched over and landed, in the street, blowing chunks of asphalt into the air. Through the clearing smoke, a human charged Brown waving a Calvary sword. The old general picked up his former left arm off the ground, and with a backhand swing, he hit the man in the head, sending him to the pavement.

  Captain Bartholomew and his troops spread throughout the block and engaged in hand to hand, fighting as the humans crawled out of the shadows to join the fight. Zombies poured out from under manhole covers and storm drains to match and eventually outnumber the living. As the wall of fire evaporated, Prometheus saw the sight of undead feasting on the soldiers, who operated the flamethrowers. Men screamed, as the broken and decayed teeth of the dead army, ripped off parts of their bodies.

  Two more waves of humans quickly appeared out of the darkness. They swung axes and swords cutting off the heads of the zombies who feasted on their comrades. Bartholomew glanced up at the nearest building and waved his arm over his head. From the rooftop, a storm of arrows rained down. The deadly projectiles hit both the living and living dead. The undead only continued to fight with the arrows protruding from their backs looking like porcupines. More humans fell, and were feasted upon. Streams of blood trickled through the streets meandering around various pieces of bodies and building rubble.

  Prometheus saw a young human charge at him with a sword. He backed up against the wall and had no other route of escape. As the man closed in with his blade, Patricia appeared in his view, and she decapitated the human with one clean swipe of her sword. As other humans charged, she easily fended them off. While slashing at two and three at a time, she quickly turned her head back to Prometheus and said, "Hey green eyes, you need to get to safety."

  The Greek man hurried along the wall and through the fragments of a doorway. Inside the ruins of the former train station, he saw a tunnel which led to the underground. Thinking this would offer him the best security, he walked into the dark concourse. Muffled sounds of explosions and clashing metal from battle on the street above vibrated through the walls. Dripping water and the creaking sounds of stress on the passageway, echoed in the darkness, as he cautiously made his way to the end of the burrow which eventually opened into a large room. The ceiling above had gaping battle holes and light flickered in from the fires, and fighting along with smoke and dust snaking down through the cracks.

  In the center of the room, the remains of a large model train scene sat underneath the debris. Prometheus walked over, touched one of the small train cars, and gazed at the miniature scene of mountains and lakes rolling down to what looked like a happy town. Staring at the joyful place with tiny plastic people, he realized the descendants did at one time have a peaceful world. He touched the model Ferris wheel and watched it turn. As it rotated, it turned a music box
and released a happy tune.

  A shadow streaked across the model and he glanced up to see three livings walk toward him with axes and swords. They carried the weapons low, letting them drag on the ground. They appeared to be regular civilians rather that military. It had been a very long time since had seen a human not dressed in a soldier's uniform. He turned to escape back up the tunnel only to find four more humans blocking his exit. These men all wore ragged and dirty clothes which had not seen the likes of soap and water in months. They appeared to be civilians who formed into a lynch mob.

  All of the living closed the circle on the Athenian. Prometheus backed up against the table with model train and scanned back and forth between the two sets of men who continued to move closer. They didn't have the usual look of fear the descendants had when they saw him. Their expressions were more of anger as they let out their evil sounding hisses and moans. He saw one of them swing an axe toward his head and all went silent and black.

  Chapter 19

  Prometheus opened his eyes and stared up at a dark orange sky with patches of black clouds fading into a gray haze hanging in the air. He heard the familiar sounds of explosions, clashing metal and screams of the livings, as the undead feasted on them. The ancient man tried to stand, but found a sword stuck through his chest had pinned him down. A soldier with two five-inch holes clean through his chest and abdomen walked up grabbed the handle of the sword and said, "Let me help you out my brother." He pulled the sword out and helped the Greek man to his feet.

  Scanning his surroundings, he saw nothing but smoldering ruins and rubble of what used to be downtown Denver. Rusted skeletal frames of cars and burned remains of tanks were scattered between the large mounds of broken bricks and concrete. With no more tall buildings to block his view, Prometheus saw this repeated scene for as far as his eyes would carry. Peppered across this landscape undead Ravens and Turkey Vultures with rotted beaks, missing wings and feathers searched the ground for scraps to scavenge between the various small fires adding to the apocalyptic scene.