The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel

by Michael Wallace

  "I doubt the plague is what brought his demise. In this new day, there are very few who are dying from the Omega. My guess is this young man came down here to take the poison and commit suicide. It seems suicides are about the only bodies left for us to inhabit. Why the livings come down here to die, I don't know." She picked up the light and waved her hand forward. "Come with me. We should get back to the others. It is not safe this far out."

  As they walked through the darkness, Prometheus noticed at the edge of the light, decayed bodies lay on the edge of the underground tunnel. He realized he had not seen too many bodies in this world. He wondered why they did not transform into re-ans. Patricia noticed his interest in the dead and explained, "All these people had been injected with the fire, so when they died, they could not be re-inhabited. Some died in battles with us, but most came down here to take the poison."

  "What is this poison which seems to be so popular with the descendants?"

  "I don't know exactly what it is. The humans come down here, take a green pill, sit on the ground and eventually they fall over dead. For some erroneous reason, they chose this time to give up."

  They rounded a corner and he saw a light in the distance with the silhouettes of other living dead gathered in the center. "What do you mean by 'this time’?"

  The lady pirate glanced at him and said, "The humans are winning their war. Our numbers are on the decline."

  They walked into the circle of light and she announced, "Look who I found in the suicide tunnel. It is our old friend Prometheus."

  General Brown stepped up to the Greek man, slapped him on the shoulder and said, "Prometheus you old goat. Did you bring any coffee with you?"

  On the other end of the group, he saw a woman emerge into the light from the shadows. She wore full-length leather welding coat, tall hiking boots, a leather corset, a brown felt top hat and motorcycle goggles perched on her forehead. Two undead well-armed soldiers stood by her side. As she tilted her head up, the light reflected off her bright green eyes and she said, "Prometheus my old friend, it is good to have you back."

  The Athenian smiled and replied, "I see you are still trying to attain your final strings of life, my good sister Salsa."

  Brown interjected, "Yeah, it's hard to find humans who have not been vaccinated. A few times, we almost lost her in battle. So, we stopped taking her out on raids and adopted a safe house system. We move Salsa to a different location each night and bring the captured humans to her. Say, while you were gone and socializing with the gods, did they happen to tell you where we could find some coffee?"

  Ignoring the question, Prometheus asked, "What is this I hear about our numbers on the decline?"

  "In the months since we last saw you, the living have appeared to get the upper hand on the Omega Virus." Salsa answered. "We don't know if they found a cure or if it just ran its course. However, the vaccine has taken its toll on our population. They've turned it into a weapon. In some areas, it's used very effectively against us in a gas form. Even though, we don't breathe it in, it somehow permeates our skin and gets inside of us."

  Patricia chimed in with, "Speaking of moving, Salsa, it is that time of night." She looked at Brown. "General, will you take her and her guards to the cavern below the old train station? Prometheus, why don't you come with the rest of us on our nightly search for a human without the fire?"

  * * *

  Patricia held her hand up, indicating she wanted the others to stop. Standing behind a boulder in the dark forest, Prometheus saw a group of humans sitting around a fire in the clearing. The lady pirate motioned for Midnight to join her at the front of the tree line. “Can you see anything from here?”

  Midnight strained to view any disease in their bodies. “It is difficult to see from this distance, but the man over there in the dark shirt might be clean. I need to get closer to be sure.”

  Patricia gave silent hand signals, telling her soldiers to spread out, and surround the human camp. She moved her archers back into the shadows of the forest. Prometheus watched them move quietly through the trees to their positions and thought about how much their soldier training had advanced in his absence. With the band of living surrounded, Patricia led the charge.

  She ran into the clearing, wielding her sword, as the others did the same from all directions. Caught off guard, the humans scrambled to find their weapons, but the dead quickly pounced on them. Midnight moved around the battle signaling who had the vaccine in their veins. Pointing to various humans she would say, “He has the fire…she has the fire…fire in his blood.”

  If she pointed to a human, it became their death sentence as they turned into a threat to the dead. The zombies would quickly run them through with a sword or pike killing them instantly. As she came to the man in the dark shirt and long blond hair, she held up her hand. “Stop.” Midnight moved closer and scanned his body in detail. “This one does not have the fire.”

  Behind her, only a few humans remained alive and continued to fight. Two of the zombie soldiers began to tie up the descendant by his arms. He let out moans and hissing sounds, but it was clear he was afraid. Patricia grabbed one of her soldiers by the arm to give him instructions. “Take Midnight around to the remaining humans so she can-“

  Before she could finish, a small red dart hit the zombie soldier in the neck. He immediately fell to the ground and went into convulsions as he screamed in pain. Another living dead fell to the ground screaming with a dart in his shoulder. More small red darts zipped through the air and hit trees and the ground. Soldiers with the human military poured out of the forest with blow darts and flamethrowers. Patricia grabbed Prometheus, pushed him toward Midnight and the captured human. “Take them back to the safe house. I’ll stay and hold them off as long as I can.”

  As the Greek man stumbled forward, he said, “But how will you-“

  The pirate cut him off. “No time for arguments. Go!”

  Arrows flew from the shadows of the trees hitting the humans and taking them down. Prometheus, Midnight and the two zombie soldiers picked up the prisoner and carried him into the darkness of the trees as Patricia and her army fought off the living.

  * * *

  Daniel lifted his eyes from his microscope and noticed the higher than normal level of activity around the camp. He stepped out of his makeshift lab tent and watched as soldiers moved quickly to gather supplies. Pink walked past wearing dark sunglasses and her knit hat pulled low on her face. The scientist said to her, "You know you stand out more when you wear those sunglasses." She stopped and turned to him. "We haven't seen the sun in months. This gray cloud cover is the perfect light filter. With all the smoke haze in the air, I would think those dark glasses would only make it more difficult to see."

  Pink took the sunglasses off and placed them in her pocket. He asked her, "Do you know what all the commotion is about?"

  She stepped closer to keep their conversation quiet. "They're getting ready for some big raid. Scouts have found the re-ans are protecting some female. Speculation is she must be some kind of zombie queen or something, because of the way they move her around and keep bodyguards on her at all times."

  "So they're going to capture their queen."

  "Yeah, maybe she's the key to their reanimation. If we have her, we just might be able to bring all of this to an end."

  "I'll talk to the General and see if I can study her when they bring her into camp."

  Chapter 26

  As fragments of dirt blasted past their bodies from the explosion, the dust cloud surrounded them. A magnesium flare floated above the battle scene casting a white light through the smoke filled air. Prometheus brought his head up from behind a large concrete boulder to see human soldiers quickly scatter from rubble pile to rubble pile. Greg called out to his archers to let their arrows rain down on the opposing army. Before the projectiles became airborne, the dead samurai led a charge with thirty of his fellow zombies. As they reached the humans and engaged them in hand-to-hand fighting, the
arrows from the archers poured down. They pierced the bodies of both the humans and the living dead.

  Many of the living soldiers tried to take cover under piles of debris, but most became victim to the projectiles. The dead samurai and his men looked like pin cushions, as they fought off the humans with the arrows protruding from all parts of their bodies.

  General Brown stood from his covered position and called out to his small group of undead, "Let's get him underground." The re-ans carried their kidnapped human toward the entrance of the burrow. Brown grabbed Prometheus by the arm and said, "Hey, old man, we need to get out of here before their reinforcements arrive." He pointed to the three story skeletal remains of a former skyscraper. "They will try to flank us from over there and cut off our access to the tunnel. Let's move before that happens."

  The Greek man quickly followed the General to a set of stairs hidden between two large mounds of rubble. The primitive steps carved into the dirt led downward into the tunnels. At the bottom of the staircase, Brown lit an oil lamp and handed it to Prometheus. "Here, you can be the front of the train."

  With the lantern held out in front of him, Prometheus tried to envision what lay ahead in the darkness. Echoes of the human groans bounced off the brick from distant battles with re-ans. He carefully placed each step because he did not want to deliver their prize back to the military. As they drew closer to the underground battle, Brown placed his hand on the Athenian's shoulder to stop him. The General motioned his head to the right towards the partially caved-in entrance to a side passageway. Traveling down the smaller corridor, the sounds of the battle faded.

  From the shadows of the tunnel, the ruined remains of an electronics store emerged in the dim light. As they carefully stepped over the debris, Prometheus asked, "This appears to be what is left of a modern day merchant. Why would such a business be underground?"

  Brown helped the others carry the kidnap victim over a fallen steel I-beam. He explained, "In the early days of the war, an ordinance caused the store to fall into this tunnel. As the rest of the building collapsed, this store remained buried and hidden all these years."

  Next to a cracked computer monitor, Prometheus saw a box with a picture of a video camera on the cover. He picked it up, studied it in the light, and said, "I remember this. The good teacher Jennifer felt we should have one. She even fought bravely and sacrificed herself so we could keep one of these."

  Brown walked away from the human and grabbed the package. "A video cam." He opened the box and took out the glistening white camera. "I haven't seen one of these in years." Checking the contents of the box he continued, "It even has batteries. I wonder if they're still good."

  He took the batteries out of the plastic bag and inserted them into the unit. The screen on the back lit up and displayed their dimly lit feet. He tilted up at Prometheus. "Why did this Jennifer chick say we needed this? Did it have something to do with that prophecy?"

  The Greek man glanced at the camera and turned toward the passageway. "I don't remember. It did seem to be important to her and I gave my word we would keep one of these protected."

  Brown placed the camera in his pocket and pointed into the dark tunnel. "I'll hang on to it for a while." He jerked his head toward the prisoner. "Let's get this guy back to our lair."

  Lit with handmade candles, a wide section of the tunnel served as the safe house for the night. Brown held the human in front of him and called out to the re-ans who emerged from the shadows to see what the night's scavenging brought to them. "Where is she?"

  Prometheus saw a figure come forth from a dark notch in the tunnel wall. Salsa in her long coat, top hat, and leather corset and pants walked with smooth grace through the crowd and stopped in front of the human. She placed the tip of her finger on the prisoner's lower lip, ran it down his face through his chest, and let it fall off his body. "Is he clean?"

  Midnight stepped through the crowd and scanned the man who focused his evil sounds at her. She grabbed his lower jaw and stared into his eyes. "He looks clean. I don't see any trace of the fire."

  Salsa glanced at a dead solder next to her and motioned her head toward the human. The re-an grabbed the man's arm and took a bite out of his bicep. The prisoner screamed out in pain as the zombie chewed up and swallowed the bloody flesh. Brown and his men struggled to keep him still with him fighting against his ropes.

  All eyes focused on the undead soldier as he waited for the vaccine to take effect. With no reaction, he said, "He's clean."

  Salsa took another step closer to the man. She grabbed the back of his head and pressed her lips against his, only she ended the long kiss by biting off his lower lip. Pulling her face back, blood poured out of his mouth, over his chin and down his chest. His evil moans of pain bounced off the brick walls of the tunnel. She ripped open the front of his shirt, exposed his skin and quickly bit into his shoulder, pulling off a large chunk of muscle with her teeth like a lion feasting on a kill. The human passed out from the loss of blood and fell to the ground.

  With blood streaming down from her mouth onto her chest, Salsa swallowed the last of her meal. She glanced at the crowd around her and they all went silent. Prometheus said to her, "My good sister, your eyes have turned blue. We can now speak to the humans and end this war."

  * * *

  Flashlight beams pierced through the dust inside the ruins of what used to be Daniel's laboratory. Surrounded by soldiers, the scientist eyed his workplace with the same nostalgic feel he would have if it were the remains of his boyhood home. Gazing at his old filing cabinet, he listened to a soldier report to the squad leader. "Sir, all of our intel said they would move their Queen to this location on this night"

  The squad leader replied, "It looks like our intel was wrong. We'll regroup and try again tomorrow night. Where are they expected to move her tomorrow?"

  "Their pattern indicates she will be in the old high school."

  A light glowed from beneath a pile of crumbled drywall and ceiling tiles. Two soldiers cleared the debris as Daniel walked toward them. Underneath the rubble, he saw his old specimen refrigerator still operating. A soldier turned to him and asked, "How is this thing still running?"

  The scientist spotted the heavy electrical cord running into the unit. "It's connected to a live line. There's some hot lines running underground which are still connected to the grid." The soldier replied, "But there are no operating power plants left in the state."

  "There's a plant in Arizona that has remained up and running through the uprising. As long as it stays connected to the grid, there will be live wires. The trick is finding the hot ones out of the thousands of dead lines."

  Daniel pointed to the side of the room where the ceiling had collapsed. "Behind those beams, there's a walk-in freezer, which is still probably still working. Think about how much ice will go for on the black market during the summer."

  He noticed some of his old Petri dishes sitting on the bottom of cooler. The dish with re-an scribble had spilled into another dish with a neon green gel. Where the two contents mixed, the colored gel turned clear. He opened the door and grabbed both dishes holding them in the light from a flashlight. The squad leader asked, "Hey, Doc, what's that?"

  "The green indicates the presence of cancer cells. The clear area is where the two dishes contaminated each other, but killed the cancer cells."

  "What's in the other dish?"

  Daniel glanced at the label one more time. It still had the scribble when it had been placed there by the re-an. "It's zombie saliva."

  "Are you saying saliva from a meat bag can cure cancer?"

  The scientist stared at the soldier with hazed over expression. "It has that appearance."

  Chapter 27

  Salsa sat in the center of the stage on a throne, once used as a prop for school plays, inside the remains of the old North High School theatre and watched over the crowd of some one hundred living dead as they staggered and wandered through the auditorium. Several gray skins stood nearby wa
iting for her instructions. Their decayed bodies had been reinforced scrap parts scavenged from the city. Metal hinges placed on their joints, and brass gears and rods to aid their movement, made them look part like part dead human and part machine.

  On the side stage, Cathy taught several of the undead the finer skills of using a leather bullwhip.

  Salsa still wore the long coat, top hat and leather corset. She now bore a knee brace with additional gears connected to small door dampeners which helped her to move her leg mechanically. Candles placed throughout the large room cast a yellow light reflecting off the high ceiling with pockets of dark shadows along the wall. A commotion came from the hallway outside the heavy wooden doors. Salsa lowered her dark green welding goggles to see across the auditorium better. As the doors burst open, Prometheus turned toward the noise.

  Patricia and her crew stormed into the theatre covered in fresh blood spray and black burn marks from their recent battle. As she walked down the isle toward the stage, she announced, "We got one."

  Sitting on her throne, with the tone of royalty, Salsa asked, "Is she important? Will the living listen to her?"

  Stepping onto the stage the lady pirate answered, "We caught her leaving one of the military camps. The way they fought to get her back, she must be of some value to the army. Even if she's not, the fact we captured her has certainly brought the interest of the livings."

  Her crew carried their kidnap victim onto the stage. She had her feet and hands tied with heavy rope and a burlap bag covering her head. Fresh blood splatter covered the front of her olive green military issued clothes. Patricia continued, "Here she is. We don't have much time. General Brown and his men are stationed at the front of the building to fend off the soldiers who chased us here. It appears as though they have sent an entire legion and will soon break through our outer defenses."

  Listening to the sounds emanating from the human under the bag, Salsa stood from her throne and approached the woman. "She's real mad at us…something about she is going to torch this place to the ground and watch us burn."