Marionette Zombie Series (Book 8): Harvest of the Dead

by Poe, S. B.

  “To tell you the truth, I crossed paths with your folks out at my farm.”

  “I know, Bridger told me.”

  “He didn’t know why I was outside the barricade though.” Cody lowered his eyes. “I was out there looking for seeds. At the co-op. We were going to start planting in the spring if we could find some.”

  Kate stood and walked over behind the desk. Cody spun the chair to face her. She reached down and grabbed the shirtsleeve and the pin.

  “So, the plan doesn’t really have to change, does it?” Kate said as she half smiled and pinned the sleeve to his shirt.

  “No, I guess it doesn’t.” Cody admitted.

  The Last Light Of Day

  Scott stood up on the bus and looked over the gate. He could see a long way down the street in front of him. The deadun had walked across it twice already but it had been almost an hour since he had seen it. He looked at the walkie, waiting for Josh’s voice to tell him to open the gate. They were running late. The sun would be down in another hour or so. He climbed down the ladder on the back of the bus and walked to the gate. He lifted the metal hasp and slid the gate open just enough to step through. He stepped through.

  The funeral home stood just in front of him and he went to the back door. He grabbed the handle and opened it, smelling the stale air as it wafted out the opening. He turned on his flashlight and went inside, walking slowly down the short hallway. An office sat on his right and he could see the computer sitting on the desk through big glass wall. He sighed at the sight. He thought about his setup at home. Home. That was a strange word to him now. He opened the office door and sat down at the desk. He hit the power button on the computer but it stayed dark. He fingered the keyboard. It was crap but it still felt good to hear the clack, clack of the keys. He closed his eyes and typed his user name and password to his online gaming account, imagining the loading page popping up.

  He looked at the dark screen one more time and stood. He ventured back into the hallway and explored a little deeper into the building. He came to a set of double doors and swung them open. There were pews like a church but there was no altar. A small podium stood to the side at the far end of the room but that wasn’t what got his attention. The casket sat on a catafalque and was the natural focal point of the room. The flower sprays were just frames with styrofoam, most of the flowers and leaves lay brown and wilted on the floor. He walked between the two rows of pews and approached it. A picture of a young woman, black and white, probably taken years ago, stood in a frame atop the casket. He turned around and looked at the room again. He realized he was at a funeral that never took place. He spun around again and looked at the casket.

  He leaned in closer to the casket. The walkie crackled to life and he almost jumped out of his shoes. The noise was incredibly loud in the quiet place he had found himself in.

  “Scott, you there?” Josh’s voice came through the speaker. He thumbed the button, talking softly without even realizing it.

  “Yeah, right here.” He said.

  “We’re heading in. Maybe fifteen minutes.” Josh said.

  “You have any luck?”

  “Yep. We’re going to light up the place pretty soon.” Josh sounded pleased.

  Scott thought about the computer. Maybe he could get it running. But he doubted the funeral directors CPU had any good games on it, maybe solitaire or minesweeper but probably not much else. Five minutes of minesweeper would be enough, he thought.

  “You still there?” Josh’s voice.

  “Yeah, fifteen minutes.” Scott said.

  “See ya then.” Josh said.

  He put the walkie back in his pocket. He returned his attention back to the casket in front of him. He laid his ear against and listened. Nothing. He looked around the room again, wondering if he was being disrespectful of the dead. That was a joke, he thought. The dead weren’t very respectful of the living right now. He spun around again and pounded his fist on top of the casket. The lid slammed against the locks but didn’t open. He jumped back. The casket shook on its stand and the lid rattled as the thing inside began banging against it. He turned and ran. He didn’t stop until he was out the door and back by the gate. He could hear the sound of the truck coming down the road. He turned and waited.

  He saw the truck first as it rounded the corner. It was pulling another one of the rigs like the one they had brought back the other day. He saw the SUV behind it and it was pulling a rig too. Maybe minesweeper wasn’t such a pipe dream after all. He grabbed the side of the gate and slid it open. As the SUV pulled through Bridger stopped and rolled down his window.

  “Everything okay bud, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Bridger said.

  “I wish it was. I found a deadun.” Scott said.

  “What do you mean found?” Bridger asked.

  “In there.” Scott pointed to the funeral home.

  “It’s still in there?” Evelyn asked from the passenger seat.

  “Yeah, in a coffin.” Scott said.

  “Are you serious?” Bridger asked.

  “Yeah, it’s in there right now banging on the lid.”

  Bridger put the SUV in park and stepped out. Evelyn and Cameron came out the other doors. They all walked to the back door of the funeral home, Bridger carried his new spear in his hand and Cameron carried his halberd.

  “What were you doing in there?” Evelyn asked.

  “Just looking around. There’s a computer in there, maybe we can take it with us and hook some juice up to it.” Scott said as he nodded at the rig.

  “Well boosting a computer is not really the top priority right now, is it?” Bridger said.

  “Just saying is all.”

  Bridger swung the door open and they walked inside.

  “This way.” Scott said as he led them down the darkened hallway and into the viewing room.

  The casket rattled and they could hear the thing moving around inside, bumping against the lid. Bridger put his hand on the lid and lifted slightly with no result. He leaned over to the see the edges where the casket came together. He scanned the trim around the lid, trying to discern where the locking mechanism was.

  “What are you doing?” Scott asked.

  “We can’t leave her like this.” Evelyn said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because we just can’t. It’s not right.” Evelyn said.

  “Does anyone know how to open one of these things?” Bridger asked.

  “I do.” Evelyn said. She looked at the end of the casket and saw the hexagonal opening at the foot.

  “Where’s the office?” Evelyn asked.

  “Back here.” Scott said.

  “Show me.”

  The two of them walked towards the back of the room and through the open door. The fading sunlight barely reached down the hallway. Bridger and Cameron stood in the almost dark room listening to the sound of the deadun on the inside of the casket and waited.

  “Well, this is interesting.” Cameron said.

  “Crazy day.” Bridger said.

  “Indeed.”

  Scott and Evelyn walked back through the door and the flashlight lit the room again. She had something in her hand the looked to Bridger like the kind of key he had to turn his gas logs on and off at his condo. She put the key into the slot at the end of the casket.

  “Get ready.” She said.

  “Give me just a second.” Bridger said. He turned to Cameron and Scott. “Y’all might want to step back.”

  He positioned himself above the head of the casket and raised the spear.

  “Go ahead.” He said. Evelyn began turning the key. She could feel the lock loosen and she paused.

  “You sure you’re ready?” Evelyn said.

  “Yep.”

  “Okay, here it goes.” She turned it the last quarter turn.

  Nothing happened. They couldn’t hear the thing moving around inside it and the banging stopped. Bridger stood with the spear raised and waited. And waited. He looked around at the
others.

  “Maybe she…” Scott started.

  The lid flew open as the things arms reached skyward. The smell was stifling inside the room. Bridger winced. Evelyn stood at the foot looking at the thing. The casket lid was still closed over the lower half of the thing and it thrashed against the restraint.Evelyn backed away as it tried to pull itself up. Bridger drove the tip of his spear through the back of the things head. The force propelled one of the things eyes forward and it landed at Evelyn's feet. Pop. The thing fell back into the casket.

  “Jesus.” Scott said as he and Cameron approached the casket again. “Now what?”

  “Close the lid.” Evelyn said.

  “We’re just gonna leave it here?” Scott asked.

  Bridger closed the lid over the body. Evelyn put the key back in the slot and cranked it until it locked.

  “This is where she needs to be.” Evelyn said as she bent down and picked up the picture that had fallen off when the lid came open. She looked at the woman in the picture but couldn’t reconcile it with the thing in the casket. Marionette had destroyed everything left of the pretty woman in the picture. She placed the frame back on the casket.

  “Let’s go.” She said.

  They all walked back out of the viewing room and Bridger paused long enough to close the door. Evelyn waited for him. Cameron and Scott continued through the door to the outside.

  “How did you know about the key?” Bridger asked.

  “When my husband died it was a closed casket service. Before everyone arrived I had asked the funeral director if I could see him one last time.” Her voice cracked a little. “He used a key to open it up.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay. That was a long time ago.” Evelyn said as she wiped the corner of her eye.

  Bridger put his arm around her waist and pulled her close. He brushed the hair out of her eyes and kissed her gently.

  “Let’s go home.” He said. She looked into his eyes. The last few days they had shared a house and a bed. She wasn’t sure if she had ever been happier.

  “I love you.” She said.

  He looked at her. Everything JW had ever told him about finding the one, the one that makes everything else just melt away and all you want to do is be with them, had been right. He had just never found the one. Until now.

  “I love you too.” He said.

  They walked through the door from the dark of the hallway into the fading light of day.

  Music for Harvest of the Dead

  Usually I list all the artists on my playlist while I wrote this book but I have had some requests about what songs I listen too. There are a lot, but there are a few songs that have been a part of every book I’ve written.

  “Anthem for the Already Defeated” by Rock Plaza Central was from a Jeremy Gardner movie call The Battery (If you haven’t seen it, you should). This song is the foundation stone for everything I’ve written.

  “So Long Elaine” by The Dirty River Boys has been the focusing song for getting my brain back into the world I write in.

  “Trucker’s Love Song” by Lincoln Durham inspired the story in Walk with Me and it keeps JW with me in my mind.

  There are a lot more songs but these three have been with me the whole time. Kind of like my own personal halberd to keep me safe when I am fighting the dead.

  This is the eighth book in the series. I am so humbled by the response to my little zombie series and I want to thank everyone who has been an avid reader of these books. Thank you for everything.

  A personal note,

  My mother passed while this book was being produced. I miss her.

  Coming Soon

  Ash and Bone

  Book 9

  The Marionette Zombie Series

  By

  SB Poe