The darkness. Sometimes its comforts know no bounds. I find it’s the last bastion of clear thought. Lately, it’s hard to concentrate in the darkness. That’s when they are the most terrifying. I know in my mind that this building is safe, for now, but my heart continues to stray to that one thought; ‘for now’. I can surely rely on the slow, clumsy and ridged actions of the undead to lack the means of entering this fortress, but I have never trusted the intelligence, or lack thereof of the living. (more…)

1

The morning air bites with sharp, frozen teeth even though it’s almost April. My breath hangs like a light white cloud before slowly vanishing. I’ve got to move quickly before the morning sun chases away the dawn chill. My snowshoes are almost a hindrance now as much of the snow is gone, replaced by sopping mud and heaps of decaying leaves. I still wear them. I still need them to get to The Family Trees. (more…)

A small red bead floats in the dark as the girl I followed into the cellar inhales on her cigarette.

“What kind do you smoke?” I ask, feeling the brick of the wall behind me grind into my back.

“Virginia Slims. I think their ads are sexy,” she says.

I continue to sit and let the words drift around the blackness like the smoke she just exhaled. (more…)

“God has decided no man is worthy of the rapture. We are sinners and as such, must be judged. Give yourself to the Lord, that he may grant you life everlasting.”

“Jesus Christ was crucified, died and was resurrected to perform the work of his father. Our Lord now calls upon us to do the same, to allow him to use our earthly bodies as tools of his judgment, to allow him to take our souls to heaven.” (more…)

The fog was thick as the sun began to rise over Chestnut river. Bits of light burned their way through the fog, making odd shapes that swirled and danced.

“I have four shamblers near the store.” Mark whispered.

The handheld on his shoulder squawked softly and a female voice replied, “Keep an eye out. We will move in five.” (more…)

[An easy, confident man waits on the other side of this stark glass barrier, waiting for me to start the interview. From what I have learnt from the tales of his exploits during the War, and from the security checks I had to go through to get access to him, I am thankful we are not any closer]

What you Yanks don’t understand is that Britain was one of the most densely populated places on earth. No wide open spaces. Nowhere to run to. We weren’t cowards, you see. We did what we had to do, had the damn bravery to do what had to be done! (more…)

I’m not sure how to start this God. I know I haven’t had much to do with you, and I figure that you haven’t had that much interest in me, but I’m really up shit creek now and I would appreciate some help.

Should I be more formal? Should I start off with an “Our Father, who art in heaven”? Maybe if I got down on my knees? I don’t know, it all seems kind of like crawling to me. I hate it when people suck up to me, and maybe you do too. (more…)

He steps slowly out of the subway. The first drop of a night’s soaking rain skips off an awning and smacks him right between the eyes. It runs the creases of his face down to his mouth. He tastes, swallows.

Deep breath. He wonders about the rain. It’s loaded with chemicals, saturated with death and decay. Yet it tastes so sweet, it falls into our pores. He thinks that the rain, with its chemicals and liquid rot, has become a part of us. We are the residue of this world, the waste along the rim. (more…)

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPP!

“He’s at it again. Jesus.”

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPP!  CRACK!

“John, leave it alone, will ya?”

Crrrrrrraaaaaaaaackkkkkkkk.

“They don’t know what that means. That’s a scare tactic that’s been used forever, man. These things don’t get scared. They can’t get scared.” (more…)

Hong Kong was filled with smoke. Sergeant Lee Kwon-Sang walked the street with a medical mask over his face to keep the acrid air from stinging his throat. A year ago he would have been issuing fines for some of the fires. That was before the zombies. Now only a heartless man would interfere with Yue Lan, The Feast of the Hungry Ghosts. Sang had a feeling that this year it would last longer than three days. There were too many of the dead to burn paper for, some people had lost their entire family to the attacks. Mercifully, the undead were under control. Yet every loss of life added to their numbers, hence new deaths were of utmost concern. It was now law that such incidents were to be reported immediately. People were given express permission to deal with deceased relatives as necessary. As private citizens were still not allowed to own guns, the recommended method was to use an ax. (more…)

It couldn’t have been more than two seconds after we met up with Steve that I decided I had to fuck him up. The words “I sure am glad to see you two are still around. I don’t know what I’m doing out here,” were barely out of his mouth. I had just enough time to look him over. That’s when I noticed his boots.

They were things of beauty, those boots. Brown leather with that fancy western-styled stitching on the toes. Steve had jeans on, so I couldn’t see the tops, but it looked like two colors of leather—one light brown, the other dark—made some kind of pattern. I would have traded all manner of riches and finery for those things. Seeing as how I had neither, I’d have to procure them in another manner. (more…)