The following is excerpted from The Hopeless Pastures (The Oasis of Filth – part 2). Release date has been set for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 28, 2013 on the Amazon Kindle Store!
Clump shhhhh clump…
We both startled awake to near-complete darkness, the rain still pouring down. But that sound wasn’t the rain. We knew that sound. Steps on the porch. A zombie? Wandering in the rain?
Addy started to growl, very low, and I grabbed at her, soothing her. “Shh, girl,” I whispered. “Let’s just let it move on.”
Clump… clump shhhhh clump… clump…
We waited.
Creeeeeaaak… thud.
The door? The zombie had gotten through the front door? Had I forgotten the latch, left it easy to push open? What a mistake, on this of all nights.
I reached for the shotgun beside the bed, still holding Addy quiet. We listened. Through the living room, we heard it move.
Shhhhhhh clump… shhhhhhh clump… shhhhhhh clump…
Addy growled through my hand. “Shush, girl,” I hissed. We were closed off in the bedroom. Safe, I thought. I tried to hear how many of them there were.
Shhhhhhh clump… shhhhhhh clump…
A sloppy, shuffling sound, now moving into the kitchen. It sounded like just one of them. The sound only came from one place, a uniform pattern. Now, from the kitchen, there were other noises.
Clack clack shikka… thud… shhhhh clack… thud…
What was that thing doing out there?
“Stay here, girl,” I said, and got up and tiptoed to the door. I cracked the bedroom door and put an eye to the slit opening. I saw nothing but the dark living room; the kitchen was around the corner, out of view. Slowly, I snuck out of the bedroom, slid over to the corner, and tilted my head slightly to look into the kitchen.
There I saw a form. A human form, nondescript, dripping wet from the endless rain. Shuffling slightly, it stepped toward the refrigerator.
Shhhhhhh clump…
It wore grey baggy clothes, matching its grey mat of soaked hair. There was a zombie in our home. Luckily, the only light was the muted moonlight coming from the rain-soaked window past the zombie; my shadow, if I even made one, would be cast behind me as I approached. I stepped into the room and slid silently next to the kitchen table. The zombie fumbled for the handle to the refrigerator, tugging, opening the door.
With the butt of the gun held before me like a bayonet, I leapt ahead with a grunt, aiming the hard wooden end directly at the back of the zombie’s head.
It heard me.
Look for The Hopeless Pastures (The Oasis of Filth – part 2), coming Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 2013.