Jason Campagna: White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel

The hand returned. It told Rex he was no longer alone. He opened his eyes to see the shape of a man 100 feet away perfectly silhouetted by a light directly behind him. The man was looking into the window of the house. He turned, dismissing the house, and stumbled closer to Rex. The man wore an orange Cincinnati Bengals T-shirt. Rex knew he hadn’t been spotted yet. The man continued to stumble as if he were drunk or wounded.

What the hell is wrong with this guy, Rex wondered. He was about to ask the guy.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another man barely 10 feet away coming directly at him with outstretched arms and hands curled like talons.

"Hey!" Rex screamed. He rushed out of the hot-tub angling for his gun. The water splashed, displaced by the violent motion. He reached the weapon, but the attacker was upon him. There was no time to issue a warning or even level the weapon at the guy.

Rex pivoted to his right and spun. The bottom end of the weapon crashed down on the attacker.

The attacker’s hand shifted the placement of the blow. It glanced off the man's jaw clearly breaking it and sending teeth flying.

The man was unfazed at the blow and kept pushing his weight on Rex. He pushed in on him as if to try and bite him. Rex shoved back and scrambled for space. His back connected with the brick exterior of the home ending any hopes of evasion.

Light from inside the house revealed the glazed eyes of the attacker.

Rex managed to level the weapon at point-blank range. He squeezed the trigger multiple times and explosions in rapid succession emptied the clip. The attacker was knocked back and down on the ground. As soon as the motion was arrested, the man rose again.

The man in the Bengals T-shirt was a lot closer now. He headed directly at Rex.

React or die, Rex thought. He dropped his gun and charged his first attacker grabbing the man's head in both hands. He drove him back with all his strength toward a brick column that held up the porch overhang. He drove the man's head into the corner of the brick column and heard the skull crack like an egg.

In the heat of the moment, Rex continued to smash the head until the form crumpled to the ground dead or dying.

"Bengals", tried to grab Rex, but his body was still slippery from the water. Rex retreated backwards to the sliding glass door and slammed it closed on the new attacker.

Rex knew this would buy him only a little time. Despite the adrenaline rush, the air-conditioning inside the house chilled his dripping wet skin. The man outside began to pound on the glass.

Two more ambling forms arrived in the yard and made their way to join "Bengals" effort to break into the house. Rex saw his gun lying on the ground outside. Its ammo depleted and out of reach, the gun was useless for the moment.

Rex raced up stairs to his father-in-law’s closet. Leaning against the wall rested the shotgun; there was a box of shells at its base. He took a moment to try and familiarize himself with the weapon, but he heard the glass door give out.

He slid four shells into the magazine then loaded one into the chamber with the satisfying and hallmark sound shotguns make when pumped. He waited at the top of the steps for the nightmare to come to him.

A woman in a bra and jeans rounded the stairway below Rex. Her left arm hung limp and bloody, but she didn’t seem to mind. Her body looked covered in blood, but it appeared she was not actively bleeding. She looked like she had died several hours ago, but for the fact that she was coming up the steps. Rex worried the woman would shrug off the blast from the shotgun. His first attacker had shaken off a full clip of .45 caliber rounds.

Rex leveled the shotgun at the woman, a perfect angle to her head. He squeezed, and nothing happened. "Shit!" he said. His fingers found the safety near the trigger guard in a fraction of a moment; he didn’t waste any time to pull the trigger.

The blast caught the woman full in the face. Her body went flying down the stairs. She didn’t get up.

Headshots seem to work, Rex thought. He pumped another shell into the magazine not knowing how many more of these things would follow.

The other two were attracted to the chaos on the stairs and rounded the bend in the hallway with "Bengals" bringing up the rear.

Rex forced himself to remain calm and let them come to him.

He allowed them to get halfway up the stairs before two blasts from the shotgun dispatched into the first man; it sent both the man and "Bengals" back down the steps.

"Bengals" looked up the steps at Rex with lifeless eyes and opened his mouth revealing blood-stained-teeth. "Bengals" began to rise and struggle over the inert bodies of its fallen compatriots.

Rex pulled the trigger once more and hot flaming shot erupted from the weapon and blew apart "Bengal’s" head. The body crumpled over backwards down the stairs.

Reloading his weapon, he took a moment to take stock of the situation. His mind traced back to the police blockade, the abandoned house, and the girl with the zombie tattoo. "Oh shit," Rex thought. He moved over to the bedroom window and stuck his head outside. There was no longer any trace of wind. What he thought was fireworks were now clearly sporadic gunfire; it came from every direction. Rex's mouth fell open to form the word "zombies."

Two headlights turned the corner up the private drive, and Rex caught the briefest glint of red from the car, his wife Ginger's car. Rex knew that he and his wife would have to make some big decisions this weekend.

###

Alison sat at the mall with her nails and hair done, prepared for an evening out on the town that wouldn’t happen. She couldn’t face an evening at home alone, so she continued to sit where Mike told her he would meet her.

The life of a physician's spouse never lived up to the glamour that most people would expect. Medical school itself was a survival experience as many couples found the stresses and temptations too much. The first year of Mike's medical school went okay, Alison had a support group. There were plenty of other spouses going through the same experience. Once they moved away for Mike Carson to start his clinical rotations, Alison felt herself cut off from friends and family. Carson had been a physician for a couple of years now, but the loneliness hadn’t abated for Alison. They moved to Butler a year ago, but she still had not made many friends in the community. Alison felt like she had to make things right with her husband before she could focus on building any other relationships.

Alison wanted connection and love from her husband, but the only thing fate brought to her was a food court employee.

"Miss," the man said, "Would you like a free sample of cheese steak?" Alison was so lost in thought that she didn’t hear the man. After a few seconds, he wondered off.

She envisioned her husband in another woman's arms. Hardly a woman and more of a girl, she thought. Her finger lightly pushed at a grey plastic pepper shaker. It wasn’t the first time her husband cheated on her; it was just the latest. Back in medical school, Mike Carson had cheated on her with a fellow student. It should have cost them their marriage, but Alison agreed to stay. She feared the consequences of facing the future alone.

Yet again, she had confirmation of his unfaithfulness. Earlier in the day, she went to surprise him at work. She drove to the hospital and pulled into the parking garage to find a spot. On the second level, she found a convenient space and backed in. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed her husband. The phone rang three times before Carson picked up.

"Hey birthday girl," Carson said, "What's up?"

"I thought I'd come find you at the hospital today," Alison said. There was a pause on his end.