by Youers, Rio
The detective howled in agony, losing his grip on Jimmy’s hair as he strove to slip free of the hooks in his back.
Jimmy elbowed the man and made his escape, scooping up the knife when he did.
He spun around to face the trapped Navajo officer.
“Kill yourself!” Riverwind hissed.
The door to the room and most of the wall had fragmented into a spider web of destruction, and Jimmy watched as a furless bear’s paw reached through one of the cracks and clutched the man’s face, instantly crushing his lower jaw into a handful of mush.
Jimmy stumbled away from the spectacle, shivering with terror when he saw that the man’s eyes still gazed with awareness. When the creature released him, Riverwind raised the gun to his head and ended the pain.
The entire building seemed to shudder as the monster pressed forward.
Ceiling tiles rained to the floor.
Jimmy edged into the corner of the room as he watched the wall crumble, knowing he only had a matter of seconds before the creature exploded inside and did whatever pervoid mystical bullshit it wanted to do with him.
Which left him only one choice.
He reversed his grip on the knife and stabbed it into his stomach.
Outside, the Skinwalker bellowed with rage. Jimmy closed his eyes, blocking it out, then suddenly saw an image of himself in his mind, viewed from the other side of the door, as he plunged his hand into the wound to search for the finger.
An alien world of pain exploded inside his abdomen, and he had to reopen his eyes to be rid of the Skinwalker’s viewpoint when a pale blob of intestine slipped out past his wrist.
Darkness began to creep into his vision as his questing fingers slid over the rubbery landscape of his insides, encountering internal juices that felt too hot to be healthy.
The Skinwalker roared again, and he looked up to see more sections of the wall and door disintegrate in front of him, torn away as if no more than—
Suddenly he had something.
Something ... not right.
He’d located a spongy potato-size mass deep in his guts and pulled it out of the wound amid a river of gore.
The moment he did, the Skinwalker fell apart. The individual components of its morbid construction spilled to the ground in a horrible avalanche, splattering across the floor with a sound Jimmy knew he’d never forget.
He stood quivering in the aftermath, too fearful to move. The pain in his stomach seemed to have dulled from the shock of thwarting an unnatural death, but he knew he desperately needed to haul ass to a hospital.
He staggered forward.
A frightening numbness had crept into his body, reminding him that he didn’t have time to waste being squeamish, and despite the fact he was still barefoot, he quickly waded through the mound off spilled viscera blocking the doorway.
Tissue squished between his toes.
Harder items poked into his heels.
He slipped twice but managed to keep his balance, emerging from the pile only to collapse to his knees as the last of his strength fled from his body.
Clear of the mess, he dropped to the floor and lay there for what seemed like eternity, one hand clamped over his gut, until he saw Sheriff Pickett push to a stand not far away. Riverwind’s trio of bullets dotted the man’s bulletproof vest like medals of Honor.
“You alive, Cooley?” he asked.
Jimmy tried for a “Yes, Sir, I am,” but only uttered a grunt.
The man stepped forward, eyes widening when he beheld the full extent of Jimmy’s condition. “My, God, son ... What the hell happened to you?”
Jimmy shakily removed his hand from the wound for the Sheriff to see, only then realizing that he still clutched the thing he’d ripped out of his body.
He looked down and uncurled his blood-splattered hand.
And almost screamed at what he saw.
He stared at the thing, shaking his head as he tried to tell himself that it couldn’t be what it looked like.
“Holy Jesus,” Pickett gasped. “Is that one of your kidneys?”
Jimmy dropped the organ on the floor and swung toward the mass of dismembered animal parts.
“Easy!” the Sheriff said, quickly restraining him. “We have to get you to the doc!”
“It’s not dead!” he cried as Pickett lifted him to his feet. “The finger’s still in me! It’s playing possum, Sheriff! It’s gonna try and get me again!”
He tried to break away, his mind racing to think of a way to burn the remains or blow up the building before it was too late, but he didn’t have the strength to resist and before he knew it Sheriff Pickett had ushered him out the front door and into a patrol car.
“Keep pressure on the wound,” Pickett told him. “We’ll get you patched up in no time.”
Jimmy wanted to tell him that was exactly what the witch wanted, why it had played dead and allowed them to escape, but the words came out as little more than mumbling that even he couldn’t decipher.
The Sheriff started the car.
Switched on the lights and siren.
And as they pulled away, Jimmy thought he saw Detective Riverwind’s corpse standing in the entryway of the building, the Skinwalker’s four-fingered hand jutting from the hole in the man’s throat, waving to him, like an old friend promising to come visit again.
Once Jimmy was healed.
About the
AUTHORS
JAMES ROY DALEY ~ The Dead Parade, James Roy Daley’s first novel, was released in a trade paperback edition in 2008 by Permuted Press/Swarm Press, and once again by Bad Moon Books in a limited edition hardcover edition in 2010. Best New Zombie Tales Volume One is Daley’s first anthology. Other books include Terror Town, Best New Zombie Tales Volume Two, Best New Vampire Tales Volume One, and Into Hell.
RIO YOUERS ~ Rio is the British Fantasy Award–nominated author of Everdead, Old Man Scratch and Mama Fish. His new novel, End Times, will be released by PS Publishing in the fall of 2010, with a short story collection to follow in early 2011. He lives in Canada with his wife Emily.
STEVEN A. ROMAN ~ Steven is the bestselling author of the novels Final Destination: Dead Man’s Hand and X-Men: The Chaos Engine Trilogy. His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies The Dead Walk Again!, Tales of the Shadowmen 4: Lords of Terror, Doctor Who: Short Trips: Farewells, If I Were an Evil Overlord, Untold Tales of Spider-Man, and The Ultimate Hulk. His current projects include the serialized horror comic Lorelei: A Pool of Blood for French publisher Organic Comix, and the upcoming dark-fantasy novel series The Saga of Pandora Zwieback for Starwarp Concepts. He lives in Queens, NY, where he’s been fortifying his basement for the sure-to-happen zombie apocalypse.
TIM WAGGONER ~Tim is the author of the Nekropolis series of urban fantasy novels. All told he's published over twenty novels and two short story collections. He teaches creative writing at Sinclair Community College and in Seton Hill University’s Master of Fine Arts in Writing Popular Fiction program. You can visit him on the web at www.timwaggoner.com.
NATE KENYON ~ Nate grew up in a small town in Maine. His debut novel, Bloodstone, was a Bram Stoker Award Finalist and P&E Horror Novel of the Year award winner. The Reach was also a Stoker Award Finalist, received a starred Publishers Weekly review, and is in development as a major feature film. His third novel, The Bone Factory, was called "masterful" by Booklist. His fourth novel, Sparrow Rock, will be released in limited edition by Bad Moon Books and in paperback by Leisure Books in May 2010, and his novel StarCraft Ghost: Spectres, based on the bestselling videogame franchise by Blizzard Entertainment, will be released by Pocket Books around the end of the year. Kenyon's sci fi novella Prime was released from Apex in July 2009. He has had stories published in a number of magazines and anthologies including Terminal Frights, Shroud Magazine, Northern Haunts, Monstrous, and Legends of the Mountain State 2. Four of his stories were featured in the Dark Arts anthology When the Night Comes Down. He lives in New England with his children and their
ferocious dog, Bailey, where he is at work on his next novel. Visit Nate online at www.natekenyon.com.
DAVID NIALL WILSON ~ David has been writing and publishing horror, dark fantasy, and science fiction since the mid-eighties. An ordained minister, once President of the Horror Writer's Association and recipient of the Bram Stoker Award for poetry and short fiction, as well as being nominated for long fiction and non-fiction, his novels include Maelstrom, The Mote in Andrea's Eye, Deep Blue, the Grails Covenant Trilogy, Star Trek Voyager: Chrysalis, Except You Go Through Shadow, This is My Blood, Ancient Eyes and the upcoming supernatural mystery novel Vintage Soul: Volume I of the DeChance Chronicles. The Stargate Atlantis novel Brimstone, written with Patricia Lee Macomber is due in 2010. He has over 150 short stories published in anthologies, magazines, and five collections, the most recent of which were Defining Moments, published in 2007 by WFC Award winning Sarob Press, and the currently available Ennui & Other States of Madness, from Dark Regions Press. His work has appeared in and is due out in various anthologies and magazines. David lives and loves with Patricia Lee Macomber in the historic William R. White House in Hertford, NC with their children, Billy, Stephanie, and Katie, David’s mother Jean, and occasionally his boys Zach and Zane.
DEREK GUNN ~ Derek lives in Dublin, Ireland with his wife and three children and is the author of four novels. His post-apocalyptic thriller series, Vampire Apocalypse, has been widely praised on both sides of the Atlantic in the genre media and it is published by Black Death Books. The three books in the series are: A World Torn Asunder (2006), Descent into Chaos (2008) and Fallout (2009). Derek also released The Estuary, published by Permuted Press in 2009, which is available in Borders and Waldenbooks stores throughout the USA as well as from online booksellers. Derek's first book is under option for film and an adaptation is currently in active development as a major movie. Also, the graphic novel rights to Derek's Vampire Apocalypse series have been picked up by a U.S. indie publisher; the first graphic novel is due out in 2011. Derek is a member of, and a contributing editor to, the International Thriller Writers Association and a member of the Horror Writers Association. Visit his website at www.DerekGunn.com.
NARRELLE M. HARRIS ~ Narrelle’s first novel was the crime/thriller, Fly By Night (2004), which was nominated for a Ned Kelly Award. Her 2005 novel, Witch Honour, published in the U.S. by Five Star Science Fiction, was short-listed for the George Turner Prize for Science Fiction and Fantasy in 1998. Its sequel, short listed for the same award the following year, was published in 2007. The Opposite of Life was released in early 2008 and is the first of a proposed trilogy. The second in the series is to be released in 2011. Narrelle is currently settled in the marvellous town of Melbourne with her husband Tim Richards, a travel writer and author of Mind the Gap, and her cat Petra, who hasn't written anything…yet.
PETE MESLING ~ Pete's silhouette can, on rare occasions, be glimpsed prowling the watery byways of Seattle, Washington. An affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, Pete has sold fiction to such publications as Doorways, Black Ink Horror, and two of the Potter’s Field anthologies. In fact, The Worst is Yet to Come originally appeared in Potter's Field 3. Mr. Mesling also writes scary comic books for Night Rail Press and couldn't be giddier over the company he's keeping in this terrifying anthology. Keep up to date on his fictitious (and musical!) pursuits at www.PeteMesling.com.
T. F. DAVENPORT ~ Tristan lives in California, where he's studying for a doctorate in cognitive science. In his spare time, he would be writing more stories, but he has no spare time, because he's studying for a doctorate in cognitive science.
THOMAS S. ROCHE ~ Primarily known as an acclaimed writer of erotic short stories with numerous contributions to the Best American Erotica series and the Best New Erotica series, among others, Thomas also pens horror, crime, fantasy and occasionally science fiction. He edited three volumes of the Noirotica series of erotic crime-noir fiction and co-edited four horror/fantasy anthologies: Sons of Darkness, Brothers of the Night, In the Shadow of the Gargoyle and Graven Images. His horror stories have appeared in more than 50 anthologies, including most recently The Sweetest Kiss: Ravishing Vampire Erotica. He recently completed a horror stage play, Sun Rises On Bedlam, and is at work on a zombie novel. He can be found at www.ThomasRoche.com.
MYRRYM DAVIES ~ Myrrym is an up-and-coming horror writer from the mountains of Northeast Georgia. She is a member of The Dark Fiction Guild, a Choate Road writer, and an editor and columnist for Graveside Tales Publishing. Myrrym’s work runs the gamut of the horror genre, from comedy/horror blends to more disturbing tales of personal terror. Her short fiction has been featured in various online publications and print anthologies, including For the Love of Monsters, The Devil’s Food, Horrorology and Ladies and Gentlemen of Horror, 2010.
CODY GOODFELLOW ~ Cody has written three books with John Skipp––Jake's Wake, The Day Before and Spore––and three without––Radiant Dawn, Ravenous Dusk and Perfect Union. His short fiction has appeared in Cemetery Dance, Black Static and Dark Discoveries, and is collected in Silent Weapons For Quiet Wars. He lives in Los Angeles.
JOHN EVERSON ~ John is the Bram Stoker Award-winning author of the novels Covenant, Sacrifice, The 13th and Siren, and the short story collections Creeptych, Needles & Sins, Vigilantes of Love and Cage of Bones & Other Deadly Obsessions. He shares a deep purple den in Naperville, Illinois with a cockatoo and cockatiel, a disparate collection of fake skulls, twisted skeletal fairies, Alan Clark illustrations and a large stuffed Eeyore. There's also a mounted Chinese fowling spider named Stoker courtesy of Charlee Jacob, an ever-growing shelf of custom mix CDs and an acoustic guitar that he can't really play but that his son Shaun likes to hear him beat on anyway. Sometimes his wife Geri is surprised to find him shuffling through more public areas of the house, but it's usually only to brew another cup of coffee. In order to avoid the onerous task of writing, he holds down a regular job at a medical association, records pop-rock songs in a hidden home studio, experiments with the insatiable culinary joys of the jalapeno, designs photo collage art book covers for a variety of small presses, loses hours in expanding an array of gardens and chases frequent excursions into the bizarre visual headspace of '70s euro-horror DVDs with a shot of Makers Mark and a tall glass of Newcastle. For information on his fiction, art and music, visit John Everson: Dark Arts at www.JohnEverson.com.
JW SCHNARR ~ J. W. is the evil mastermind behind Northern Frights Publishing. He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta Canada with his daughter and a grumpy turtle. When not writing, editing or publishing, he can be found scheming. And watching sports. He is the Editor of the anthology Shadows of the Emerald City. Look for his Short Fiction collection Things Fall Apart in 2010.
MONICA J. O’ROURKE ~ Monica has published more than 75 short stories in magazines such as Postscripts, Fangoria, Nasty Piece of Work, Flesh & Blood, Nemonymous, Brutarian, and Cthulhu Sex, and anthologies such as The Mammoth Book of the Kama Sutra, Best of Horrorfind, and These Guns for Hire. She is the author of two novels, Poisoning Eros, co-written with Wrath James White, and Suffer the Flesh, and the collection Experiments in Human Nature. She lives in NYC.
JAMES NEWMAN ~ James lives in North Carolina with his wife, Glenda, and their two sons, Jamie and Jacob. James has several published novels to his name, including Animosity, The Wicked, and the coming-of-age fan favorite Midnight Rain.
KEN GOLDMAN ~ Ken is an affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association, has homes on the Main Line in Pennsylvania and at the Jersey shore depending upon his mood and the track of the sun. His stories appear in over 525 independent press publications in the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia with over twenty due for publication in 2010. His book of short stories, You Had Me At ARRGH!!: Five Uneasy Pieces by Ken Goldman (Sam's Dot Publishers) remains an all-time top ten best seller at The Genre Mall where (shameless plug alert) it can be purchased. Australia's Precision Pictures has contracted Ken's short story “The Keeper” to be filmed (hopef
ully) during 2010, and Damnation books has contracted his novella Desiree for publication during 2010. Ken would be famous except for the fact nobody seems to know who he is.
MORT CASTLE ~ Mort is editor or author of a dozen books, including Writing Horror: The Horror Writers Association Handbook, published by Writer's Digest Books (editor); Moon On The Water, a short story collection, accepted for the Pulitzer and Carl Sandburg competitions, from DarkTales Publications; and the horror novels Cursed Be The Child and The Strangers. With over 400 "shorter things," published in anthologies and magazines, Castle is the only living author to have work in all four of the acclaimed MASQUES collections, edited by Jerry Williamson, a distinction he hopes to maintain for a lengthy period. Forthcoming are Nations Of The Living, Nations Of The Dead, a collection of "Mort Myths," from Imaginary Worlds, and, from the same publisher, a CD: Buckeye Jim In Egypt.
MATT HULTS ~ Matt is a writer and artist living Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two children. His drawings and fiction can be found lurking between the pages of such anthologies as Fried! Fast Food, Slow Deaths; Harvest Hill; Undead: Skin & Bones; Horror Library Volume 2; Northern Haunts, and The Beast Within, which he also edited. Track him down at Myspace.com/authormatthults and say hi.
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ZOMBIE 2
½ oz over-proof rum