DECAY
A ZOMBIE STORY
NOW AVAILABLE AND COMING SOON FROM
OPEN CASKET PRESS
RATS
ZOMBIE BUFFET
BIGFOOT TALES
HORROR CARNIVAL
CREATURE FEATURE
DEAD CHRISTMAS
ATOMIC ZOMBIES
ZOMBIE BED & BREAKFAST (ZEE BEE & BEE)
HORROR TALES AND TERRIFYING STORIES
2012 ZOMBIE WALL CALENDAR
HOLLOW POINT: A ZOMBIE NOVEL
WARRIORS OF THE APOCALYPSE: BOOK 1
NEW HORROR FICTION FROM OPEN CASKET PRESS!
HEADSHOTS ONLY: A ZOMBIE ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
The walking dead cannot be stopped!
They never tire, never give up, and will come for you again and again!
Only one thing can put them down for good!
Grab your gun, take aim, and make sure it’s a head shot!
One to the brain pan is the only way to save yourself from certain death!
So keep your weapon loaded, stay sharp, and remember…Headshots Only!
HOLLOW POINT: A ZOMBIE NOVEL
By Mark Christopher
Something horrible is happening in the small, bayou town of Cypress Pass. The dead are walking.
Caught in the middle of the undead uprising is Sheriff John Boudreaux; a retired Army Ranger, who still struggles daily with the emotional and physical pain of his time in the Iraq war.
Now he finds himself fighting an enemy that cannot be stopped, an enemy that shows no fear and wants nothing more than to eat his flesh. He’s tasked with a mission that will define his life. He must save his friends and fight off the living dead that are overrunning his town. But how do you kill what is already dead?
CREATURE FEATURE: A MONSTER ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
Giant squirrels, massive zombies, killer trees and marauding severed heads are just a few of the twisted tales of creatures you will find inside this anthology.
So let your imagination free and embrace what isn’t real.
For perhaps monsters are real, and it is you that does not truly exist.
HORROR CARNIVAL
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
Step right up, folks, the Horror Carnival is about to begin!
We have a great show in store for you this evening.
Ghouls, monsters, zombies, vampires and serial killers, all rolled up into one massive show. Tales that will leave you wanting more yet leave you oh so fulfilled.
The rides are cheap, the stories tall, so grab some cotton candy and popcorn and enjoy yourself. Tickets are five for a dollar!
But please read all disclaimers before entering the fairgrounds.
Horror Carnival is not responsible for any dismemberment or loss of organs during your visit, nor are we liable if any family member is slain while participating in one of the attractions.
So come on in…if you dare!
ZOMBIE BUFFET: AN UNDEAD ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
If you’re hungry for zombie stories, look no further than this anthology.
There’s enough rotting meat to satisfy even the most discerning connoisseur, and our all-you-can-eat buffet is sure to please.
Rotting intestines, severed heads and exploding spleens are just some of the courses waiting for you within this book of undead mastication.
So grab a knife and fork, slap on a napkin, ‘cause you’re gonna get dirty, and prepare yourself for the Zombie Buffet.
A zombie feast of epic proportions.
DEAD CHRISTMAS: A ZOMBIE ANTHOLOGY
Edited by Anthony Giangregorio
Share the most special time of the year with someone you love, or better yet, with an animated corpse!
The living dead love Christmas. Whether they’re hanging their entrails like garland, using severed heads like stockings, or hanging body parts like ornaments, even zombies enjoy the most wonderful time of the year.
Santa Claus isn’t immune to the walking dead, either.
Zombie elves, killer reindeer and undead hordes, all seek to share in the joy of the holiday . . . and tear Santa apart and feed on his flesh.
So when you grab last year’s fruitcake to re-gift to Aunt Martha, just make sure to bring a shotgun, too. Because for all you know, your aunt has turned into an undead flesh-eater, and if the shotgun won’t kill her, the fruitcake most assuredly will.
RATS
By Anthony Giangregorio
Killer black rats the size of dogs are roaming the streets and no one is aware of their existence.
Wild dogs, the authorities warn. Stay indoors and all will be fine.
Domenic Salvatore soon finds himself in the middle of a cover-up of epic proportions; where no one will believe the truth.
And why would they? After all, he’s just a kid.
What no one knows is that the rats have taken on a taste for human meat, a particular kind of meat actually…young flesh…the flesh of children.
As the kids are hunted one by one, killed and dragged off into the night to be devoured, Domenic realizes that it’s only a matter of time before he’s next.
Something evil stalks the town of Wakefield, Mass…and it’s hungry.
BIGFOOT TALES
Edited by Mark Christopher
The elusive Bigfoot has been a mystery for years.
Truth or hoax? No one knows for sure and perhaps never will.
So does this creature of the forest truly exist? Is there really a missing link that ties together man with his ape ancestors?
Or is it all simply a figment of the imagination.
DECAY
A ZOMBIE STORY
JOSEPH DUMAS
DEDICATION
In memory of Bill Gorman.
Bill, you really helped me while I was originally
developing Decay and gave me the confidence
to move forward with it. I miss you, buddy,
Rest in Peace.
DECAY: A ZOMBIE STORY
Copyright © 2011 Open Casket Press
ISBN Softcover ISBN 13: 978-1-61199-041-6
ISBN 10: 1-611990-41-6
All rights reserved.
Open Casket Press is an imprint of Living Dead Press. ww.livingdeadpress.com
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. This book was printed in the United States of America.
For more info on obtaining additional copies of this book, contact: www.opencasketpress.com
Edited by Kevin Lewis
THE END BEGINS
PETER
It was a beautiful day, a true beginning to the summer season, and a true end of another school year. I had just arrived home from running errands, trying to find a place to fix the radio in my car. It hadn’t been working right since the battery died months ago. Unfortunately, the place I went to, which was hours away, had unexpectedly closed for the day; a family emergency perhaps.
After I got out of my car, I began walking to the house, a yellow suburban home in Massachusetts. While approaching the door, I was greeted by the joyful barks of my mom’s dog, Fido, a small German shepherd puppy. Next, my cell phone rang and I answered it as I entered the house.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Pete,” Jen, my girlfriend, said.
“Hey, sweetie. How’s it going?” I asked.
“Good. I’m on my way over. I spoke to Robbie and Sam earlier. They’re going to swing by with a movie later on…”
“Oh okay,” I said. “But just so you know, even though my mom’s out of town, I don’t really want to have a huge party…”
“Well, I just invited them and told Sam to tell Robbie it’s just going to be a quiet evening…”
“Okay, sorry for getting snappy, it’s just, you know… it’s Robbie, he doesn’t know what quiet means,” I said.
Excited at the idea of hanging out with our friends Robbie and Samantha for the evening, we finalized our plans and I hung up the phone.
Moments later, there was a knock at the door—it was Jen. As she entered the house, I greeted her with a kiss and a take-out menu. It was a pizza place down the street. We ordered our usual strange combination of one veggie pizza and one ‘meat lover’s’ pizza.
After ordering the food, Jen noticed a note left by my mom on the table. The note instructed me to have someone come and fix the broken window in the laundry room. “Did you do this?” Jen asked as she held up the note.
“No not yet,” I explained. “But I did duct tape a trash bag over it to keep any animals out.”
“Pete! That’s still not safe, get it fixed!”
Jen was pretty paranoid about robbers and home invasions, thanks to watching way too many crime shows. I explained to her that we lived in one of the safest towns in the state and I would get the window fixed on Monday. She angrily accepted this and we walked to the pizza place.
The streets were pretty quiet despite it being rush hour. Upon arriving at the pizza joint, we discovered it was pretty quiet in there as well. The guys working looked pretty bored; they barely noticed when we entered. They were all just standing around watching TV. I didn’t mind too much, but Jen was getting frustrated that they didn’t acknowledge us. So, after politely getting their attention, we got the pizzas and let them get back to the television.
We left the restaurant and headed back to my house. The streets were still quiet for the most part. Suddenly, we heard a loud screech, and turned around to see a gold station wagon, nearly on two wheels turning onto my street. I threw up my hands as the jerk blew past us, shattering the speed limit for sure. “What the hell is his problem?” I yelled.
“Hopefully he’ll get a ticket,” Jen said. “There are kids in this area, that’s so dangerous!”
A little after we returned to my house, a bright red convertible pulled into my driveway; Robbie was driving with his girlfriend—Jen’s best friend, Samantha, or Sam. Robbie and I have been friends since we were kids. Jen and I recently introduced him to Sam, something Jen wasn’t too thrilled about in the beginning, since Sam had a difficult upbringing and Robbie always had a drinking problem. Sam’s parents died years ago, leaving her to live with her father’s single brother, who from what I understand is something of an alcoholic himself. Needless to say, these circumstances have led Jen to be a bit weary of the idea of Robbie being in Sam’s life. But to her chagrin, they hit it off and have been together for months now. Robbie also cut down on his drinking habits; something I’ve been hoping would happen since we began college in ‘05.
Robbie brought over The Departed for us to watch; he can’t seem to get enough of this movie.
“Ready for a good flick?” Robbie asked excitedly as he got out of his car.
“Yeah, man, sure,” I said.
“Good thing we got here in one piece,” Robbie shook his head.
“What happened?”
“Some guy almost killed us!” Samantha said in an overwhelmed tone.
“We saw a station wagon fly by!” Jen said. “Was it the same one?”
They both nodded.
After we finished discussing the wannabe NASCAR driver, we decided to head inside, have some dinner, and watch the movie. I got myself and Jen some beers from the fridge. Sam doesn’t drink for obvious reasons, and Robbie turned down the offer altogether. But the only reason he turned down the offer was because he was hitting his own bottle hard, one he kept hidden in the cargo pocket of his jacket. I was a little worried about him drinking but he didn’t seem like he was intending to get drunk, but rather was just maintaining a good buzz.
JEN
The night had been going rather smoothly. Good pizza, good friends, and a decent movie. I’d never seen it before, not bad for the most part. I guess it’s ideal for the filmmaker-type-of-viewer, but I was just stuck on the over-exaggerated Boston accents.
However, the seemingly chill night soon became one of tremendous drama. Robbie began swigging down whatever hard liquor was in his secret stash. Soon, Sam told him to stop—or at least slow down, but rather than slow down, he nearly finished the bottle within minutes. He proceeded to get up and start dancing around like something out of Saturday Night Fever.
Next, almost as if his horseplay were scripted, he played the part of a true jackass, and while trying to pull Sam off the couch, he knocked over Pete’s mom’s favorite lamp, where it then smashed apart on the floor.
Utterly ridiculous! At this point, Pete came running in from the kitchen, where he was cleaning things up.
“What the hell happened?” he screamed as Fido began barking like mad.
“Robbie’s drunk,” a frightened Sam said, as she had never truly witnessed the drunken mess we know and fear. Further, despite all of this chaos, Robbie continued trying to get Sam to dance with him as he stomped the pieces of broken glass into the low weave carpet.
“Robbie, calm down!” I told him.
“Shut the fuck up, you bitch!” he screamed and slurred back at me without hesitation.
Pete quickly let Fido into the backyard to calm down and said to Robbie, “Whoa man, calm down! You’re drunk!”
Then, Robbie’s drunken self said, “No way, man, you tell your chick to mind her fuckin’ business.”
Immediately, Pete grabbed him by his arm and pulled him towards the door. What happened next would change the rest of our lives…
ROBBIE
Everyone’s got their issues and vices in life. I like to drink, get drunk, and have a good time. Then, my friends try to tell me I’m an alcoholic—fuck that! I’m a college student, well, sort of. I probably won’t go back in the fall.
My father owns a chain of hardware stores throughout New England known as ‘Fix-It Hardware.’ I have an assistant manager position at the original store not far from our neighborhood. I’ve recently made the decision that I’ll take on his duties in the next five or so years when he throws in the towel.
As a matter of fact, while we were watching the movie, my old man called my cell.
“Rob! Get home now!” he told me very calmly.
“Hold up, Dad. Why?” I asked very politely.
“You took the keys to the store with you again! Bring them home now!” he continued telling me.
“Come on, Dad, I’m not exactly fit to operate a motor vehicle right now,” I insisted because I truly am responsible.
Next, he continued yelling and cussing into the phone which I’m sure needed some kind of ‘drain-O’ after the amount of saliva it’d surely just absorbed thanks to the greatest spit-yeller since wrestling legend Sgt. Slaughter.
So, knowing I wasn’t going anywhere until the A.M., I kept my drink on and apparently got a little too rowdy. Broke a lamp, I think. Pete and Jen were yelling—hurting my head. And Sam, my girlfriend, she started crying and wouldn’t even look at me.
Soon, Pete got fed up with me and brought me outside. He took my keys and told me to get some air and try to sober up a little. After Pete left me outside to stew over my mistakes, some dude in a business suit started stumbling towards me. This guy was definitely wasted or something, mumbling and stumbling all over the place.
I waved him down just to make sure he was all right, because he was making me look like I was blowing a .07 in
comparison. Finally, the drunkard made his way down Pete’s driveway. As he got closer and into the light, I noticed he looked like he’d been in an accident— he was covered in blood. Needless to say, this helped my sobering up.
“You all right, man?” I asked, standing up from the ground in shame. He continued groaning and mumbling until he reached out and grabbed me with his cold and bloody mitts. Then, I don’t know what happened, but his wrinkly, dried-up lips curled around his bloody white teeth and the guy bit me on the neck!
TARA
I arrived at work around 4:30 in the afternoon. The Georgio’s Pizza employee parking lot seemed unusually empty. On a Friday that’s often a very bad sign. My co-workers probably found some party or event to attend together, leaving me to cover on the busiest night of the week.
As I entered through the back of the building, my phone beeped. My boyfriend sent me a text message: Hey sweetie, don’t forget to ask about your birthday. 3 p.m.
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