Hitchers
Page 22
Then, just as Obos reached out to grab them both, it happened.
The explosion that followed was a hard one to explain. Obos imploded. In a burst of purple and blue light, the church and everything exploded outward and up. The loud eruption was deafening, pushing Greg and Peggy Ann to their backs in the grass. The wood caught fire as what remained of the church fell everywhere in the overgrown brush and grass. Boards rained down around them, slamming into the patrol car and Dr. Minders’ vehicle. Greg leaned over Peggy Ann to prevent things from landing on her. What bits of splintered board rained down on his back wasn’t much.
The flying debris settled.
The fire blazed on.
Greg and Peggy Ann sat there for a long time just watching the old church burn. Wrapped in each other’s arms, the flames reached for the stars, revealing to them a world that they would both never view the same again. The entire series of events had been so unreal that Greg didn’t think he would ever fully be able to wrap his mind around it all. He felt numb. Between his broken ribs, the bump on his head, the sliced cheek and his burned up arm from where that thing had grabbed, Greg was lucky to be alive. They both were.
“You know,” Greg grimaced, rubbing his ribs, and finally breaking the silence between them. “The offer still stands if you want to move to Monroe.”
Having seen his fair share of horror films, Greg expected a smiling nod, a loving embrace for saving her life, a kiss. Peggy Ann did none of that.
Peggy Ann stiffened and began to scream.
She was still shrieking when the police and paramedics arrived from the next town over.
About the Author
P. A. Douglas is the author of several survival horror novels, novellas, and short stories including Watchers, Rancid, and Horror Stories and Terrifying Tales. His work has been praised by several well-known authors and has appeared in Fangoria Magazine. He is also a nationally touring singer-songwriter, under the name: The Cries Of. With more than a dozen music related releases and countless national tours, he has recently decided to give away all of his music for free as digital downloads. Douglas lives in South East Texas. You can communicate with him online at:www.indie-inside.comor follow him at:www.twitter.com/indie_inside
Praise for P. A. Douglas and Epidemic of the Undead
“Embraces the B-movie quality of grindhouse, splatterpunk action!” - Dark Moon Books
"Epidemic of the Undead is a bare-bones no nonsense zombie apocalypse thriller with a passion for blood, guts, and a high body count." - Patrick D’Orazio, author of The Dark Trilogy
“I love it when a book takes me by surprise. Not just the plot, mind you, not just a well-drawn character or a clever point of view. Lots of books do that. No, the ones that really take me by surprise are the ones that manage to put into dramatic clarity all those vague issues in a reader’s head, circling just out of my reach. Patrick Douglas’ Epidemic of the Dead did just that. That seems strange, right? After all, one doesn’t usually expect such insight from a zombie story. But that’s exactly what happened to me while reading Epidemic of the Dead. For a while now I’ve been watching the news, worried about the future opening up in front of us, and feeling a disturbing degree of insularity. But now I see that Patrick Douglas has been wrestling with the same kind of thoughts and has put them into the kind of story we always hope to get from zombie fiction, but rarely do. In this book, you’ll find a real man, a “common” man, put on the road and made to wander through a nightmare of uncertainty. I hope you’re prepared for the head trip Patrick Douglas is about to throw your way…though somehow I doubt you are. I know I wasn’t.” - Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Flesh Eaters and Dead City
“Moving at a frenetic pace, Epidemic is an all-out ass-kicking trip into zombie armegeddon. The bodies pile up and the guts fly liberally, but it’s not all corpses and mayhem. This book has a tragic soul and a black beating little heart.” - Tim Curran, author of Resurrection