Zombie Ascension (Book 1): Necropolis Now

by Vincenzo Bilof

  There was another two gunshots, and Jonas saw Erik coming back from the altar. He was panting heavily, and wiping blood from his face. Jonas asked him who was shooting, if the police had finally arrived, but he was met with a blank stare.

  “I don’t know. Later, Hamsikker. I’ve got to find my family.”

  Erik barged past, and Jonas saw the body of his father lying beneath the casket. He was truly dead this time. There was a bullet hole in his forehead, and another shot had taken off his jaw. Francis’ eyes were closed now, and Jonas was certain they were going to stay that way. A figure stepped down from the altar, and paused by Jonas, looking him up and down.

  “You’d do well to get yourself armed, son. You’re in Kentucky now. It looks like we’re in for trouble. You seen what’s going on outside?”

  Jonas wiped his hands through his hair, and saw a pair of tidy flat shoes standing in a slick pool of blood. The green dress the woman wore seemed familiar, and then he remembered who it was.

  “Mrs Danick? Is that you?”

  The elderly woman tucked the revolver back into her handbag, and began shuffling off to the church doors. “Get out of town, Hamsikker. Your father don’t need you no more. And get that lovely wife of yours someplace safe.”

  Jonas took one more look at his father. He was truly dead. Jonas wasn’t sure if his father was at peace, or what had just happened was real, but he was sure of one thing, Mrs Danick was right; they had to find someplace safe. He took Dakota’s hand and they ran after Mrs Danick. The church had emptied, and everything seemed unreal, as if it was a dream. Jonas looked back at his father, and the dead priest, and wiped warm blood from his face. This was no dream. The three of them stood in the church doorway looking outside. The sky was still blue, and the cardinals were still flying amongst the trees, but everywhere else he looked, Jonas saw death. Countless cars had crashed into each other, and plumes of smoke were rising from the direction of Louisville. The church pathway was littered with bodies, and in the distance, he heard sirens drifting over the breeze.

  “What’s happening?” asked Dakota as she linked her arm with Jonas’s.

  A man came from around the corner of the church, dressed in a black suit, and Jonas recognised the figure as someone from the funeral. Uncle Nevin? Uncle Newton? The name escaped him, as it was hard to identify the man with half his face missing. Something, or someone, had ripped off the left half of the man’s face, and one eye dangled from its socket. Blood dripped from the man’s mouth, and when he saw Jonas, he growled.

  A sedan suddenly came to a screeching halt at the roadside, and the driver’s window automatically wound down. Jonas could see the car had four occupants, but only the driver was clearly visible through the blacked out windows.

  “Get in,” shouted Erik. “Get the hell in, now!”

  The path between the road and the church was blocked by the dead man, who was now staggering toward them. Another figure was rising from the ground beside a poorly maintained grave. The earth was fresh, and there was no headstone, just a simple white cross that was crushed beneath the dead man’s feet.

  Mrs Danick calmly took the revolver from her handbag, and cocked it. “You go,” she said to Jonas and Dakota as she raised the gun and took aim at the approaching figures. “I’ve got this.”

  Hamsikker is available from Amazon here