Zombie Complex: Inspired by Real Places

Zombie Complex is set in a fictional apartment complex that is inspired by a real one.  It's a complex that my wife and I have lived in on and off for far too many years.  When we had a dog, I walked every square inch of this place and even into many of the surrounding wooded areas.  I know where the possums are, where the racoons hide, and I'm familiar with at least three generations of stray cats in the area.  In real life, the inspiration dog behind Dale was quite a character and we miss him every day.  Nothing gets you familiar with the topography of a place like walking a dog every day and every night.

The real life inspiration dog behind Dale

When I write of cooking smells, bugs, and residents who can't park, that's my truth.  It's a truth that my wife and I lived for a long time as residents of this complex and several other apartment communities.  Even the weirdest neighbors draw a little inspiration from real neighbors that I have had over the years.  If there is a stretch, it's probably in the strength of the gates.  In real life, they break or get sabotaged all the time.

An aerial photo of the inspiration apartments doesn't reveal much.  If you read Zombie Complex, you may recognize some of the features.  I just hope that I was able to breath life into the place and threaten it with death by a thousand zombies.  When I look at the photo, I can immediately pick out the gates, the garbage area. the mailbox hut, the pool, and the vegetable garden.  It's easy for me to distinguish between the little bungalows and the big buildings.  I can also imagine where many of the key battles in my novel take place.  For me, the complex is a place where heroes live and die and it makes the location much more meaningful to me.  

An aerial view (from Google Maps) of the inspiration apartment complex behind Zombie Complex

I hope you enjoy getting familiar with my world and I appreciate everyone who has joined our fight for survival.  I hope that the authenticity of the place and its population shines through in my pages.

Zombie Drabble: The Woman is Strong

     "I don't think I can deal with this," Randy said shaking his head.

     "I know," Mike replied.  "The prospect of being disemboweled makes me shudder."

     "We can't go out there," Randy continued.  "We might die."

     "The dead are so," Mike paused wiping his tears, "grotesque."

     "I'm hot, I'm tired, I'm hungry," Mike continued.  "I'm so thirsty."

     "I'm parched too."

     A slender figure in black emerged from the shadows.  It was Sandra.  She had a shotgun, she racked the slide, and she opened the door.

    "Where are you going?" Randy asked.

    "I’m hungry and I can't wait for you girls forever."

     

Zombie Flash Fiction: Forever Walking

Sleepless.  Tired.  Wired.  Hungry. Parched.  We pressed onward. Just climb the ridge. Just follow the road.  Walking west forever. My shoes were almost worn out.  I hadn’t showered.  I didn’t care.  I didn’t even want to remember eating.  My thoughts were a jumble of memories of the world that used to be.  The news reports of the spreading virus were a fading blur.  Ahead was the army. Soldiers.  Relief.  Shock!  Why shoot at us?

Photo by Rodrigo Fernández / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Zombie Bites: Standing Tall

My name is Buddy Lumpkin and I was up in a Tower Crane by the new baseball stadium when it all went down.  With a corporate headquarters to build, there was no slack in the schedule.  I got to the job site at 6 a.m., made my long climb, put my lunch in the mini-fridge, and looked down to see that we had a whole line of trucks to unload.  It was going to be girders all day.

After a sausage biscuit and a bit of coffee, my bellman, Jeff, finished jawing with the super and got on the horn.  I like working with him because he's got a good eye and he's real good on the radio.  

Pretty soon we were getting it done.  All morning long I was hearing: 

"Left, left, left, 15 feet, 10 feet, 5 feet, hold."
"Trolley out. Trolley out. 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, hold."
"Load on.  Hoist!"
"Right, right, right, 20, 15, 10, 5, hold."
"Lower, lower, lower, 10, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, hold."
 
Then, just before lunch, Jeff starts hollering into the radio.
"Holy crap!  Holy crap!  Holy crap!"

I just about crapped my pants.  I had a load of girders on and thought I'd dropped something.  

"What the hell is going on?" I hollered right back.
"Zombies!" came the reply.  "They are eating us!"
"I thought the news proved that zombies were B.S.?"
"Looks like they were wrong, Buddy."

I grabbed my binoculars and, sure enough, there were swarms of monstrous looking people surging onto the construction and just laying into people.  They were just tearing people up and eating them alive.  People running.  Then some of the workers grabbed pipes and heavy tools and started fighting back.  A thin line of orange vests took form and stood toe-to-toe with the horde.

Jeff came back on the radio.
"Hoist that load," he commanded.  "Up 15.  Trolley out."
"What's going on down there?" I asked.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1.  Hold," Jeff responded.  "We're going to flatten the dead."
"I got ya,"  I told him.
"Swing left, left, 10, 5, 1, hold."
I tried to see what was happening with the binoculars, but there was no time.
"Put the load down hard,"  Jeff ordered.
"Hammer time!"
"We got 'em!"  Jeff replied, "Now hoist 3 feet!"
"Alright," I said.  "What's the plan?"
"Let's smack 'em around," Jeff replied.  "Swing right just a little, 10, 5, 3 ..."
"Did we get them?" I asked.
"A whole bunch," he said.  "Now we got to go the other way."
"Say the word."
"Now right quick," he said.  "Swing left 20, 5, 4, 3 ... that's good!"

Photo by High Contrast / CC BY 3.0 DE (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/de/deed.en)

Up in my cab, a whole bunch of red lights came alive on my dashboard.  The load of girders was swinging like a pendulum and was straining the jib--that's what you might think of as the boom.

"We're gonna have to slow down brother," I radioed down.  "The computer ain't too happy with our batting practice."
 "Well, we don't have much time," Jeff replied urgently. "There's another big mob of them coming through the gate."
"You guys are going to have to pull back," I told him.


 I tried to slowly move the joystick to slew the jib.  I hit the button to hoist the load.  But, the computer wasn't having it.  I could re-boot, but that might take a couple of minutes.  There was only one thing to do.  Take a deep breath and give it a little time to calm down.

"One Mississippi.  Two Mississippi,"  I said to myself grabbing the binoculars.

At three Mississipi, I saw one of the Mexican concrete guys  brandishing a long pipe in an effort to fend off three of the zombies.  The dead didn't care.  By the fifth Mississippi, he was down and being disemboweled.

I looked down again and I saw the Super with his megaphone.  I don't know what he was saying, but all the workers started running into the building.  The Super ran right behind them.  He moved pretty fast for an old guy in khakis and a collared denim shirt.

By the time I counted to the fifteenth Mississippi, I couldn't see anyone below.  The joystick was beginning to respond again.

"Jeff!  Jeff," I called out.  "Are you still down there?"

Sixteen Mississippi.  Seventeen Mississippi.

"Hey Buddy," the breathless bellman finally responded.  "I'm about fifty feet up on your ladder."

"Good,"  I told him. "I've got slew control again."

 "Well alright," he says.  "Let's get to work smashing zombies."

We survived that day and so did most of the workers on the job site.  As soon as the coast was clear, we all headed for our vehicles and headed home.  I remember picking my way through flattened and mangled zombies.  Some of them were still jawing and rasping.  Most of them were just pulp.  I remember walking by the pile of steel girders we left in the entrance.  The blood was just dripping off of them.  It made a big red puddle.

I hope Jeff made it home.  I'd like to work with him again when we start rebuilding this world.

The Health of the Zombie Genre

It's that special time of year.  Fall is coming.  Halloween is less than a month away.  The Walking Dead - Season 9 will premiere on October 7th.  The smell of putrid, rotting, flesh is fresh in the air.  It's almost zombie time again!

What's going on with the zombie genre?  With the departure of several major characters on The Walking Dead, many people wonder if the venerable franchise will be able to carry on.  I for one hope that that TWD does continue for many more years.  The departure of Rick and Maggie is a big deal for the show.  They should both go out with a bang or a bite or in some way that changes everything.  Change is interesting.  I would like to see the survivors on TWD make some progress towards a human recovery.  I would like to see mankind start to rise from the ashes.  But, after 9 seasons of The Walking Dead and countless other zombie-themed dramas, many are wondering if zombie fatigue may be setting in.

Has the world been over saturated with zombie stories, television shows, and movies?  I sure hope not.  I still have quite a few stories bouncing around in my brain that I would really like to tell.  Unfortunately, when I search the term "Zombie Books" on Amazon, I get over 50,000 results.  There are a lot of zombie books.  As an Indie Author, it is incredibly daunting to find readers for my solitary novel and my lonesome pair of short stories.  Like surviving a zombie apocalypse, reaching readers requires almost superhuman perseverance.  However, in many ways, zombie stories are timeless and they do illuminate important ideas about humanity.  I want to keep on plugging and make sure my own tales shed some light for the enjoyment of my readers.

I recently came across this essay "A Fresh Take on Rotting Flesh:  Zombies in Media" by Alicia Dryer of Roosevelt University.  Since zombies are a classic monster in popular culture just like vampires or Frankenstein, the author thinks there is still room for creativity.  Perhaps there is still life in the dead genre?  Now, I've just got to get cracking!

If you liked Zombie Cage, you'll love Zombie Complex!

I really appreciate everyone who took the time to read my new short story, Zombie Cage.  I hope you found it an intense journey into the heart of a zombie apocalypse.  It was fun to write and I hope fun to read.  I hope some of you leave reviews on Amazon.com to provide me with some feedback and to attract even more readers.

If you liked the little taste of zombie action that you got in Zombie Cage, you'll love my novel, Zombie Complex.  It chronicles the fight of a very realistic and diverse set of people caught up in a zombie apocalypse.

Read Zombie Cage for Free!

My new horror short story, Zombie Cage, is out now.  It will drop you right into the center of a zombie horde with scientists and security personnel on a mission to collect zombie blood, zombie DNA, and even attach radio transmitters to track the movements of zombies.  The team will be protected only with their firearms and the bars of a steel cage.  If you like shark week, you'll love this short read.  It's normally free for readers who subscribe to Kindle Unlimited and 99 cents for everyone else reading with Kindle.  However, from August 1st through August 3rd, my short story will be free on Amazon to everyone!  My only request is that you leave a review on Amazon.  I'd love to know what you think of the story!

Zombie Flash Fiction - Rhonda's Ride

     Rhonda loved her new car.  It had everything she ever wanted in a car:  leather seats, a kickin' stereo, a back up camera, phone connectivity, internet radio, and all kinds of safety features.  The car could practically drive itself.  It was smart!  But, today, Rhonda was getting a little worried about the news.  S*&t was getting real!  People got some freaky ass disease and were running around biting people.  Today, Rhonda just wanted to drive straight home.  Of course, she had to go through the old Cumberland Village to get there.  Bumper-to-Bumper:  as always!

Photo By Niels de Wit from Lunteren, The Netherlands [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

      Last week, the sorry ass DJ's on the car radio were laughing it up.
     "There's no such thing as zombies!" they said.
     "Watch out for Frankenstein," they laughed.
 
      They were saying something different today.  Their asses were on the radio beggin' for someone to please bring them some food.
     "Oh, I have food," Rhonda yelled at the radio.  "I have food for my children!"
     "I just have to get it home," she muttered to herself.

     Rhonda looked to her right and some dude was biting an old lady in the neck.  She looked to her left, at the oncoming traffic, just in time to see a redneck dude plow his pickup right into the back of a stopped car--kaabam!  Airbag deployment and everything.  Everybody was looking at the carnage surrounding them.  Everybody was in shock.  But, Rhonda didn't have time for that kind of mess.  She had to get the groceries home and lock up tight.  The kids weren't going anywhere!

     The noise of the collision seemed to bring all the crazy biter bastards out.  They were everywhere.  The car in front of her hit the gas and opened up a gap in the traffic.  But, the biters just walked right into the road and filled the gap in.  There were dozens of them.  Rhonda had to get through zombies or no zombies.  She saw a spot on the sidewalk and punched the accelerator.  If the biters wouldn't get out of the way, she would just run their asses down.

     Suddenly, a big red light lit up on her dashboard and the car came to a halt just six inches from a couple of the monstrous pedestrians.  She punched the gas and car wouldn't move.  She slammed it into reverse, the backup camera came on revealing more dead pedestrians.  The car lurched backwards and came to a half after moving all of two feet.  The red light on the dash warned her again.  The car revved and went no where.  The car would not be used as a weapon.  It would not run down pedestrians.

     "Oh no," Rhonda cried.  "This ride is too damn smart!"

Zombie Nanofiction - The Hand

THE HAND

Something dead was in the middle of the street. It had attracted a whole murder of hungry crows. They were pecking at it, screeching at each other, and fighting over it. It was a human hand. I looked around for a human. But, no one I saw fit that description anymore.

I fought back my bile. I didn't tell anyone. Karen was driving. Vijay was in back desperately trying to stop Charan's bleeding. I kept my finger indexed along the slide. I kept my muzzle pointed down. We needed to reach the hospital. If there still was one. 

A murder of crows - Photo By liz west from Boxborough, MA (murder of crows) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Zombie Drabble - Faster

Here is a bit of zombie nanofiction (100-word Flash Fiction) that I originally posted over on the Zombie Squad Forum. Enjoy!

Faster

I ran with her, I  trained her, I encouraged her, and I even slept with her when her  husband was away on business.  But, her training regime was never going  to work, she wouldn’t cut back on all her fancy iced coffees.  She blew  off aerobic workouts regularly.  She huffed and she puffed, but she paid  me.

I bet she doesn’t worry about her husband’s pretty  receptionist now.  Her protein diet and her half-assed workouts don’t  matter.  Back when we had a hundred dead people shuffling along behind  us on our run, only one thing truly mattered. I was faster.

Photo by Ed Yourdon [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

Zombie Complex is now available in paperback!

Great news!  You can now buy Zombie Complex (http://amzn.to/2FAvBT0) in paperback form.  Now you can experience the zombie fighting action in the comfort of your bathroom or late at night when you don't want to fiddle with electronics. 



Over the past month or two, many people have told me that they didn't have a Kindle Reader.  While you can easily get Kindle for PC or Kindle for Mac,  I'm really glad that Amazon has a print-on-demand option that allows authors to publish traditional books.  Now, if you want to experience the struggle against zombies in paperback, you can!