* * *
The interrogation room felt colder than before.
Garret Denny looked up as Jack closed the door. He fumbled with the pack of Newports. Jack tossed a key ring onto the table, then snatched the cigarettes from Garret’s hands. “A trade.”
Jack pulled one out , lit it, and inhaled. The smoke burned his throat and lungs, but it felt good, felt real.
“The gold one,” Jack said, pointing to the key ring. “You’re free to go.”
“Free to go?”
“Yes, free to go. Just stay local.”
“I don’t—”
“I don’t, either. Now go. Get out of here.”
Garret Denny unlocked the shackles that secured his ankles to the bolted rings on the floor, and slowly stood. Tears rimmed his eyes. He paused for a moment, as if trying to find the right words, but instead simply nodded and disappeared through the door.
Wrapped in the smoke and the welcomed silence, Jack tried to reconcile himself to the past few hours. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to. And it’ll haunt me for long days to come.
“Sometimes the world needs a little poetry,” Garret Denny had also said. “Even in dark times.”
In the small interrogation room of the Huntingdon Police station, Detective Jack Olson smiled an ironic smile.
This chapbook is an extension of the anthology Appalachian Undead. If you enjoyed these stories, then you can find 20 more Appalachia-inspired zombie tales in Appalachian Undead. Featuring such writers and zombie fiction legends as John Skipp, Gary A. Braunbeck, Elizabeth Massie, and Jonathan Maberry.
“A fresh and varied approach to the living dead, brought to life by a great crop of writers who were obviously energized by the idea of taking the ultimate survival scenario and staging it in a place where survival has always been a hard won achievement for anyone brave enough to live there.”
—Fearnet, Blu Gilland
Available in trade paperback and eBook editions.
ISBN: 978-1-937009-18-2
For more information visit our website at ApexBookCompany.com.
ABOUT THE EDITORS
Eugene Johnson has been a storyteller since childhood when he would make up his own comic books and stories. In college he started working in the film industry, working with the Huntington Film Commission and on the films We Are Marshall, Burning Annie, Unbroken (with Tony Todd), as well as a handful of independent films. In 2009, he was executive producer of the short film Leftovers, a zombie movie that screened at Scream Fest in Los Angeles and at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. His story “Bitten” was featured in The Zombie Feed, Volume 1, an anthology edited by the Bram Stoker-nominated editor Jason Sizemore. He was also editor of The Zombie Feed website. Eugene currently lives with his family in West Virginia. For more information, visit www.eugene-johnson.com.
Jason Sizemore is a two-time Hugo Award nominee and one-time Stoker Award nominee for his work as an editor. Born and raised in the hills of southeast Kentucky, he currently lives in Lexington, KY, where he runs and operates Apex Publications. For more information, you can visit his personal site at www.jason-sizemore.com.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Cortney Skinner’s artwork appears in books, magazines, comics, and in films. He has illustrated a wide range of subjects including science fiction, fantasy, horror, history, aviation, and children’s books.
Beginning his career in the traditional art techniques of pencil, pen, and paint, he added pixels to his palette at the beginning of the digital age. Working in a variety of media and styles ranging from realistic oils to pen and ink illustrations, Skinner also sculpts all manner of people, creatures, and esoteric objects. His conceptual designs and artwork have appeared in films, and his landscapes, still lifes, and portraits are found in private collections.
Nestled comfortably in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Skinner shares a creative life and abode with writer Elizabeth Massie.
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