Excerpt from Dead Kill Book 2: The Ridge of Change by Thomas Malafarina
Check out the first book in the series too … Dead Kill Book 1: The Ridge of Death
As the undead creature raised its head still higher, likely preparing to issue one of its horrible growls, Jackson brought down the blade in a wide sweeping circular motion, its shiny surface no more than a blur in the morning light. As it completed its arc with a silent swishing sound it came in contact with Kinkaid’s stretched neck and severed its head from its body within a split second. The cut was amazingly clean and complete. Jackson saw the head separate, spin several times in the air then fall to the patio with a sickening thudding sound. Thank goodness it didn’t roll. Jackson didn’t know if he could have handled that so early in the morning. The spinning through the air was bad enough. A moment later that thudding sound was followed by the squishing plop of Kinkaid’s headless body falling down over his wife’s disemboweled corpse.
It was then that Jackson heard a shuffling sound followed by a slightly higher-pitched growl. Mrs. Kinkaid, or at least what remained of her, had been transformed into yet another undead creature, which Jackson knew he would have to deal with. The thing was now up on its elbows trying to pull itself free from the weight of the fallen corpse of Mr. Kinkaid. Jackson heard a sickening tearing sound as the horrid creature pulled its remaining torso away from the rest of its ravaged body. It was one of the most revolting sights Jackson had ever seen, which was saying a lot all things considered. Below its now tattered torso, its spinal column extended out like some sort of horrific yellow and crimson tail. Jackson could hear the bone scraping along the brick of the patio. It was a sound he knew he would never be able to forget no matter how much longer he might happen to live.
The creature looked hungrily at Jackson growling with the same unintelligible guttural moan all of these creatures seemed to make as it began to inch its way slowly toward him. Behind the corpse, dragging along entangled in the remnants of its spine were several pink and crimson intestines, which made horrible ruby snail trails on the patio resembling a cluster of crawling snakes. Jackson chose not to waste another second.
Bringing down the sword for the second time that morning, Jackson sunk the razor-sharp blade deep enough into the thing’s skull to practically cleaving its head in two. The creature fell forward to the ground with the blade still buried inside its head having stopped just an inch above the old woman’s mouth. Jackson stared at the carnage before him panting with exertion and stress from the horrifying act.
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If you like what you read, pick up a copy …
Check out Book 2 of the Dead Song Legend by Jay Wilburn.
Jay Wilburn lives with his wife and two sons in Conway, South Carolina near the Atlantic coast of the southern United States. He has a Masters Degree in education and he taught public school for sixteen years before becoming a full time writer. He is the author of many short stories including work in Best Horror of the Year volume 5, Zombies More Recent Dead, Shadows Over Mainstreet, and Truth or Dare. He is the author of the Dead Song Legend Dodecology and the music of the five song soundtrack recorded as if by the characters within the world of the novel The Sound May Suffer. He also wrote the novels Loose Ends and Time Eaters. He is one of the four authors behind the Hellmouth trilogy. He cowrote The Enemy Held Near with Armand Rosamilia. Jay Wilburn is a regular columnist with Dark Moon Digest. Follow his many dark thoughts on Twitter, Instagram, and Periscope as @AmongTheZombies, his Facebook author page, and at JayWilburn.com
Or begin the series with Book 1.
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LOL that was gruesomely awesome. Thanks to television, I got a visual of that scene.