Detective Dead

Detective Dead will be my tenth book, I want it to be special so it will be a long time coming. It is a retro zombie outbreak story set in the late 1940's. Here is a quick preview of what is to come!

Synopsis:

It was December 31st, 1946 when the dead rose from their graves, just hours before New Year's Eve! Now, 1947 is off to a terrifying start, it could spell the apocalypse for all of America. Yet, not all of these undead are brainless zombies. Some still retain their previous personalities, but must feast upon the living to remain intelligent and "alive", ironically humanity's last hope lays within the hands of one of these grave walkers, Detective Harvey Reed. He's been resurrected from the dead, with the mission to solve this horrifying outbreak. However as the nights pass, Harvey must eat human flesh to stay alive, his body and mind decomposing more and more everyday, until he too will become completely brain-dead. Can he solve the mystery of this outbreak before it is too late?! Could it be UFOs from out of space who started this madness? Maybe it was by the hands of a mad scientist? Or perhaps, this is the devil's work!

Detective Dead is a satirical take on Noir horror, a retro zombie outbreak story, with a Mad Scientist, little green Aliens and a hard boiled Detective; who is slowly losing his mind!

Prologue:

Gerald Price and his family drove through the town of Rockwell. It was New Year's night and everyone was celebrating, jingles and cheers could be heard within every pub and house that they drove passed. It was 7pm and they were driving to a family party, that was hosted at a restaurant in town. Gerald was 32, his wife 31, his son and daughter were both twins, aged 12. They were a happy family until tragedy struck, when they spotted a group of three hitch hikers, slumping forwards on the road ahead. The Price family were good Samaritans, so they foolishly pulled over onto the right side of the road to speak to these mysterious travellers. Even at 7pm, it was dark and foggy on that road, these mysterious strangers looked just like ordinary men and women from afar. Yet close up, the whole family were horrified. Each and everyone of the strangers looked like reanimated corpses! Gerald and his wife Marilyn, thought these strangers had just survived a horrifying car accident, so decided to speak to them anyway. The man in this group dressed rather strangely, like that of a Viking, dressed in a metallic Armour which looked rough and rusty, covered in mud and blood. He held an axe in his hand and approached Marilyn, who was sitting in the front passenger seat. She rolled down her window.

"Oh dear, look at you all!" She gasped, "what on earth happened to you?"

"Brains..." The Viking growled, "we need... Brains and meat to eat."

"Don't you need help?!" She cried.

"You can help..." It smirked, revealing his face beneath his helmet, the skin upon his head was full of maggots and skull protruded from beneath. Marilyn screamed in terror, so did her whole family, including Gerald as the monster pulled her through the window and began feasting upon her neck. The other strangers began to laugh, wickedly and they were just as monstrous looking as the Viking who was now tearing Marilyn's dress to pieces to get at her tender flesh. Gerald fled from his car and punched it's head, it fell onto his back and Gerald stomped down upon it's skull, shattering the monster's head to pieces. He lifted Marilyn to her feet and they both quickly got back into their car and drove off, leaving the other two un-dead behind.

Gerald pulled over where it was safe and tore off a piece of his shirt, to wrap around Marilyn's leaking neck wound.

"Is mother gonna live, pops?" his son, Sonny Price asked, with tears in his eyes.

"Don't wo-worry sunshine, I'm going to be..." Marilyn grunted in pain, "...just fine, your daddy will get us to a hospital, won't you dear?"

"Yes, my darling. Everything will be just fine." Gerald replied, smiling weakly.

"Oh gosh..." Their daughter, Lilly, whimpered.

"It'll be ok, baby girl." Marilyn smiled at her, with tears in her eyes. Suddenly the radio stopped playing jazz, to announce an important message to the people of Rockwell.

"The dead have risen from their graves!" The radio host cried, "everyone needs to stay locked in, don't let the un-dead cursed get inside your home!"

"Oh my goodness!" Marilyn whimpered.

"This is... This is unbelievable!" Gerald said to himself. The radio host continued:

"They are spreading far and wide across the whole of Rockwell, even late beloved pets are returning to life. They are especially dangerous, as these grave walkers crave human flesh and brains to survive. I've seen them seeking the living, feasting upon their bodies like candy!"

"What are we to do, Gerald!" Marilyn screamed, hysterically.

"Survive!" He snapped.

"Those bitten..." The radio host sighed, deeply, "will soon become accursed. Overcome with an urge to feast upon human flesh themselves."

"Mommy... does that mean..." Lilly gasped.

"No sweetheart!" Marilyn shivered, "surely not, this can't all be true, can it, Gerald... Gerald?!" She was panicking now, crying like a child.

"I don't know!" He shouted, freaking out himself.

"Once infected, the only cure is..." The radio host breathed heavily, taking a long pause, "...death. The brain must be destroyed. We don't know how to stop this, it's only just begun and as hard as this is to hear, those infected are far better off dead. They change, become blood thirsty monsters as their minds and body decompose!"

"Mother's going to die!" Sonny cried. Gerald punched the radio off.

"This is nonsense!" He groaned, "I'm not killing Marilyn, nobodies turning into a monster! I'm taking you to the hospital, they'll patch you up and we can celebrate the new year, ok!" Gerald laughed, weakly, "everything's going to be just fine..."

The family arrived at Rockwell's hospital, it was a scene of pure horror and chaos. Thousands of un-dead were limping from the hospital, as nurses, patients and doctors fled from the scene in complete terror. The hospital itself was set a blaze, as burning corpses walked out into the open. A few survivors banged on Gerald's car, desperately trying to get in.

"Please, save us from this unholy abomination!" One of them screamed.

"Wait!" A young man pointed at Marilyn, "she's infected!"

"No I'm not!" She lied.

"That's a bite, all right!" He replied, pulling a 44 Magnum Revolver from his blazer's pocket. Gerald ran the man over without any hesitation, they drove off as the man screamed in agony and was immediately eaten by a gang of blood thirsty un-dead, who all had giant smiles across their bloody faces. Sonny watched as some of them rose up and actually fought among each other for more meat. They even screamed and roared at each other, as another ripped huge chunks away from the screaming man and limped away to eat his flesh in private. One of the un-dead, pulled the Magnum from the dying man's blazer and shot the escaping eater. Even the dead were turning onto each other! Obviously the hospital was a no go, so the Price family drove off into the night, looking for sanctuary.

As the night went on, new year's eve turned into chaos, as the town of Rockwell was now full of grave walkers, chasing down the living without mercy. The Price family spotted a strange sight, where some of the un-dead were actually defending the living from both bandits and hordes. Eventually the whole town was simply a riot a of the living and un-dead battling it out among each other, guns were banging off from both sides as buildings were set a blaze. Police Officers were standing on top of rooftops, shooting undead with sniper rifles and pistols. One of the cops outside the police station, waved at the Price family, who pulled over and escaped their car to get into the secure building.

It was just the police man and family that were inside the station, Gerald and the officer barred off the door, as un-dead were banging to get inside, screaming; "let us in, we want to eat your brains!" Soon, they settled down and both men pulled away to sit down, facing Gerald's family. Just when Gerald thought he could relax, the officer noticed Marilyn holding a bloodied rag around her neck.

"What- what happened to you?!" He barked, rising to his feet.

"N- nothing!" Marilyn stammered.

"Yeah... That's what they all say." he groaned, standing to his feet, pulling a pistol out of his holster.

"Please no!" Sonny cried, hugging his mother.

"Get away from her kid, she's not your mommy anymore..." The officer said, while loading his clip into the gun and aiming it at her head!

"Yes I am!" Pleaded Marilyn as she held both her kids close to her chest, the twins were crying into their mother's arms.

"Stand down!" Gerald roared.

"You don't understand!" The officer cried, "it's just a matter of time before she turns, your wife will eat your children, then me and you. That, or we all get infected and become un-dead monsters!"

"The dead speak!" Gerald screamed, "they're not so brain-dead, Marilyn would never turn on us!"

"I'd never!" She admitted, burying her face into Lilly's hair, inhaling her daughter's delicious scent.

"Get away from the child!" The officer begged, fingering the trigger, but not firing.

"It's ok..." Marilyn breathed, gently pushing her children away and standing to her feet, with her hands held up in the air. The rag fell from her neck, the wound looked grotesque and pulsing with black veins spreading from her bite mark.

"No, Marilyn, he's wrong, don't let him shoot!" Gerald begged. The officer got ready to fire, standing in to a shooting position. Gerald couldn't take it anymore, he wrestled the police officer to the ground and then the gun went off, but he didn't stop to see what the impact was. The two men began fighting, until Gerald ultimately won and stood over the fallen police officer, who was crying in agony. Before Gerald could pick up the pistol, Marilyn jumped on top of the fallen officer, roaring like some wild tiger! She tore him apart while he screamed in horror, Gerald couldn't believe what he was seeing, his once beautiful wife devolved into a flesh eating monster. She moaned in pleasure, giggling as she gobbled up the officer's skin like it was chocolate. It tasted like it too, according to her, it was like eating a human candy bar. She had been holding back her cravings forever, since she had settled down and sat with her children, the aroma from her offspring was becoming too much. The hunger was taking over and now it had finally reached its climax. Gerald picked up the gun and clicked it, Marilyn awoke from her trance and turned to look at her husband, who had the gun aimed at her head. She dropped the officer's bloody fingers from her mouth, then a saddened look took over her face. She began crying in shame as even her children looked terrified, looking away in horror.

"I- I- I'm so sorry!" She stuttered, feeling like a monster, "kids, it's me, your mom..." She reached out to them, but they stood and ran backwards into the corner of the room. She looked up at her husband, who had a face full of tears, eyes red with devastation.

"Do it." She said, tears falling from her un-dead face. Gerald shot his wife.