Teaser - Sleep, Think, Die

Scorching day here in South Wales - two hot days in a row, must be some kind of record...

Still not as hot as it was for Bumper and Lavender this particular afternoon. Extract from 'Sleep, Think, Die,' Book One in The Mindless Trilogy.

"The heat of the fire that was the aftermath of the explosion began to reach him as he drew closer, evaporating the beads of sweat on his skin, leaving him feeling dry and suddenly parched. Every now and then a small pop emanated from the blaze. The fire cracked and snapped, assaulting the day as if angry with it, sending trails of heavy black smoke upward in eye-watering columns. Bumper began to cough and attempt to cover his mouth with his undamaged arm. The back of his throat itched, irritated. He pushed on, lungs screaming.

He became aware of another sound; that of shouting. Someone was calling his name. Confused, he looked around, unable to see who it was. At last he looked, up, discerning through the smoke and his own exhaustion that it was Carson, standing at a shattered window and waving his arms like a mad-man. 

No strength left with which to wave back, Bumper simply came to a standstill, panting heavily, looking dumbly up at him. His brow furrowed as he forced himself to concentrate, to focus on the words.

“Move!” Carson was screaming, “It’s almost on you! Move!”

Bumper blanched, remembering the eviscerated zombie-woman at last. He turned, surprised that despite her gory handicap she had caught up with him. He must have been groggier than he had realised.

He sighed, ready to give in, all the fight gone from him. The zombie woman pushed her scrawny neck forward, eyes bulbous, almost popping from her head. She allowed her slickly uncooperative intestines to fall and coil at her feet. Scrawny arms raised, she let out a fetid, breathy gurgle that might have been a laugh in other circumstances, gripped his ruined arm and leaned in for the bite.

Bumper’s world became a sudden and vivid rainbow; first the scarlet of sheer, utter pain as her bony fingers dug into his tortured limb. Then the white-hot bend of fury at his weakness and her mindless, brainless hunger. All this followed by the black of despair as he understood that he was spent; there was no way he could fight her, or even hold her off.

His legs buckled beneath him, throwing her off target. For one revolting moment she leaned over him, her near-skeletal hands on his shoulders, her grotesque wound almost in his face. She righted herself, pushing upwards from his frame, readjusting her stance.
Then she was gone. Something barrelled into her from the side, spearing her left to right. A high, feminine scream reached his ears and he knew it was not the zombie woman screeching. 

Bumper blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes. A small woman in a flapping, filthy smock was forcing the zombie woman backwards, ever closer to the fire. She had run her through with a pole of some description. Bumper had no idea what the weapon was, nor did he care. He watched in bleary amazement as Lavender pressed on, the zombie writhing like a worm on a hook. They were at the fire, and Bumper wondered at Lavender’s ability to get so close without burning. 

With one last grunt Lavender heaved forward. Through his clouded vision, it looked to Bumper like she too had disappeared into the fire. For a worrying moment there was no sign of her. Then she was back, dropping onto all fours, coughing and gasping, her boots and jeans smouldering and blackened.

She crawled to Bumper, “Are you ok?”

He shook his head, “Not really. Are you?”

Feet appeared in Bumper’s line of vision. He looked up to see Carson had left the window to meet them out on the street.

“Not really,” Lavender answered, not bothering to acknowledge Carson, “I didn’t get the medulla oblongata, but I think that bitch is dead,” she added in a small, breathy voice, “Her insides were spilling out all over the place, and I pushed her into the hottest looking part of the fire I could reach. Last time I looked, her guts had starting browning nicely. Reminded me of sausages.”

Then she turned away from them and spilled her own guts into the dust."

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XJYGFC2