The Horror Megapack_ 25 Classic and Modern Horror Stories ( PDFDrive )

remnants of her hosiery.
Ducoin chuckled at Connell’s frenzied struggles.
“That won’t do you any good. I’ll leave a guard here to watch you while Aunt
Célie and I finish the brew that’ll make both of you zombies.”
At Ducoin’s command, all but one of the zombies filed out of the room. Before
he and Aunt Célie followed, the Creole paused to remark. “You were looking for
Plato. All right, I’m sending Plato in to help watch you. Now see how you like
the white man’s burden!”
They left. But presently, as the fumes from the kettle stifled and dizzied
Connell, he heard approaching footsteps clump-clump-clumping down the hall.
The black apparition which stood framed in the doorway froze his blood. Plato
had returned, a loose-jointed, shambling, lifeless hulk that moved in response to
the zombie master’s command.
“Good God in heaven!” he groaned.
“That’s why I warned you,” whispered Madeline. “I saw Plato before and
after.”
“If I’d only left—”
“I’m still glad you didn’t, Walt. It was such a ghastly, lonely life. Becoming a
living corpse is better than never having lived.”
A wave of nausea racked Connell. He and Madeline would presently be the
companions of that horrible hulk.
“Hitch your chair over, bit by bit,” Madeline continued. “Maybe I can get you
loose.”
Connell’s cramped efforts moved the chair a scant fraction of an inch. At the
rasp of wood, the heads of the zombies shifted. They had their orders. Not a
chance.
“Plato,” said Connell. “Loosen my hands, Plato, don’t you remember me?”
Over and over, he repeated the name. The blank, sightless face seemed to
change for an instant.
“Maybe he’s not been this way long enough to forget everything,” whispered
Madeline. “Try again—”
The oft repeated name got unexpected results, but not from the zombie. Plato’s
wife, Amelia, came slinking from the hallway. Her black plump face became
slate grey as she stared into the ruddy glow.
“Where’s my Plato? Mr. Walt, was you talkin’ to him?”
Then she saw the hulk that had been Connell’s servant.
“Plato! Don’t you hear me talkin’ to you?”