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

Madeline’s trembling bare body and he resumed, “These zombies will do anything
I tell them. How would you like to see one of them—”
His words trailed to a whisper, but Connell knew what would happen to
Madeline, before his eyes.
And then the last remnant of cord that bound his wrist yielded. His freed hand
flashed out, striking the steaming beverage from Ducoin’s hand. As the Creole
recoiled, Connell’s other hand jerked loose, gripping him by the throat. The
sudden move caught Ducoin off guard. Since the master was present, the
zombies did not interfere; and Ducoin, throttled by Connell’s savage grasp, could
not articulate an order.
Sock! Connell’s fist hammered home, driving Ducoin crashing into a corner,
dazed and numb. Connell struggled with the bonds at his ankles, but only for a
moment. Aunt Célie seized his elbows from the rear.
Once Ducoin recovered his voice—!
Amelia was free. But instead of running, she approached Plato.
“Jes’ yo’ taste one, honey,” she crooned, placing a salted cashew nut in the
bluish, sagging mouth of her dead husband.
There was a mumbling and a drooling, a sudden flash of perception as the salty
tidbit mingled with the saliva; then an inarticulate, bestial howl.
Ducoin and Aunt Célie flung themselves forward.
“Stop her!” yelled Ducoin. “She’s giving them salt!”
Too late. Burly, powerful Plato had become a raging maniac. Amelia thrust
cashew nuts into the mouth of the other zombie. Another incredible
transformation. Another slavering, howling brute.
A pistol cracked, but only once. Ducoin’s weapon clattered into a corner. Plato
and his companion closed in.
The room became a red hell of slaughter. The insensate hulks were pounding
and trampling and flinging Ducoin and Aunt Célie about like bean bags.
They hungrily licked splashed blood from their hands, and renewed the assault.
Other zombies came from the fields, tasted a salted nut, and joined the butchery.
And presently there was only a shapeless, gory pulp that they were trampling
and beating into the floor.…
The zombies desisted for lack of fragments left to dismember. Then they
clambered to their feet, utterly ignoring Amelia and the two prisoners. They
shattered the window, cleared the sill, and dashed across the field. Against the
moonglow, Connell saw them burrowing into the ground like dogs.
Amelia, sobbing and laughing, was releasing him and Madeline.