Prologue
There was once a princess who lived in a metal castle with her little boy, a prince with magical light up shoes and a naughty smile. She loved him very much and they were very happy, even though the metal castle was old and starting to fall apart and the princess didn’t have much money left in the castle’s treasure room.
Although the prince’s father was the court jester, he did not live in the metal castle. He lived somewhere else with a new wife and baby. The princess didn’t like him much. The jester could be funny and nice, but he could also be cruel. He’d broken her heart once and she vowed to never let him do it again.
One day, the jester came and claimed the little prince for a fun weekend across the village at his house. The princess always missed the little prince when he had to visit the jester, but she knew his father loved him very much. So she waved goodbye as the jester carried him away in a big fancy carriage.
What she didn’t know was that it was her final goodbye.
The monsters came that day. Monsters that were terrible and cruel. They turned the good people of the village into monsters before the princess even knew what was happening. By the time she understood that evil had taken over her land, it was too late. The little prince and the jester were lost.
The princess made a solemn vow to find the little prince in his new monster form and free him from the evil spell. She learned how to become a hunter and killed the monsters one by one.
Finally, one day, the princess found the jester and the prince. They were monsters now too. Her heart broke all over again when she saw the little prince’s magical light up shoes. She freed their souls with an arrow of love and sat down and cried until she had no more tears to shed.
In the night, she dreamed of an angel who told her to travel to a fortress on a hill. The angel told her that she would find good people there who would help her fight the monsters. So the next morning the princess packed up all her possessions and left her metal castle.
As she traveled, she started to worry she’d imagined the angel. That maybe she was foolish to follow the dream. And then she saw it. The fortress on a hill. And she knew the angel had told the truth.
The princess was met by a mighty knight who helped her onto his horse and carried her through the gates into the fortress. Once inside, she saw all the good people who were valiantly fighting the monsters and knew that she had found a sanctuary.
The princess - who would now be a monster hunter - had found a place to call home.
1
Paperwork of the Dead
“Zombies might rule the Earth, but there’s still paperwork to be done.”
“I guess things aren’t as different as I thought,” Emma answered while watching the middle-aged black woman shuffle folders around on the big desk. “Can I help?”
“No, no. Give me a second. Everything is a mess since I’m just moving in.” Dressed all in black from a long skirt to the scarf draped over her shoulders, the other woman looked far different from the dirty and sweaty jeans-and-t-shirt-wearing crews outside. Though her eyes were a little bloodshot and there were dark circles under her eyes, the woman had taken care to apply a tiny bit of eyeliner on her eyelids and a touch of dark lipstick on her lips. Her thick salt-and-pepper curls were pulled up into a poufy bun with a few tendrils clinging to her forehead. Emma couldn’t help but stare at her. It had been so long since she’d seen another woman that wasn’t a zombie.
The old building smelled of mildew, fresh coffee, the woman’s flowery perfume, and a whiff of stale body odor lingering from days past. Light poured through the tall windows into the large office that was filled with banker boxes loaded with more files. The walls were bare except for two maps - one of Texas and another of the town of Ashley Oaks - a portrait of an older black man, and a very old Texas flag in a frame. Picking up a name placard, the woman set it down at the edge of the desk for Emma to see. A fresh label was taped over the previous name. It read: Yolanda Williams, City Secretary.
Emma rocked on her heels, her leather cowboy boots creaking. The fan in the corner did little to cool the room and beads of perspiration ran down her spine, soaking the bottom of her red t-shirt. A little nervous in her new environment, she braided her chestnut-brown hair with trembling fingers just to give her something to do while waiting.
After living an entire year on her own, Emma was overwhelmed by this new world she’d discovered. While the high walls surrounding several blocks of downtown Ashley Oaks were impressive enough, the carefully-controlled chaos happening within them was even more so. In the shadow of the ten-story hotel, people bustled about doing various chores while sentries walked the high walls. The place was called The Fort, and Emma could definitely see why. She hadn’t been this safe in over a year. It was hard to imagine the zombies breaching these walls.
“Found it!” Yolanda held up a ledger with a faded green cover. It looked like a relic of another era. “Peggy had everything set up on the computer, but I have my paper backups. If we ever lose power, we’ll need them.”
“How do you have power?” Emma asked, her eyes flicking up to the sputtering fluorescent lights overhead.
“Hydro-electric plant. Some military personnel are up there with engineers keeping it going. We have a ton of generators outside in case we do lose power. Travis, Juan and Eric have got all the bases covered.”
“I met Juan coming in.”
The tall, green-eyed cowboy with the thick West Texas accent had ridden in on a horse to save her from a zombie as she’d approached the wall. His entrance had been impressive. Handsome, kind, and somehow fragile, she had to admit she found him more than a little attractive. The
fact he’d adopted orphaned children impressed her even more. She’d met his son, Troy, when she’d arrived. The sweet child had reminded her painfully of her own lost boy.
“Juan is the head of construction. He’s the one who got people to start building walls on the first day. Travis is our mayor. Nice city guy who is doing an okay job. Eric is an engineer from Austin. Sweet as pie, that one. The three of them have The Fort feeling almost like the old world except for the phones. Apparently some poles went down the first day. But we have a ham radio, CBs, and walkie-talkies. That’s something.” Yolanda settled behind her desk and flipped the ledger open. Picking up a pen, she appeared even more flustered than Emma. “Move that box and take a seat. I should have told you that before. I’m just a little rattled after yesterday and so damn tired. We’re all running on hardly any sleep around here. I’m sure you know how it is.”
“Absolutely.”
Emma heaved the box onto the floor and perched on the edge of an old metal and vinyl chair. It looked like the type of chair that inhabited every government building in existence. It made her strangely nostalgic.
“I’m sorry we’re so disorganized right now. That zombie horde coming through gave us a fright and we’re still cleaning up.”
“I heard it. Felt it. It went right by my Airstream,” Emma answered.
“You’re so blessed they didn’t know you were in there. There were thousands. I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
“I was drunk when they passed by. I had no idea there were so many.” After putting down the zombified body of her little boy, she’d drunk herself into a stupor and passed out. The zombie herd had knocked aside her Airstream on their way through the area.
“Well, God was looking out for you. Now, let me get you registered. What is your name?”
“I’m Emma Valdez,” she answered, opting for her maiden name instead of her ex-husband’s last name of Russell.
“Oh, are you Hispanic like Juan? Do you speak Spanish?”
“A quarter Lipan-Apache, actually. That’s where I get my name. My grandfather’s people are from on the border with Mexico. The rest of me is German stock from the Texas Hill Country with a big dose of basic redneck. I can speak a tiny bit of Spanish, but I’m not fluent.”
“Ah, okay. We have some former migrant workers who don’t speak a lot of English. I try to find them work partners that can communicate with them.”
“Juan said that everyone has assigned jobs.”
“That’s right. Everyone contributes.”
“I can hunt,” Emma offered. “My grandfather taught me how. I’m a good shot.”
“Oh, that’s good! We lost several of our good hunters recently.” Yolanda hesitated, a shadow of pain flitting over her face.
“You lost a lot of people to the horde?”
“No, no. They left before the horde got here. There was a… disagreement.”
Emma lifted her eyebrows, curious, but not comfortable with pushing to find out the details.
“Have you had a lot of interaction with the zombies, Emma? Know how to kill them?”