The Hollow Men (Book 1): Crave (27 page)

No longer needing to guess where that creature was, Scott raised his knee and rammed his right foot hard into its cranium. Simultaneously, he let go of the taller zombie and jumped to his feet. He’d cleared enough debris from his eyes that he could just make out the SUV, illuminated intermittently by the pulsating yellow light of the van’s blinker.

He hopped toward Katie and hopefully freedom. He felt for the door of the SUV and tried pulling himself into the truck again. Like before, the two grasping corpses clutched him and used his body like climbing holds on a rock wall. If they killed him, they would feast on Katie moments afterward. He wasn’t going to let them get her. She must live.

He threw himself backward out of the SUV, carrying his undead passengers with him. Lying on his back, he grabbed the bottom of the metal door and swung it hard. Miraculously, it missed hitting either of the boys-turned-zombies. With a high-pitched creak, it slammed shut.

The hungry dead tore at his clothes, looking for an opening to Scott’s flesh. He kicked at them and pushed them away with his hands. He was beyond fatigued. He was vaguely aware of them rocking his body in their eagerness to feed on him. To him, it seemed like the beginning of a dream that came just as he was falling into a deep sleep.

He thought of his dream the night before when he held a slab of perfectly roasted pork in his hands. He could practically feel its juices rolled down his arms. He was so hungry. His bones began to ache.

From inside the vehicle, knocks and scuffles could be heard, the only sounds that accompanied Katie’s labored breathing. Gradually, the noise outside faded. Disrupting the silence, nocturnal insects began to buzz and click. A gentle wind picked up and whistled around the SUV and the broken van nearby.

Katie shuddered in her sleep. The terrifying dream returned. A giant hand pressed her into the corner of a ceiling. It pushed harder with every heartbeat. Her eyes opened a crack. Yearning for comfort, she peered around the empty SUV. “Uncle Scott?” she squeaked.

She was all alone. The idea of being left behind would have terrified her if not for her overwhelming fatigue.

She squirmed her way to the reassuring firmness of the passenger-side back rest, and fell asleep again.

CHAPTER 50

I
N
D
EATH’S
O
THER
K
INGDOM,
W
ALKING
A
LONE

F
orty miles away.

Chase’s corpse trudged along the forlorn highway. Slimy, jaundice-colored patches had grown over its wounds. The fetid smell of decay wisped from them.

Hungry. Ever hungry. It had to have meat. It was driven to search this road, the same road that Maddy and her family had taken.

Quick as light, a single image interrupted the perpetual static playing in the zombie’s mind: a dark-haired girl.

“Maddy!” cried Chase from a vast universe of emptiness.

The black static took over again. So did the hunger.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

One novel written and well into a second. Writing something like this is a wild experience and I’m now hooked on it. Sick? Without a doubt.

I am thankful for my good friend,
Victor Methos
, for encouraging me to get started and for providing me with invaluable guidance along the way. He went above and beyond to help me, including sharing his methodologies and pointing me to resources he has used in his prolific writing career.

I’m fortunate to have exceptional friends who strayed far from their preferred genres to read not just this novel, but multiple iterations of it. To
Angie
,
Sarah,
and
Tonya
: Thank you for your extraordinarily valuable commentary.

You’d think a mother-in-law would give feedback that bordered on cruel. I got quite the opposite from mine. She was boundlessly supportive, and her enthusiastic encouragement was downright touching. Thank you,
Anne
.

My brothers are brilliant and were very candid (helpfully so).
T. Joel, T. John, and T. Andrew
pointed out places I could make the story better and brainstormed with me when I got stuck. Their shorthand comments through several drafts told me volumes: “cheesy”, “moustache twisting”, “boring”, and “Holy Crap!” were among my favorites. To my three brothers: I can’t thank you enough.

To my nephew
Jordan,
who shared his incredibly keen insights with me which were well beyond his (at the time) 17 years of age: I’m so impressed with you.

My editor,
Joann Dominik
, is a card-carrying genius. She is a magnificent talent, and this novel is remarkably better because of her. She told me up front that if she didn’t make me angry during the process she wasn’t doing her job. She pushed me really hard but I couldn’t get upset at her. Her comments across drafts were not only spot on, they were frequently hilarious. I looked forward to every mark up. Thank you, Joann!

Lastly and most importantly, I’m grateful for my amazing and beautiful wife,
Lauren
. She is the bright spot at the center of our family, and carries a special kind of love and energy wherever she goes. I’m truly the luckiest man on the earth to have her in my life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jonathan grew up in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, spending the years of his youth fishing, hunting, camping, and skiing in the highest peaks in the Wasatch Mountain Range. In summers he lived at his Grandad’s ranch in California, where he experienced the rugged life of a true cowboy.

As he got older, his life took a “tragic” turn toward civilized life, earning a degree in psychology, then a Masters degree from Duke University.

He spent twenty years in the jungles of corporate America successfully fighting his way to the top of some of the world’s biggest companies. He called the effort more psychologically exhausting than any challenge he faced in his multiple wilderness excursions.

The best part of his corporate career was the opportunity to travel to over thirty-five countries, many of which were economically disadvantaged and politically charged. Those years were filled with frequently dangerous, but always interesting adventures.

After years of corporate life, Jonathan decided to return to his roots, relocating his family to his hometown. Now he splits time between introducing his wife and four daughters to the wilds of the Rocky Mountains and weaving his many thrilling experiences into the storylines of his novels.