White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel

  Jason Campagna

  The story is set in my home town of Butler, Pennsylvania. Classically, the region is the heart of zombie lore. I grew up watching zombie movies that were filmed just down the road. It certainly can impact a young mind.

  The novel starts out on what should be an average day. A demented prisoner in the drunk-tank, who happens to be subject zero, is brought before a judge to have his case reviewed. He breaks away, and violence soon spills outside of the courtroom.

  White Ash on Bone follows groups of citizens who band together for survival as society breaks apart around them. This is not a story about living in a post-apocalyptic world that is already overrun by the undead. This is a story about trying to survive in the first days of the collapse.

  I really tried to capture both small and large scale events in the novel. For example, one group of survivors might be trying to hide out in a garage while another group is watching the military try and maintain a collapsing stronghold in Pittsburgh.

  I did not feel the need to make my zombies extra-ordinary. They move, some a little faster than others, but you won’t see them climbing up walls. What you get in the story is an ever growing horde beating in your front door.

  This is the first book of the series.

  White Ash on Bone:

  A Zombie Novel

  By Jason Campagna

  From Bianca’s Diary

  “There is something you need to understand about Butler, while our problems have not always been with the un-dead, we have certainly had problems with the un-living. In Western Pennsylvania, the lack of sunshine gave some of our residents a gray hue. On any given day driving around the city, it was hard to tell the difference between a zombie and your average citizen. Seeing a ghoulish looking figure limping down an alley was a common occurrence in Butler.”

  Chapter One

  Donna thought of herself as a Saxonburg girl. Graduating from Knoch High School, she attended college at Penn State Erie. All through school, she hoped to find work back near her home in Butler County. After graduation, she took the summer off to travel in Europe with a couple of friends.

  When the fun in Europe was over, Donna returned home and applied for a number of jobs. Most didn’t pan out, but she saw an ad to work as a court reporter at the county courthouse.

  The courthouse turned out to be an interesting place to work, on many levels, one of which was gossip. You could tell someone a secret, and by the end of the workday, everyone in the building would hear about it.

  Donna found this out the hard way. She accepted an offer to lunch with one of the Sheriff’s Deputies. Steve was his name. This apparently ticked off one of the County Commissioners. He had designs of his own on the young woman.

  It didn’t take long before Donna’s boss, Rita, warned her to keep her legs closed when it came to men in the building. Rita explained there were a number of girls around the facility who had gone down that path, and she didn’t want to be one of them.

  Two hours later, Donna found out that Steve had made a bet with his fellow officers about how long it would take to get her in bed. One of the deputies went so far as to make a flyer advertising the bet. Donna picked up a copy of the flyer sitting on her desk when she arrived at work the next morning. It was a picture of Donna walking through the lobby of the building. The flyer read, “Will this beauty fall to the charms of the beast? All bets 10 dollars.”

  The next day, Donna posted her resignation listing an uncomfortable work environment. She packed up her boxes and was headed out the door. Rita stopped her. Donna was asked to visit the Chairman of the County Commissioners office. When she arrived, the Chairman and the County Solicitor begged to make amends with her. They offered her a ten thousand dollar raise if she didn’t seek legal action over the bet. Apparently, they had been down this path before.

  The money would go a long way to paying off her college loans, so she reluctantly agreed to stay. Her stipulation was that Steve got rotated to prison duty.

  A month passed, and Donna felt better about work. Steve’s punishment kept the sex addicts well away from Donna’s desk.

  Then it began.

  The blare of Donna’s alarm clock shouted in her ears.

  Throwing her blanket back, she rolled over in bed. She reached her hand out and silenced the villain on her dresser. Today’s Wednesday, she thought. This meant any case where a plea bargain was not met would likely go to trial. Today was game day at the office.

  Donna stepped into the shower and let the hot water pour over her skin. Her spine tingled as her body adjusted to the hot water’s embrace.

  Shower completed, Donna dried and straightened her dark hair. It shined in the mirror, and she gave it a final brush. She cracked a smile, and waved good-bye to her image; this was a habit she had picked up as a little girl.

  She skipped breakfast, grabbed her car keys off the table, and left her apartment heading straight to work.

  All of the cases had settled out of court, so the morning turned out to be uneventful. She had lunch with Rita, who gossiped with her about the homosexuality of one of the judges. The judge had been caught several times dressed in drag around town, while his wife remained oblivious to his charades.

  After lunch, Donna got assigned to cover an arraignment in courtroom six with Judge Henderson. In the courtroom, Donna set up her typing machine off to the side of the judge’s bench. She took her seat and picked a piece of lint off her black suit then waited for the festivities to start. She could hear Judge Henderson and one of the assistant district attorneys talking.

  “What do you mean you don’t know who this guy is?” the Judge said.

  The attorney straightened his solid blue tie and responded. “They brought him in last night. He was standing in the middle of Main Street. They said he was stoned so bad that he wouldn’t respond to the officers who picked him up. We threw him in the drunk-tank, but he started attacking the other prisoners. The deputies isolated him, and today he’s still not talking. We can’t hold him any longer without charging him, unless you sign off on it.”

  “You’ll have to bring him in for me to see his condition,” the Judge said. “I’m going to want him checked out by the hospital and a shrink.”

  A few minutes later, four deputies escorted the prisoner in. His hands were cuffed behind his back. Two deputies in blue uniforms flanked him, half guiding, half dragging him by the arms. To control his violence, they blinded the prisoner by covering his head in a black hood before removing him from his cell.

  They shoved him into his seat.

  Donna rolled her eyes in disgust. Steve was among the deputies. He looked over at Donna and winked at her.

  “You’re going to have to remove that hood in the courtroom,” the Judge said. “This isn’t the third world.” The deputies looked at each other and the Judge with a bit of worry.

  “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life finishing this proceeding, remove it now,” the Judge ordered. Steve reached out to untie the cord that held the hood over the man’s head. He pulled the hood off the prisoner.

  There was a pale look to the man’s skin. The prisoner locked lifeless eyes onto Donna. “What’s your name?” the Judge said. The prisoner kept looking at Donna. “I asked you a question, and you will answer it,” the Judge demanded.

  The prisoner tried to rise, but Steve pushed him back down. The man turned his head to the right at Steve, and he lunged his face into Steve’s arm. Steve screamed in pain and let go of the prisoner’s shoulder. The momentary freedom was all it took for the prisoner to rise and hurl his teeth into Steve’s throat.

  The other deputies pushed the prisoner to the floor. Steve clutched at his throat. Blood gushed between his fingers. He tried to sit on a nearby chair but missed and fell to the carpeted floor.

  A portly deputy, Randall Rodgers, tried to help Steve by applying pressure to his neck wound. “Hang in there buddy,” Rodgers said.

  “Clear the courtroom!” Judge Henderson ordered. More deputies arrived to help secure the room while bystanders in the room tried to clear out. Donna watched from her seat in shock.

  Deputy Rodgers started wheezing while he tried to help Steve. He watched as life faded from Steve’s eyes. “Steve, come on Steve. Stay with me buddy,” he shouted. It didn’t help; Steve died. Rodgers hovered over the lifeless body. He wiped sweat from his forehead and turned his face to tell the deputies. They were continuing to struggle with the prisoner.

  Rodgers felt the body beneath him stir, but before he could turn his head down, Steve grabbed at him. Teeth tore into the portly deputy. Rodgers pushed away and fell over on to his back. He tried desperately to get away from Steve.

  Donna unconsciously stood. She knocked over her typing machine as she watched the struggling men.

  Judge Henderson tried to restrain Steve, thinking he was only injured. Steve turned on him, biting and ripping at the Judges clothes.

  Rodgers continued to push away and turned to Donna.

  “Help me,” he pleaded at her. He reached out to Donna with a bloody hand. Donna backed away from the wet crimson, until she bumped into the wall behind her.

  Rodgers efforts to move slowed. He slumped to the floor, his body twitched.

  The judge managed to slip away from Steve. He escaped behind the door to the Judge’s Chambers and locked it behind him.

  Steve turned on the deputies who were trying to restrain the pr
isoner. He rushed into the huddle of blue deputies and sent bodies to the ground. A renewed melee ensued.

  Rodgers’ eyes flicked open to the world of the undead. His head turned, and he fixed his sights on Donna. She continued to back away along the wall as Rodgers crawled to his feet. He knocked several chairs out of his way to get to her. She continued to back away.

  A badly injured deputy had enough with the prisoner and removed his service pistol. A gunshot roared out in the courtroom.

  Rodgers turned his head at the noise from the gunman. He charged the deputy and fell on him from behind. The collision made the deputy accidently discharged another round from the gun. The round caught one of the other officers in the shoulder; the man went down.

  Donna fled the courtroom pushing chairs out of her way as she went. Her nose was filled with the faint scent of gunpowder. From outside the room, the muffled gunshot had summoned curious county office workers to the scene.

  Donna screamed at them to get more help. A number of men ran inside the courtroom to see what they could do to assist the deputies. Other people pulled out cell-phones, but Donna fled past them. She ran up the grand marble staircase of the courthouse to the upper floor. She ran away from shouts behind her. Fear and instinct drove her.

  A number of years before, the County had built an Annex to the Court House across the street. They connected both buildings on the second floor via a bridge. After shootings in other courthouses around the nation, they sealed off the main courthouse and made the Annex the only way in and out.

  Donna was afraid of getting caught in the violence behind her. Her only desire was to get to the safety of the Annex. As she ran up the steps, she felt her shoulders and hands shaking from the adrenaline pumping through her body.

  Behind her, the melee spilled into the hallway. She heard more shouting and some kind of furniture screeching against the marble floor.

  She made it across the bridge to the Annex. Donna stood there catching her breath beside an open steel security door. The door was meant to separate the buildings in an emergency. Law enforcement officers passed her running in the direction of the courthouse. A number of injured filed across the bridge assisted by fellow county workers.

  The sound of gunshots reached out from the courthouse; their booms echoed across the bridge like the beating of a drum. A loud click sounded from the open security door. It swung closed, locking away whatever nightmare was occurring on the other side of the bridge.

  The building’s Public Announcement system kicked in, a man’s voice issued directions. Attention: the Butler County Court House has been locked down due to an emergency. As part of standard emergency procedure, the Annex will now be evacuated. Please proceed to the nearest exit. All county employees are to report to their respective department heads in Diamond Park at the front of the Court House. Please evacuate safely, and assist those around you who may need help.

  County workers emerged from their offices and filled the hallway. Donna continued to stand against the wall staring at the closed security door. No one noticed her. After a few minutes, the hallway stood empty except for Donna.

  A “thud,” sounded from the other side of the security door. Donna pushed off the wall and took a half step toward the door.

  “Hello,” Donna said, “is someone there?”

  “Thud, thud, thud,” someone beat at the metal.

  Near the top of the door was a small view-port. Donna did not have the angle to see who was making the noise. She moved closer to the window, but the pounding stopped. She edged closer and stood up on her toes to see through the window, a hand grabbed her arm from behind. Donna screamed.

  “Miss,” a deputy said, “you need to clear out. The building is being evacuated.”

  “Someone’s there,” Donna said. The deputy wasn’t listening, and he was already pulling her to the stairwell that led to an exit.

  Halfway to the stairwell, the pounding started again. The deputy stopped and turned back at the sound. He grabbed his radio from his belt.

  “We’ve got movement on the bridge,” the deputy spoke into the radio.

  Roger that. Hold position until we get the building evacuated. We will get you some back up.

  The deputy turned to Donna, “Get the hell out of here.”

  The pounding on the door increased, and Donna felt her heart begin its own pounding in response. She fled down the stairs and out of the building.

  On the street, she followed other people toward Diamond Park. She looked up at the Annex Bridge and tried to see who was inside the enclosure. Sunlight glared off the windows, blocking any view to the inside of the bridge.

  Donna heard muffled pops of gunfire from the building. She ran the rest of the way to the safety of the park.

  A number of Butler City and Butler Township police were arriving on the scene. They created a perimeter around the government center and the park. The wounded, about a dozen, had been brought out of the courthouse and separated for triage. Some had major injuries.

  The Butler County Airport housed a number of Life Flight helicopters. Donna watched one of these helicopters land a few blocks away to transport some of the seriously injured to Pittsburgh. The other injured were sent a mile away to the Butler hospital.

  Donna heard a police sergeant talking on his radio; apparently, no one knew what exactly was going on in the courthouse.

  “I need info,” the officer said on his radio. “I’m not sending anyone else in, until we have some intel. And get someone to start clearing these people out. If those are gunshots, we need a bigger perimeter.”

  A half an hour had passed, before the emergency responders looked like they were finally ready to go in.

  At that moment, shapes appeared at the front glass doors of courthouse. People were banging on the glass to get out. Donna could see Deputies, County Employees, and even Judge Henderson. They all looked wounded and desperate to get out. Time seemed to slow down. Donna watched as the glass rippled like water under the pounding. There were no dramatic cracks; the glass just shattered, and bodies came spilling out of the building.

  Several Police Officers rushed over to help the injured, and the rescuers disappeared into the crowd flowing out of the building. Donna felt like a child again at the beach. She had once tried to build a sand castle too close to the ocean. A strong wave would crash in and the castle would vanish in its wake.

  The crowd of some 200 first responders and county workers watched transfixed at the sight of the bloodied mob. They ripped into several officers. The mob pushed through them and fanned out heading at the staring crowd. A dozen more people went down before the gunfire started. The mob, perhaps forty strong, kept advancing across the street and into park.

  Someone yelled, “Run.”

  Donna ran out of the park, and headed North on Main Street. Traffic was stopped. She ran between the rows of parked vehicles.

  People were coming out of the cars and stores. The gunfire and screams attracted more people to the chaos.

  Someone opened their car door, and it slammed into Donna’s side knocking her over. She felt stinging shock in her hands when she attempted to break her fall. The jolt of impact went through her body as the rest of her mass connected with the solid pavement of Main Street. Her upper lip tingled, and she tasted blood mixed with motor exhaust.

  Donna tried to get back up but was knocked over again by people running by. She crawled around to the back of a car and managed to pull herself up.

  She turned to look back at the park to see the mob had grown, and forms continued to pour of the Court House.

  Butler County’s finest fired shot after shot into the mob only to find gnashing teeth tearing at them. Screams filled the air, and people were ripped apart.

  There is a funny thing about people when they watch disasters in person. When people are in danger, they will run only as far as they can turn around and watch whatever crisis is unfolding. To the undead, this acts only to create an ever-expanding wave of carnage following their prey.

  The mob of undead filtered into the stopped traffic. They smashed their way into cars still occupied by their drivers. Window after window popped to the sound of breaking glass.