Ghostwalkers by Jonathan Maberry Read Free Book Online Page B

again.”
    â€œBlue light,” prompted Grey.
    â€œDepending on how pure a sample of ghost rock is, it can burn with different colors,” explained Looks Away. “If there are trace amounts of calcium chloride the fire will burn orange, if lithium, it will burn red, and so on. What Saint and Nobel did was combine ghost rock with chalcanthite, which is a copper mineral. They found that by compressing tiny bits of ghost rock in a ball of cupric chloride, they get a burn of very short duration but with an exceptionally high energetic output. This discharge of energy can be directed through a metal tube such as a rifle barrel lined with copper to make a projectile. It can also be super-condensed within a sphere made of alternating layers of copper and steel to create a high-impact aerial grenade. Are … are you following any of this?”
    â€œI’m limping along your backtrail, but, sure, I get the sense of it. Put a bead of ghost rock in a copper ball and you get a big bang.”
    â€œBecause chalcanthite is pentahydrate—meaning it contains elements of water—the resulting discharge creates a vapor of a distinct azure hue.”
    â€œIt’s blue. Got it. Stop showing off,” said Grey, “and get to the part where it raises the dead.”
    â€œAh,” said Looks Away, “that’s the part that neither Doctor Saint nor Mr. Nobel quite understand.”
    â€œAre you messing with me, son?”
    â€œNot at all, my good fellow. I am in earnest. And that is where this whole thing began. As with many of the great discoveries in the field of explosive compounds, this revelation began with a bang. A rather large bang, to be precise. It blew out an entire wing of the factory in Sweden and killed sixteen men.”
    â€œJesus.”
    â€œThe rescue crews were picking through the rubble—and both Saint and Nobel were right there with them,” said Looks Away, “as was I … when one of the dead men sat up.”
    â€œShit.”
    â€œEveryone was delighted at first because they had counted the man as dead and here he was, clearly still alive.”
    â€œExcept he wasn’t.”
    â€œJust so. As Mr. Nobel’s assistant rushed to help him, the injured man grabbed him and … well…”
    â€œWell what?”
    â€œHe bit the man’s throat out. And, um, swallowed it.”
    Grey was bent over with his arm extended to pour coffee into Looks Away’s cup and instead poured it on the Sioux’s foot. The Indian screamed and jumped back, and Grey jerked the pot away.
    He did not apologize. Instead he stood there, slack-jawed and horrified.
    â€œYou said there were sixteen men killed?”
    â€œYes,” said Looks Away, wincing and slapping at his soaked moccasin.
    â€œDid all sixteen—?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œMother of God.”
    â€œI seriously doubt either God or His mother was there that day,” said Looks Away dryly. He pulled off his moccasin and set it on a rock near the fire to dry.
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œThere was a bloody great fight, what do you think happened? Sixteen corpses got up and tried to eat everyone in sight. They killed eleven rescue workers and three of Nobel’s laboratory staff before they were brought down by a Gatling gun. It took many, many rounds to do the job, too.”
    Grey just shook his head. “Those fellows who were killed—the second bunch I mean—did they—?”
    â€œWhat? Oh, no. They stayed dead. Apparently it’s only someone who is killed by this new compound that reanimates.”
    â€œ Reanimate, ” said Grey, tasting the unfamiliar word.
    They sat there and looked at the line of corpses.
    â€œWhat was up on those rocks?” asked Grey. “What blew up?”
    â€œA cache of weapons made to fire the Lazarus rounds.”
    â€œThe what?”
    â€œThe chalcanthite bullets. After the, um, incident at