The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel by Michael Wallace Read Free Book Online

still alive. I know it's written in English, my native tongue, but I can't read any of the writing. It looks like some kind of scribble to me. We're in the city of Denver , where they also speak English, but I can't understand anything the citizens are saying. They sound like they speak gibberish. We need to find a way to communicate with the living, so they know we are here to help them." He pointed to various zombies. "This man speaks ancient Greek. This man speaks Norse. We all speak different languages, but can understand each other perfectly. There has to be a way for us to transform this universal translation ability to the living."
    Titus replied, "You have made a wise suggestion, my friend. What is your name, kind sir, and from where do you hail?"
    The man on the crate, with the medium build and light brown hair , which hung just above his shoulders, stepped down and answered, "I'm John and I lived in Vegas."
    Prometheus spoke up. "I agree with the good John of Vegas. Each of us should write a message on the streets and walls . We can scribe in the language of our birth. With the large population in this city, surely one of the fine citizens will recognize these messages. Apparently, the ability to read and write is quite common in this day."
    * * *
    Wendy paced across the short length of the examination room, anxious to hear the results of her latest test. The florescent lights above hummed and slightly flickered, as they cast a dull yellow light. The sudden appearance of her doctor through the door startled her out of her trance-like state. She turned to him as he read through the lab results. "What's the news doc? She asked."
    The doctor closed the file and turned up to her with a lamentable expression. His face forewarned her of the approaching news. "I'm afraid there has not been any positive change to the tumors."
    The news hit her hard and sent a heavy feeling into her stomach. She focused on not getting sick all over the floor in front of the doctor. Putting on a false smile and façade, she replied, "No positive change. Does this mean there has been some negative change?"
    The doctor crossed his arms pressing the file against his chest. " Your white blood cell count has increased." He paused to clear his throat. "The cancer is showing no reaction to the treatment. We need to increase the chemo and change the type of radiation treatment. Instead of the pinpoint laser, we need to use a broader spectrum."
    "When do we make the change?"
    "The sooner the better. I say we start tomorrow. We already had you scheduled for your next chemo treatment anyway. I'll set up the radiation therapy in two days, so we can give the next set of drugs a chance to do their job."
    The smile faded from her face and the sag of her shoulders showed the disappointment sinking into her body. "Do their job, therapy; you make it sound so happy when we are killing my immune system, so that radiation can devastate parts of my body."
    "If surgery were an option, I'd open you up right now, but this is our only chance to eliminate the tumors."
    Wendy nodded her head and gave a partially more relaxed smile. "I know, and thanks for putting up with my complaining. I know you're doing all you can to help me."
    Waiting in the hospital lobby for Daniel to pick her up, she watched news reports of the outbreak on the wall mounted television. The news anchor reported, "The outbreak, now named the re-animation virus, is reaching alarming numbers across the world." The story switched to video clips of zombies walking down city streets of various countries. "The number of people, who have been declared dead, only to appear to come back to life, has reached an estimated one hundred fifty thousand world-wide. The World Health Organization has issued this statement." The video changed to a man standing at a podium reading a statement at a press conference surrounded by reporters, microphones and cameras. He pushed his glasses far down on his nose and squinted