The Art of GRACE AMONG THE DEAD: Face-Off with the Weaponized Dead!

This second in the series of pieces my wife Cynthia Aiken did for Grace Among the Dead describes a scene from Chapter 18, in which Derek Grace the Dead Silencer finds himself outdoors at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s solar array during a severe weather event. A horde of dead, including an explosive, deliberately crafted methane bomb named Bo Hemoth, are drawn by the evil Deacon Sparks up the hill to consume our hero and his crew.

But the storm is building. And something else is ripping away the chicken wire. Something huge. So huge they couldn’t keep clothes on it, God help us.

He has a gut flap like a huge flesh loincloth up front, which helps. The man was morbidly obese in his day, but much of his expansive bulk is owed to a shiny, tight, and unnaturally distended belly. A belly blocked by a chunk of bone or meat rotting in his already dead digestive tract, allowing the putrescent bacteria inside to inflate it with combustive methane.

The truck rocks as the creature shifts its weight from one leg to another. “You’re not the only one Dr. Hearn asked to find something like this,” says Sparks. “I told him, hey! Why wait to find one when you can make one! Ladies, I present to you—Bo Hemoth!”

“Bo what?” says Deacon Walsh.

“Oh, shit.” 

Art Copyright © 2015 Angry Chicken Studio.

Book 2 of The Saga of the Dead Silencer: Grace Among the Dead Copyright © 2014, 2015 by L. Roy Aiken.

As the old biker saying goes, “Fight, fuck, or dance”:

The dead from the trucks have zeroed in on my location and are staggering my way. Bo Hemoth notices the group coming towards me and lumbers around in a slow circle to face me, swatting at the flames flickering upon his belly.

This would be so much easier if it was only me about to die here. The lives of 25 young men and boys, including an old deacon, are depending on what I do next.

What happens next? We smash-cut to Chapter 19, where shit gets really messed up. Read the book, available in print or e-book format (cheap!) while I craft the epic finish to THE SAGA OF THE DEAD SILENCER. I'll be posting bloody gobbets from that as I go, so stay tuned.