Zombies!

For April, Stone Soldiers.info is celebrating the A to Z Blog Challenge with daily letter-themed entries. A separate page with a list of all these entries, plus Character Profiles and Book Synopses will appear on the right hand side of the page in coming weeks, detailing the people, places and things of the Stone Soldiers universe.

Book of Stone: Zombies

(A Stone Soldiers Encyclopedia Entry)

What would a world of magic and monsters be without the inclusion of the greatest film monster of all time, the zombie? While the undead is a term normally reserved for Vampires in the Stone Soldiers universe, in late 2013, readers experienced the reanimated in Armageddon Z as an undead apocalypse almost destroyed the world.

A First Born monster, possibly a nature spirit (Decklaa), hatched a scheme to destroy mankind by unleashing a fungal plague on mankind. Her dark spores had the ability to first kill, then reanimate human bodies (so far, testing has shown only humans are affected). Thankfully, the scheme was discovered thanks to a precognitive psychic named Kenji Nakayama, and the dark spores were seized before they could be dispersed. The Nature Spirit was hunted down and killed. It is presumed no further spores exist.

In his post-incident report, Mr. Nakayama explained the fungal zombies in great detail, as he had experienced a number of life-like visions of the apocalypse succeeding and the undead taking over most, if not all, of North America.

In this bleak, apocalyptic future, the spores were released on an unsuspecting crowd at a football stadium days after Thanksgiving. These infected were called Stage One Infected (S1I) by the Army.

Returning home, the S1Is became ill as spores spread throughout their bodies. Within several hours, higher brain function ceased, and the subjects were classified as Stage Two Rage-Infected (S2R), exhibiting behavior similar to rabies. Several hours following this, subjects died, then reanimated as Stage Three Zombies (S3Z), slow-moving subjects, with the brain and nervous system replaced by a fungal-mold colony within the body. These S3Zs seemed to possess an almost psychic hive mind, sensing each other, but possessing no visual senses.

The final stage in the infection occurred after an S2R or S3Z was terminated. The bodies were then fully consumed, forming a mold colony known as a Stage Four Colony, which began to emit more spores.

The Fungal Infection in these cases relied on water and lifeforce energy to continue its lifecycle. Behavior from the infected included hyperviolence in S2Rs and a desire to spread fungal infection through physical contact in the S3Z stage.

Samples of the initial spores collected in Missouri by Detachment 1039 were seized and have either been destroyed or locked away at an undisclosed, secure location.

Enjoy the Stone Soldiers series? There are only a few more days left to show your support at Indiegogo. If contributions aren't an option, consider spreading the word. More readers will equal more books!