100 Days in Deadland (Deadland Saga, #1)(98)
I crawled to the blown-out window and peered outside. Across the campground, zeds shambled, several with shaved heads. I ducked and glanced at the door standing wide open. It was only a matter of time before a zed discovered me.
The gates were too far away. I’d never reach them with a bum leg. I’d seen no vehicles. The silos were halfway across the camp.
A dark shape hovered near the door, and I pushed myself to my feet and pulled out my knife. As soon as the zed crossed the threshold, I shoved the blade through its temple. It collapsed, and I saw two more zeds turn toward me.
I stepped over the zed and outside into plain sight. Something moaned to my right, and I swung, hitting a zed’s shaved head just as its arms reached for me. I twisted to my left, leapt onto the broken window ledge, and grabbed the edge of the roof. The knife tumbled from my grip and clinked as it bounced off the ground. With every ounce of strength, I pulled myself up. One of the fresher Dog zeds had nearly reached me by the time I pulled my feet up.
Panting, exhausted, I dragged myself onto the roof and rolled onto my back, staring into the night sky, the one place incorruptible by zeds.
I saw Clutch, wearing one of his rare smiles, reaching out to me for a dance. Standing not far from us were my parents, holding each other’s hands and watching us with warm love in their eyes. Jase and Mutt were playing fetch. He looked up and laughed.
It was a good dream.
A soothing peace came over me, even while the zeds moaned and shuffled below.
I’d survived hell. Maybe there was such a thing as hope after all.
Taking a deep breath of fresh air, my body relaxed, and I smiled up at the night sky full of stars.
The saga continues
DEADLAND’S HARVEST
The seven deadly sins, with a shambling twist
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The Deadland Saga
100 Days in Deadland
Deadland’s Harvest
Deadland Rising (Late 2014)
Afterword
100 Days in Deadland is set in near-future Midwest America decimated by a zombie plague. In this truly unique story, our heroine, Cash, and her guide, Clutch, are forced on a journey through hell that echoes the one Dante and Virgil took in the “Inferno,” the world-renowned first poem in Dante Alighieri’s epic medieval tale, The Divine Comedy. In both tales, there are nine circles of hell that must be survived, and the thirty-four cantos of the “Inferno” are reflected in the thirty-four chapters of 100 Days in Deadland...reimagined zombie apocalypse style.
100 Days in Deadland follows the pair of survivors, caught up in the sudden rush of the zombie plague, which begins on Thursday, the day before Good Friday. Once thrown into Dante’s “Inferno”, Cash and Clutch come across the three types of sinful beasts: the self-indulgent (zombies), the violent (survivors), and the malicious (Doyle, who represents Satan).
In each circle of hell, Cash and Clutch witness the same sins that Dante and Virgil had many centuries ago. However, where Dante often stood on the sidelines, Cash is thrown deep into the action. As Cash progresses through each circle of hell, she is changed by her environment. And, like Dante, Cash survives each circle by holding onto hope, having faith in her guide (Clutch, who represents the poet Virgil), and demonstrating unrelenting perseverance.
Like Dante’s “Inferno,” 100 Days in Deadland is a story of the human condition, showing how our experiences change us. You will find violence, heartbreak, and tragedy. However, you will also find perseverance, compassion, and hope. Dante’s “Inferno” also lays out four key components of every apocalyptical (and even every zombie) story: the end of the world as we know it, cause and effect of the human condition, perseverance, and—as shown in the poem’s last line—enduring hope: “It was from there that we emerged, to see—once more—the stars.”
Symbolism to the “Inferno” is lush on nearly every page of 100 Days in Deadland, from the obvious call-out, “Abandon all hope all ye who enter here” in chapter three to the subtlest hints, such as Cash shooting awake to the sound of a “thunderous” blast at the beginning of chapter four. The weather, such as the violent winds and storms starting in Lust (when Cash and Clutch come across the victim with pale lips at the corn bin, i.e. the “carnal tower”), echoes both the atmosphere of the “Inferno.”
In chapter six, Cash ends up in a cafeteria full of hungry zeds, not much different from the sixth canto, which held tortured souls cursed with “insatiable hunger.” In chapter seven, when Cash and Clutch arrive at the Pierson farm, they find money left on the table, a modest reminder of the Dante’s message that money can’t buy peace.
Doyle’s camp represents Dis, the evil city in the Inferno that holds the darkest secrets and the most violent and treacherous sinners. Its true name is implied in chapter eight by the sign reading Doyle’s Iowa Surplus, where only the capital letters are easily recognizable in the faded paint, foreshadowing that the camp will play a pivotal role in the final circle of Hell, where Cash must defeat Doyle.
In addition to Cash taking a journey parallel to that which Dante took, hundreds more echoes of Dante’s “Inferno” can be found in 100 Days in Deadland. But, the story you just read is not and never was meant to be a replacement for Dante’s “Inferno.” It is not designed to help you get an “A” in English if you read this novel instead of Dante Alighieri’s epic poem. This story was meant to be an enjoyable read, which I hope is exactly how you found it.