The Tale of Zombies in the Dark of Night

The old companion, the ticking grandfather clock in the corner of the parlor, told a Mr Jason Crumby that it chimed the nightly hour of eight. The log fire also crackled with it pleasant sound as it glowed on the hearth. The good man loved the peaceful atmosphere of the evening hours with its warmth and good cheer. Then he was able to set back in his comfortable armchair with another welcomed companion, an interesting and exciting book.

Mr Jason Crumby was a retired widower living out his golden years in comfortable retirement in a solitary, yet solid dwelling; a dwelling of two stories so remote in fashion of age, yet not prone to echoing sounds when a voice was raised or a door slammed shut. Still the remoteness did not exclude the whispering sounds of the winds and the creaking of the tree branches; at odd times the calls of nature's creatures and storms rose above the silence.

Mr. Jason Crumby was equal to the character of his dwelling, being an old and wizened elder in his seventieth year. His appearance was rather elfin with a cherubic look to his features; the white of his hair was covered with a woolen cap and his thin slightly bent body was clothed with wool robe above equally woolen clothing to exclude the draught of the interior.

A book, yellow in age, was in his gnarled hands. Slowly he opened its cover carefully to the first page. It was a tome that was chosen from the shelves of a second-hand book store; it was one of mystery and intrigue. He gazed at the first page with an introduction to the book, "Devil Drums" by the well known author Phillip Lagosi.

The pages of the preface were quickly scanned till they turned to the first chapter. When Mr. Crumby started to read the words of thefirst chapter, phantoms arose with the shadows and came out of their lurking places. When he read through the terrific sentences the wind was rumbling in the chimney, and sometimes whistling through the bricks. When he pictured the phrases, the windows trembled at intervals and the clock chimed the quarter hours. The words spun through his mind holding fast his avid attention....