Review: Snappy, Minimalist, ZOMBIES AND LOYALTY
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 7, 2012
This must be the first Zombie story in which I had to run to the dictionary! Well, I learned something-and I also learned that Zombies who achieve higher-order thinking are really to be feared!This snappy little short story delivers the goods, and convinced me to forego my self-imposed ban on Zombie fiction and become a Zombie fan once again. Gerald Rice has a minimalist approach to prose here (perhaps he is "the Hemingway of the Zombie realm"?) which makes for a taut story with a great plot line, along which important information is duct-taped so smoothly the reader is unaware of it until it's already absorbed and we're jumping to the next point, like paratroopers behind enemy lines.One of the major points I come away with is the difference in human capacity between the scientists (labeled "brains" by the soldiers, in a kind of parody of the Zombie's natural quests) and the soldiers, who call themselves "dogs" ("Dogs of War," perhaps?) The soldiers are very determined that not one of them will fall prey to the Zombies by being bitten and converted; each time one is bit, another soldier destroys the head so that the fallen one won't turn. Then when one is lost on an experimental expedition declared by the scientists, they pronounce him "comprised"-irretrievable- but his buddy Danton won't settle for that. No, Cargill might still be alive-after all, that lemon spray he used on the Zombies might be protecting him from their attack, and he's been contacting the base on a com he found on another dead soldier-so why not a rescue attempt? Danton's loyalty puts him in a tremendous bind-AWOL from the base means he will be shot in the head-and then he has to run the gamut of Zombie singles-and creatures even weirder and more unexpected.30 Minute Plan