UnResting

 UnResting: Mass murderer Arkady Sinclair has been the bogeyman of the Midwest for years until a posse of locals in a small town corner and execute him, hoping to bury him and his legacy forever. But the souls of the truly evil never rest. Arkady Sinclair rises from the grave as a relentless, bloodthirsty horror and the town of Sugar Creek, Indiana is in for terror like they’ve never imagined.

The members of the posse are forced to come together again after the horrors of that first night when they see the killings appear again in the news. Determine to end it for good, they head off into the night to put Arkady in his grave once more. This time they are horrified by the undead monster he has become. 

The hunters become the hunted in a fight for their lives as they struggle to end the murdering spree of an already deranged killer that now has inhuman strength and resilience to their weapons. Forced to withdraw to the church, they enlist the aid of Father Abram. Abram calls further calls upon the help of monster hunters ordained by the church and together they slay Arkady once more.

As our heroes return home to rest and recover, Father Abram and his associate go over an old tome in the church. Something about the whole ordeal seemed very familiar to his colleague, Father Luther, although he could not remember why. Finally he finds the book that tells of the legend of an inhuman horror who’s body is infused with evil and that if it is buried, that evil will seep into the ground and make more monsters like it.

Racing to summon their friends back to the battlefield, the warriors of the church, the Sugar Creek County police force and sheriff and every local hunter they can get a hold of head down the Bridgedale; a quiet little community near the cemetery that is now over run with unliving terrors.

The Unresting: Mass murderer Troy Arkady is tracked down to the town of Ironton, Alabama. U.S. Marshall Clint Kern finally tracks Arkady down to this place. A wild manhunt ensues where several people end up dead. The posse, once they have Arkady trapped attempt to arrest him. As they make the attempt, Arkady kills one of their men.

One local and two officers open fire. The group decide to let the bogeyman stay dead and bury Arkady in the nearby cemetery and go home. Each is dealing with the events of that night in their own way when a call comes in of two murders in town matching Arkady's MO. Everyone is on edge as they consider the possibilities. The police know it is too early for a copycat killer, unless Arkady didn't work alone. Wilson, the local man, heads back to the burial site and discovers that Arkady has been dug up.

The hunt begins again as the posse that believed they had slain Arkady head out in search of him again. This time what they find is an inhuman undead monster with an insatiable appetite for flesh, blood and death.

Christopher Barnes, one of the cops and a devout Catholic goes to his mentor Father Thomas for counsel and advice. Thomas, upon hearing the story calls a colleague and they tell Barnes that there are warriors within the church that deal with the supernatural and they will bring them in. Two men with medieval weaponry arrive and assist Christopher and company in hunting Arkady down. With great difficulty and more deaths they eventually bring Arkady down again. 

This time they cut up and burn his body and bury the remains again. As they are heading home, the soil begins to darken. There is a rumble in the distance as hands begin to emerge from the ground. Many hands.

Father Thomas and Father Graham, the occultist, are going over tomes that they had been researching in the old library when Thomas comes across an old French tale of the Craquehhe, a undead monster from the soul of a killer that terrorized villages before the colonial days. Graham muses that this sounds like their recently defeated devil. As they go over the tome they discover there was a case where the craquehhe was buried near a cemetery after it was destroyed but that its evil polluted the soil causing the bodies of those buried there to rise as blood thirsty monsters. They make calls to have people head there immediately. 

Christopher and a group arrive in a hurry but find the cemetery thankfully quiet. They are relieved momentarily until Wilson says that something doesn't look right in the darkness. He shines a light to see an empty grave. They turn on their lights to see the cemetery is full of them. There are two shambling monsters that come into view and attack. They subdue the two but question where the others must be. Then the screams begin. 

They look to see a nearby housing development under attack. They go into immediate action. Knowing they are outnumbered and will be overwhelmed, he calls Captain Weathers and Father Thomas quickly to send help. They urge him to wait, but Christopher cannot stand by while the carnage ensues. 

Wilson, Christopher, Marhsall Clint and their posse rush to the aid of the townspeople being viciously murdered in their homes. They fight the terrifying monsters that appear from nowhere, biting into or rending flesh with their bare hands. Several members of the group are quickly eviscerated and those remaining try to find high ground to barricade themselves and whomever they can rescue into.

The warriors from the church soon arrive with Father Thomas and Graham in tow. The priests are now similarly armed. They warn for caution and start attacking the monsters near the periphery of the carnage in hopes of taking them down in smaller groups. Christopher and Wilson are barricaded inside an office building, fighting off the monsters with a small group of people they were able to wrangle to safety. Ammunition is running low and the monsters seemed little affected from their shooting to begin with. They raid the softball closet of one of the managers and take to the nearest monsters with baseball bats, trying to keep those closest safe. Yet they cannot cover enough ground and one family is swarmed and devoured. All the while Arkady's voice taunting them as it jumps from the body of monster to monster.

Sirens and lights flair as Captain Weathers shows up with several squad cars. They shine the flood lights and are horrified by what they see. Christopher seeing the lights calls the Captain and explains where they are. Captain Weathers gives the order to get to them and radios for whatever backup is available. 

While the church warriors are driving the pick up truck and taking out monsters, Father Graham has been mixing odd compounds together in the truck bed. He keeps consulting a book. Father Thomas presses him to know what he's making. Graham says it is a very old recipe but doesn't want to get anyone's hopes up in case it doesn't work, stating that no one has successfully remade it in many centuries.

They come to the office building where Christopher is and dismount. There is a swarm of monsters here and the cops are still a distance away, their gunfire being heard from afar. They look to Father Thomas and Father Graham for direction. Graham finally puts two chemicals together and throws it at one of the nearby monsters as they approach the truck. The creature bursts into flames. It falls to the ground and the flames continue to consume the body.

Father Thomas asks what it is and Father Graham explains that it is Greek Fire, a compound created by the Byzantines that could burn on water. He hurriedly continues mixing as the warriors defend him.

Inside, Wilson and Christopher are near exhaustion as Arkady taunts them with more monsters entering. The people behind them are terrified and crying. Wilson is finally taken to the ground and mauled as Christopher swings feebly at the creature nearest him. The monster knocks Christopher to the ground and stands over him. It is clearly Arkady in control of this one. It laughs, stating that his posse will help add to Arkady's army and bury the world in death.

They hear the gunfire getting closer. Christopher takes heart in this, but Arkady states that the police won't make a difference and will soon be more dead bodies to serve him. Then there is a flicker of light down the hall. Then another. Arkady turns to see a creature burst into flames and fall out the window. The church warriors fight their way into the room. A cross bow bolt hits Arkady in the chest. He stumbles, dropping Christopher. Graham yells for Christopher to move and hurls a vial of Greek Fire. Christopher dives out of the way as Arkady bursts into flames. Arkady flails around catching the building on fire with him. The group realizes the entire building is going to go up and hurriedly fight their way outside, watching the building fall down around Arkady's body.

They stumble away as more cars and trucks approach. People of all sorts get out and open fire on the undead monsters. The field is reclaimed by the living. 

Christopher asks who they all are. The Captain replies that told the dispatcher to call everyone in the area with a gun to get down here. The two chuckle at the assembled gun owners of their county.

It will take the combined efforts of law enforcement, local hunters and even the Holy Church as Arkady and his legion of fleshing eating monsters rise from the cemeteries to devour the people of Sugar Creek. Will this unlikely alliance have the skill and determination to survive against an army of monsters that feel no pain and hunger for the flesh of the living?

© Gideon Hodge, 2014