Too Tough to Die

By Rachael Goddard

"A powerful angry spirit takes its revenge on the Town too Tough to Die, by raising the dead."

 

When a zombie horde descends upon the town of Tombstone, AZ, the tourist mecca that became infamous after a gunfight that lasted 30 seconds and left three men dead over a hundred years ago, a young historian named Amelia, her best friend James, and her godmother and zombie enthusiast,Abigail; must find a way to rid the town of the undead before its too late and the town Too Tough to Die, dissapears forever. Enlisting the aid of the legendary Doc Holliday, who mysteriously returns to the town in a solid human form and is introduced to the 21st century, they try to figure out together who started it and how they can stop it.

 

Along the way, they discover a secret so shocking that it will change the course of their lives forever.

 

Filled with hearfelt moments and heart pounding action sequences and a few laughs, this book is a new take on the zombie trope. People with weak stomachs, Beware. This book doesn't skimp on the gore.

 

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rachael Goddard
• Release date: Oct 29, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201796556

Rachael Goddard

Rachael Goddard is historian, actress, and author. She is a native to Arizona and loves to spend her time reading, spending time with her soulmate Paul, a fellow author, her dog Emily, acting, researching history and writing.  She is also a mental health advocate and had a short stint as a writer for the online  magazine, Seize the D.A.E, An independent magazine that highlights differently abled performers, actors and more and had a cover interview with award winning actress Eileen Grubba. You can find her on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Please don't hesitate to message her. She will be happy to hear from you!

Book preview

Prologue

He had never done something like this before. He had never entered another person’s body and taken over. It was a different sort of thing to get used to but it had been so simple, mainly because the boy had been so drunk and came here in the middle of nowhere at night no less...He had kept the boy’s body from harm from any snakes or creatures that skittered around in the dark. He sighed and looked out towards the town, that could barely be seen in the night save for a few lights in the distance.  The town of Tombstone was a sensationalized mecca of tourism. No longer the quaint mining town it had been. All thanks to the damn gunfight between the Clanton’s and Earps. He had seen the town grow from then to modern times and there was so much that had been forgotten. He wanted it to be how it once was. He wanted it to be a small town once more. No longer a tourist town. If it died, then so be it. There was no way that could happen though. Unless...

He looked out towards the town thoughtfully. Over the years, he had learned how to do certain things that when he was alive, he never could have dreamed of doing. He wondered if maybe he could bring the dead back...make them rise from their resting places all over this area and walk the earth or more specifically...walk the streets of Tombstone and scare the tourists away for good. He touched the earth and envisioned what he thought about. The dead rising from their unmarked and marked graves, day or night.

There was a barely perceptible tremble to the earth. Something only a nearby animal could perceive. A stench like death wafted through the air as the earth shifted and a hand arose from the ground out of a forgotten grave right near him. The man smiled, his lips twisting upwards in a twisted sense of glee.

The dead had begun to rise.

Part 1: The Gunfighter, The Girl, and The Dead

Chapter 1

THE MAN OPENED HIS eyes. He had heard something call to him. It had been odd, almost as though fingers had brushed him into consciousness. He was sitting in a place that was oddly familiar. Two others were nearby. They didn’t seem to notice him. Which was fine by him. The last thing he remembered was struggling to breathe in a hotel room in Colorado. He had hoped that the hot springs would have helped him but it had made his condition worse. Consumption was a hell of a disease. He must have died there...so where was he now? He looked down at his attire. The same thing he had worn when he had graduated dentistry school. A nice suit and tie but it gave him no clue as to where he was now. It frustrated him. He needed air. He walked to the door of the saloon and went outside. What he saw gave him the shock of his life.

There were throngs of people milling about but they wore things that he had never seen before. Women weren’t wearing dresses but trousers and jeans. Some of them looked as though they had once been jeans but had been cut short. The material hanging in frayed strings. What the hell was going on? He quietly wondered. He saw a shirt, with the name of a town he not only remembered but had tried his damndest to forget.

Tombstone, Arizona. A mining town that he had once occupied along with his friends, the Earp brothers. It all came back to him in a rush. Where he was and most of all who he was. John Henry Holliday. Also known as Doc Holliday. The question was why of all places he was here? He uttered a curse quietly. He heard the sound of sturdy wheels crushing dirt and he turned. A young woman came toward him on a dark blue bike. She had a purple helmet on and her long dark strawberry blonde hair flowed in the wind as she rode. She stopped and looked around, taking in her surroundings, and started walking the board walk alongside her bike, away from him. Something told him to go to her, to meet her. He did and promptly hit his head on a beam in front of him that was holding up the structure. He heard the loud crack of his skull as it hit. He heard laughing behind him and he turned and saw two young men, probably no older than their twenties laughing at him.

Stop me if you’ve heard this, Said one, a guy walks into a bar. All of his friends started laughing so hard they were almost crying. John Henry Holliday narrowed his eyes and was about to say something rather rude until a feminine voice behind him spoke up. He turned.

It was the woman on the bike. She was even prettier up close. Her dark eyes were full of annoyance and her arms were folded.

Leave him alone. She said. You guys are a bunch of assholes. Doc Holliday rose his eyebrow at her language but to his surprise, the two men backed down. They greeted her and apologized to him. They then left, talking about her excitedly as if they knew her. He turned to her and she approached him with a soft smile on her face. Are you ok? She asked him. I heard the crack when you hit your head.

I’m fine. Thank you for asking. He said, hearing his voice for the first time in he didn’t know how long. That slight drawl from his home state of Georgia still remained. Everything else seemed to have changed, except for him.

She got closer to him and seemed to look at his head for a moment. You have a hell of a bump there. She cocked her head, seeming to think for a second. Then she spoke again. Come on. Abigail will give you some ice and some ibuprofen. He looked at her for a moment, ok with the ice but unsure about the other word she had just used. He felt a slight throbbing in his head. If it was some sort of tincture like laudanum then he was all right with it. He followed her into the saloon he had just left only a few minutes before, still unsure what was actually going on but now almost excited about the outcome and to where it may lead with this girl.

Chapter 2

Abigail had seen a lot of strange things in Tombstone but this was the strangest thing by far. Her young friend Amelia and Doc Holliday. Which Amelia clearly did not realize; else she would be bubbling over with excitement at being in the presence of her favorite historical character. She had seen the man appear through her second sight earlier and knew him instantly. He seemed to have gained a way to become solid somehow. As they came closer, she saw a nice bump on the man’s forehead. He had run into something when he had become visible and knocked himself in the head. She greeted them, coming out from behind the bar. Amelia ran up to her and gave her hug and started talking to her. She returned it and looked at Amelia, pointedly shifting her glance at the man next to her. Amelia looked at her for a second and then seemed to remember why she had come in.

This is...um... She looked at the man next to her with a disappointed look. She was disappointed in herself for not asking, Abigail saw. The man smiled, a bit bashfully.

I seem to have forgotten my manners. He said to her. My name is John. Amelia smiled and held out her hand for him to shake.

I’m Amelia. Sorry about that. I forget things sometimes. Mainly how to be a normal person. She said. He took her hand and lightly kissed it which made her blush a deep red. She swallowed hard.

"A