The lateGeorge A. Romerodirected six zombie films, from 1968’sNight of the Living Deadto 2009’sSurvival of the Dead.
“His six zombie movies only ever went five years into the future.
Kraus met Romero just the once, around a decade ago.
Credit: Douglas Education Center; Tor Books
“His manager knew that I was a Romero scholar,” says Kraus.
It was fantastic for me, probably it meant nothing at all to George.
I was just some other fan.
Tor Books
We didnt talk business certainly, we were just shooting the s—.
And that was it.”
Romero’s manager got back in touch with Kraus following the death of the director two years ago.
“I got a call from his manager and his wife Suzanne,” says Kraus.
“They were going through some of Georges unfinished work and they came upon the novel.
It was an important work for George because it book-ended the six zombie films that he had made.”
Kraus was asked if he would be interested in finishing the novel.
Romero was a famously friendly character, but Kraus admits he proved a sometimes difficult collaborator.
“It was really a unique, strange process,” says Kraus.
“Essentially, the material came in three distinct waves.
The first wave was the manuscript that he had written.
It was a different book but it was similar in a lot of ways.
Different characters, but fantastic stuff.
So, it became a process of how do I now deal with these two different source materials.
So this was a massive pain in the a–, but also amazing.
And it was like, ‘Oh, great, thanks.
I wish you would have given them to me 400 pages ago but thank you.'”
So, yeah, I could imagine taking one of those sequences and growing something out of it."
Without making any sort of dramatic declaration, Hoffmann began to tidy her affairs.
Shaping up the Archives preface.
Establishing a comprehensive table of contents.
Testing materials to determine what might best protect the Archive from moisture and rot.
It would give her time to come to terms with not justtheend butherend.
Between January and April of Year Nine, she received only four calls.
None of them had new information.
All had a fare-thee-well flavor.
Hoffmann wondered what this would mean on a global scale.
It was beyond anything covered in the Lending Library.
She dreamed zombies were the new indigenous people, native to the land in a way few others were.
The big difference was Theyd been created in all lands at once.
Earth, its entirety, was Theirs.
Hoffmann had not gone entirely unnoticed over the decade.
Zombies had coalesced on occasion, tipped off by some unknown indicator.
From up there, shed take measure of the zombie threat.
Usually just a couple.
Once, in Year Five, seventy-nine passed like sap down tree bark, a slow, breathtaking spread.
Only in Year One and Year Two had humans tried to get inside.
Hoffmann did not like to think of it.
She did not feel sorry for how she reacted.
But she knew, according to old standards, sheshouldfeel sorry.
Etta Hoffmann was no hero.
She knew that about herself on 4,0954:55, the day, hour, and minute of Snoops first call.
Snoop, who wanted to learn so much about her.
If Snoop knew the truth of how much Hoffmann had helped people, shed quit calling.
After Snoop slyly elicited Hoffmanns name, Hoffmann believed her days were numbered.
She altered her schedule for the first time in a decade, working two additional hours per day.
She completed a final draft of her preface, at last satisfied with her instructions for the Archives use.
She finished the vast, nested table of contents she felt would be most helpful to future users.
It was a quandary.
She had no gun.
She did not know which toxic chemicals might be fatal if swallowed.
The building was not tall enough to jump from.
She did not trust herself, or the aged ceiling, to handle a hanging.
Setting fire to herself put the Archive at risk.
Slicing ones wrists, shed read, was one of the least reliable options.
The only surefire method, she concluded, was go- ing outside and letting the zombies have her.
She thought about it every day.
Day after day, she did not do it.
She scolded herself mercilessly.
She had only herself to blame when Snoop came knocking.
