David Dunwoody's Zombies

Grinning Samuel

Image by Bret Jordan

Of Samuel, clockmaker by trade
Whose rotting corpse began to fade:
   With knowledge retained
   And indifference to pain,
He forged claws that would not degrade.

Though Grinning Samuel isn’t in Empire, he’s an important character in the Empire universe - one of its oldest, and most unusual, zombies (also my handle in Urban Dead, where I drop by now and then for my recommended intake of vitamin Brains).

A clockmaker most of his life, Samuel never forgot his skill-set. Now, in order to counter his degeneration, the rotter has constructed crude mechanical hands and jaws for himself. Wandering the catacombs beneath a forgotten cemetery, Samuel endures well into the apocalypse, eventually becoming more machine than man. And that’s when he meets the Reaper.

Samuel is featured in stories from The Undead, The Undead: Headshot Quartet, and Zombology. His first appearance was in my first story sale, “Grinning Samuel” from The Undead, which is also featured in a full audio production on Zompod.