Tex Morgan #8

Terror of Rimrock Valley!

Rimrock Valley is terrorized by zombies that have been attacking the locals. Those who have not been killed have been leaving in droves. However Mrs. Stover and her daughter Molly refuse to leave, and as a result, Molly's lover Stan Hammond is determined to stay as well to protect the women from these so-called walking dead. Mrs. Stover decides to write a letter to the one man she believes who can help. While outside Stan expresses his dislike of their yardman Carl Tuesday, who lives in their workshed, although Molly considers him a good worker. Soon Mrs. Stover has Molly mail out the letter. Left alone at her house, Mrs. Stover is soon attacked and murdered by the zombies.

A few days later Tex Morgan gets the letter written by Mrs. Stover and decides that he and Lobo should go up to Rimrock Valley to investigate. When they arrive in town they find it mostly deserted. They run into Chaney Foster, the owner of the Rimrock bank who explains what has been happening in town, however Tex finds it hard to believe that the dead are walking. Just as they are leaving a man named Doc comes to get his money out of the bank as he is leaving town as well.

Tex and Lobo then ride out to the Stover ranch and are almost shot by Stan who has been keeping guard ever since Mrs. Stover was killed. When he realizes that he is not facing an army of the undead, Stan invites them over to the ranch and explains what happened. Meanwhile, at Doc's house, Doc is confronted and killed by a zombie as well. Soon at the house, Molly and the others are joined by Carl Tuesday who admits that he could not leave Molly all alone. Their party is also joined by Chaney Foster, who tells them about Doc's murder at the hands of the zombies. Suddenly they hear Stan's guns and rush outside and find no trace of him. Chaney decides to return to his home to safety, while Lobo finds tracks.

Tex and Lobo follow the tracks to the shed where Carl Tuesday lives and they find a trap door that leads into a network of tunnels that spread out all over the town. They find Stan down below and are soon besieged by Zombies. Tex and Lobo find that their bullets have no effect on them and they revive Stan. As the zombies close in, they use their fists to fight them off. They flee back up the passage they came through in and rescue Molly and flee the ranch as the zombies begin to pour out of the tunnel. As they flee, Lobo tells Tex that his people have a legend about the living dead and suggests that they go and visit his tribe which is camped out nearby. They meet with the chief of the village who informs them that the only way to stop the living dead is to destroy their master.

They return to the ranch to see how Molly and Stan are doing to learn that Molly has gone missing. Spotting someone in the shed again, Stan shoots him and they follow the trail of blood down into the tunnels. There they find Molly with Chaney, and that Chaney is shot. Chaney explains that his brother Carl Tuesday is a brilliant scientist who was trying to find a way to bring the dead back to life and that he followed after him to make sure he did not carry out his insane experiments, he then dies of his bullet wound. They are soon attacked by more zombies. Tex and the others are forced to stand down when Carl Tuesday takes Molly captive and uses her as a means of escaping. As they flee up to the ranch, Tuesday explains how he intends to use his armies of the undead to make himself king and that he intends to force Molly to be his queen. Upstairs he lights the ranch house on fire while Tex and the others continue to fight off the zombies in the tunnel below.

Unable to kill the zombies with their guns, Tex, Stan and Lobo instead rope them up and flee the area. In another part of the tunnel they run into zombies armed with guns. They flee the zombies and manage to escape from the burning ranch. When Carl Tuesday once more threatens Molly again, Tex's horse Lightning steps in and tramples Carl to death. With the zombies coming out of the tunnel, they all flee as the flames are quickly approaching a dynamite shack. As they flee the dynamite goes off destroying the zombies. In the aftermath, Molly and Stan decide to leave Rimrock and get married and Tex and Lobo ride off into the sunset.

Recurring Characters

• Tex Morgan

• Lobo

• Lightning

• Cloud

Ruler of the Rockies

Fleeing from hunting dogs, Diablo seeks refuge into the forest. However a man made forest fire force him up into the Rocky Mountains. Climbing the mountain, Diablo becomes hungry and seeks to feed on a young mountain goat. However the leader of the goats attacks Diablo leading to a battle across the mountains. Although the goat has the advantage, Diablo ultimately wins by knocking the goat off the mountain to it's death. Realizing that he is out of his element, Diablo returns to the forest, a little wiser about going up in the mountains again.

Recurring Characters

• Diablo