Excerpt: The Zombie and the Dragon Princess

His back leg was failing to support him, so he was limping backward as his breath drew in. One of the four zombies sneered, held his hands in front of him as if he were offering a gift, and a black sphere grew between them. He tossed the sphere forward, and the dragon guard released his own ball of fire, to meet it. Belynda drew in a breath and waited. At least Father had had the foresight to explain how the zombie plague spread and how to fight them. A second swirling sphere launched, and she intercepted it with a lightning bolt. Two more came at them simultaneously, and again, they countered. The green dragon never looked back at her, but he seemed to understand that he was not standing alone. He continued his backward movement toward her, away from their enemy. Of course he understood that if one of those balls hit him, he'd only have a couple of hours in which to receive a drop of her blood. They'd have to hold these four off for a long time, hoping that there would be no reinforcements. Belynda thought that was possible.

And it may have been if the battle overhead had gone better.