Flesh and Bone

"Flesh and Bone" written by Jonathan Maberry, is the third book in the Rot and Ruin series. The book centers on Benny Imura, a teenager from Mountainside - along with a couple of others, mainly Nix Riley, (Lou) Chong and Lilah. The third installment in this series delves into what the real world is really like and how death affects people differently.



The Ravine
At the beginning of Flesh & Bone, Benny Imura is seen to be sharpening the kami katana, which now belongs to him. He's been thinking about Tom, and the way he died, and how he didn't reanimate and he isn't dealing with Tom's death well. As he is deep in thought a hoard of zombies catch him off-guard and start to chase him through the deserts of southern Nevada. As it turns out, the zombies were called on by Mother Rose, the joint leader of Night Church. She blows on a whistle that the zombies obey and she is in full control to Benny's disbelief and terror as he desperately looks for an escape route. Soon though he drops the kami katana but in doing so finds an escape route. Being very Benny like he is chuffed with but then soon falls down into the ravine himself. Slamming into the ground he finds that the 'ravine' is actually just a disguised gorge. Lying down in pain he hears a motor and is confused at why motors were out here but he listens quietly as he is buried neck deep by the dirt they are tipping into the gorge. This is making it easier for the zombies to get to him as they start to claw at his skin. He soon begins to get very tired of the strenous activity and believes he is going to die. Having some last thoughts he feels guilty for leaving Nix behind but angry at Tom for dying. As he is bubbling up his anger he hears a little girl scream. She sees Benny and asks for help but she ends up falling in as well. Luckily though she caught onto the roots at the side but the zombies are clawing at her. This thankfully gives Benny some motivation to not give up. Soon though he manages to get his retrieved sword now stuck in a zombie. Then the little girl, called Eve falls and he leaves the sword to catch her; doing this winds him but they both survive. Just when he thinks he and Eve are both about to die - again - Lilah, Nix and Chong appear from above. Benny tries to play it cool in front of Nix but soon Nix's attention is diverted towards Eve. Eve looks similar to Annie (Lilah's deceased younger sister) so she kills more zombies while Chong is getting a rope sorted out for Eve and Benny. They all start to argue about how to get Benny and Eve rescued before realizing they were surrounded so they just hauled them up quickly. But as they did so Chong fell down. Once he got up Benny pulled Nix back and then finally Chong. Lilah comes back up by herself with Tom's sword in her hand and gave it to a startled Benny.

Characters
Benny Imura 

Nix Reily

Lou Chong

Lilah-The Lost Girl