Life Among The Dead (Book 3): A Bittersweet Victory by Daniel Cotton Page A

weight onto
the thing’s back. Though he weighs a considerable amount, the
deceased thrashes and fights to get free.
    “He’s got him,” Biff tells Marko.
    “Good! Bring him over here.”
    Biff grabs the cadaver’s ankles and waits for
Jessie to hop clear of the gnashing teeth.
    “Get him over here!” Marko’s points to a spot
on the sidewalk.
    Jessie and Biff struggle with the oddly
strong and wiry corpse. Each takes a leg in their powerful hands,
yet the movement of their frantic prisoner is almost too much for
them. The creature writhes back and forth in his desperate desire
to turn and get at those that drag it along the asphalt.
    At the sidewalk, Jessie and Biff are given
another order that they carry out. The cop has to be turned around
for them to bravely force his face to the curb; it’s a difficult
task to pull off with the thing fighting the entire time, but they
manage to do as Marko pleases and get it to bite the concrete.
    The cop’s mouth is wide open at a ninety
degree angle on the curb. Jessie and Biff have him by the shoulders
to keep him in place, since the rock hard surface isn’t what the
thing wishes to be biting. Marko stands behind the officer and
savors the moment before stomping on the back of his head as hard
as he can.
    A mess of blood and teeth are left behind
where the corpse’s mouth was. Jessie and Biff release their captive
and shiver at the sight of the violent act.
    Bellows of joy erupt from Marko, who is too
busy celebrating to realize his lackeys have abandoned their post.
The zombie is loose and the cousins have scrambled away from the
corpse that rises to his feet.
    Exhilarated, Marko has his back to the
vicious scene, with his hands held high over his head like a
triumphant boxer. When he looks again, he stands face to face with
what he’s done. The force of the savage kick caused the zombie’s
mouth to open beyond its limitations, and the cheeks are torn open
from ear to ear in a garish grin while the jawbone hangs loose from
his skull. What teeth remain are cracked and angled like a
jack-o-lantern. Relatively harmless now, the cop still advances on
Marko.
    Biff finishes the zombie with an arrow. He
emerges from behind the red truck with Jessie, each having trouble
looking at the stomach wrenching gore.
    “Find me another one!” Marko orders.
     
    ###
     
    Room by room, the trio clears the station,
after Marko has his sinister fun with a few more unfortunate
zombies. His companions witnessed as he lived out many dark and
twisted fantasies, even worse than the first shocking display.
    They celebrate their triumph with booze and a
banquet of junk food. Marko schemes for their future while staring
at a large map of the highway system. He wants to accrue as much as
possible: all the guns and ammo he can hoard, all the food they
could want, electronics and gadgets. He wants everything. He
wonders if he can find more people willing to join his kingdom,
creating an army for him to command. And some girls would be nice , he adds to his
infinite wish list.
    It’s well past midnight by the time he and
his men are ready to turn in. Their trucks have been emptied of
supplies and superfluous weapons they won’t be bringing with them
tomorrow when they return to Worchester. Offices have become
storage areas for their camping gear and food, and the chief’s
office is now Marko’s personal throne room.
    Hoping to catch a few winks on fold-out cots,
the men rest up for tomorrow. While Biff and Jessie snore away,
Marko lies awake, too excited to sleep.

 
6
     
    In Room 202 of the Worchester Motel, Vida
awakens from nightmares. She remains still, afraid to move lest she
shake loose the ghouls that have plagued her mind all night. A
moment of temporary amnesia makes her play back the past to
remember where she is. Brad Larsen picked her up on the Washington
Bridge, then they drove north and took a break from the road after
finding shelter.
    Once the lights were put out, Vida