At the Behest of the Dead

by Long, Timothy W.

  Epilogue

  I stared at the house for a few minutes. A shape moved behind the curtains, but they wouldn’t be able to make me out because I was using an illusion that made me appear to be a bored handyman on lunch break. There wasn’t much to it. I just twisted the air and told it to make me look older, lighter haired, and bored. Actually the last part was easy to pull off.

  It was early in the morning and I’d told Ashley I would be back after I’d run a few errands. She’d already agreed to call in sick and spend the rest of the day with me, so my weekend was definitely looking up.

  First I had to solve one final piece of the puzzle.

  “Bitch,” Peaches grumbled.

  “What?”

  “The lady contained within the abode. Bitch. She called to me, bound me, and tortured me. She sent me to consume you.”

  “No shit. Well who is she?”

  “Balkir’s friend. Perhaps she had a relationship with the old man. Humans are so prickly concerning the other sex. In the wards, we fuck with wild abandon.”

  “I could have gone a lifetime without that image.”

  “She is the one. I hate her.”

  “Are you sure she did the summoning?”

  “Truly I have no idea, but she was the one that bound me.”

  “I bet Balkir arranged the whole thing,” I muttered. “So he really did have his sights set on me from day one, even before he tried to have me killed in the wards. Where did you come from? The host, I mean?”

  “She hired a man to act the part of her husband, but I ate him on the second night we were sent to the park.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Thusly.”

  “Don’t start that.” I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment. “Say, Peaches, want to go for a walk?”

  “As you wish.” She croaked.

  I knocked on the door a few minutes later. I wore a ball cap and kept my head down. I carried my dog to her door. She answered on the third ring.

  “Can I help you?”

  I looked up. The woman who had tried to have me killed a week ago did not look particularly pleased to see me.

  “Hi Thora. I just wanted to let you know that I wasn’t able to track down your husband’s killer. But look, I found your dog.”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.” She tried to close the door.

  “Have fun, buddy!” I said and tossed the Pomeranian in the entrance. No easy task considering how heavy she is.

  I pushed Thora inside, followed her, and then slammed the door shut.

  She yelled a number of very ungrandmotherly obscenities.

  Tarry a little, there is something else.

  This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;

  The words expressly are "a pound of flesh."

  “That’s deep.” I said.

  “Remember me?” Peaches growled before the transformation took hold.

  “Sic em, boy, er … Girl!” I grinned from ear to ear.

  The End

  About the Author

  Timothy W. Long has been writing tales and stories since he could hold a crayon and has read enough books to choke a landfill. Tim has a fascination with all things zombie, a predilection for weird literature, and a deep-seated need to jot words on paper and thrust them at people.

  Tim is the author of the bestselling, AMONG THE LIVING, and the sequel AMONG THE DEAD. His other works include the military zombie book BEYOND THE BARRIERS and the deserted island 'zombedy' THE ZOMBIE WILSON DIARIES. His other book, THE APOCALYPSE AND SATAN’S GLORY HOLE, was co-written with and Jonathan Moon and was recently named the official novel of rapture survivors everywhere.

  Tim can be found tooling around his website at:

  http://timothywlong.com