The Undead That Saved Christmas by Lyle Perez-Tinics & David Naughton-Shires & S. G. Browne

Author:Lyle Perez-Tinics & David Naughton-Shires & S. G. Browne [Perez-Tinics, Lyle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies (Multiple Authors), Fiction, Lang:en
Publisher: CreateSpace
Published: 2012-03-30T14:06:42+00:00

Zeke put on his coat and left the former visitor’s center to face the cold. He sighed as he stepped outside... it was pointless to argue with Mr. Williams.

The teacher wouldn’t change his story about Santa; none of the adults would. All the kids grew up being told that Santa brought presents to good children and did... something ...with the bad ones.

Last holiday season, around the 5th or 6th of December, one of Zeke’s classmates vanished. Her name was Anna and she was a year younger than Zeke. He knew of the girl, but they weren’t that close. Anna cut school quite a bit, preferring to hang out near the barns, bully the younger kids and flirt with the younger men. They also said that Anna didn’t help out with her folks in the gardens or bothered to learn to shoot. Zeke often wondered what really happened. Of course, all the elders would just say she was naughty, so Santa took her.

Strangely enough, that wasn’t the only disappearance. Around the same time it seemed the numbers of Munchers outside the fence dwindled. Nobody could say exactly how many, but after so many years of watching the perimeters, some of the sharp shooters could recognize the clothing of the Munchers, and even gave them nicknames. Zeke’s older brother, Ben, was one of the guards that swore some of them went missing about the same time Anna did. Most people figured they wandered away or finally fell apart, but the one Ben remembered - FlannelMan, was still in good shape when he disappeared.

Once Zeke got home, his mother was waiting for him.

“Son, you need to help your sister outside - the animals need feeding and you promised you’d clear the path to the tower last night. Remember what time of year this happens to be. He’s watching you.”

“Alright mom, I’ll go get the shovel,” replied Zeke, not really wanting to argue the Santa point any more.

“Son, you need to be more responsible - I don’t want to see you ... go away,” said his mother. Zeke could hear the slight fear in her voice as he went back outside to clear the path.

Later that evening, Zeke was just starting to fall asleep in his bed. He had finished the path, and was tired. That’s when he heard the bells. Faintly at first, but getting closer. They almost seemed to enter the room with him, then he realized the sound was just outside the barred window. He looked out and could not believe his eyes.

There in the newly falling snow, just inside the perimeter fence was a sleigh, a team of reindeer and a very large man dressed in all red. It was Santa, but not like the picture books his family had shown him all these years. He was still dressed in red fur, from his head to his foot, and on his chin was that beard as white as snow - just like in the stories. But he was also wearing a fully stocked bandolier around his chest and a high powered rifle slung over his shoulder.

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