Read The Reanimation of Edward Schuett for Free Online Page A

very long. When he thought of them for too long his mind turned to memories of Dana, and his heart sank. Maybe she was still out there somewhere, but from what little he knew so far he didn’t think he could muster much hope. Even if she was out there his little six year old girl wouldn’t be so little anymore. For all he knew, enough time might have passed that she could be a teenager by now. She might not even remember him anymore.
    There were other landmarks he recognized, although most of them were not exactly the way he remembered them. The truck passed the building that had once been Edith’s Bakery, but it looked like it might be some kind of pawnshop now. In the distance looming over the rest of the city he could see one of the tallest structures in Fond du Lac, the hotel that had constantly changed hands and been renamed every so often from the Retlaw to the Clarion to the Ramada. The sign on the top of the building now declared that it was Merton Tower, but he couldn’t be sure if that meant it was still a hotel or not.
    The truck occasionally passed people going about their business on the streets, although few gave the truck and cage a second glance. Those that did often did a second take as they saw Edward in the back with the zombies, and he kept hoping that someone would realize what a horrible mistake had been made, that a human had for some improbable reason been mistaken for a zombie and was being unjustly kept where the undead could kill him at any moment, but no one said anything. They just stared at him.
    The zombies, for their part, thankfully didn’t look like they were going to be attacking him anytime soon. Often they would try to stand up in the cage only to fall all over each other when the truck hit another bump in the road. They treated Edward no differently than they treated each other, which made Edward more disquieted than comforted. He knew he wasn’t a zombie, but no one else here seemed to realize that, not even the real zombies. He wondered if he could get Ringo or Charlie to give him a mirror when they got to their destination, for no other reason than to see what everyone was seeing about him that he couldn’t.
    Even though many of the places they had passed looked like they were thriving despite the apocalyptic scenario outside of the city, the truck ended up pulling into the driveway of a run-down two story home with its paint chipping and its roof sagging. The world had managed to continue on just as it once had, apparently, right down to being divided into haves and have-nots. Both doors of the truck opened at the same time to let Edward in on the middle of an argument.
    “What’s to discuss?” Charlie said as he jumped out of the passenger side and slammed his door. Edward couldn’t help but notice he had his pistol out again.
    “Absolutely nothing. Because again you seem to forget that I’m the one who’s in charge,” Ringo said.
    “Bullshit you’re in charge. You’re the one with the truck. That don’t give you the right to be making that kind of decision.”
    “That’s right. My truck, but also my zed prod and my cage and my gas and all kinds of other shit. If you don’t like how I decide to do this then you can just find another partner. Go ahead, just try. You’re not going to be making the same amount of cash with someone else, not with how scarce zeds have become. I’m the one who finds them. You just help haul them into the cage.”
    “I’m also the one who can shoot this motherfucker’s head clear the fuck off,” Charlie said, raising his gun at Edward and pulling back the hammer.
    “Jesus Christ!” Edward yelled as he ducked down, expecting a bullet to fly right through where his head had been. When there was no shot Edward looked back up. Charlie was walking briskly down the driveway and onto the sidewalk, cussing under his breath and waving his gun the whole way.
    “What the hell was that about?” Edward asked Ringo, but Ringo didn’t