Read Online Life Among The Dead (Book 3): A Bittersweet Victory by Daniel Cotton - Free Book Online

enough to look her in the eyes and smile back, his
hand finding her knee. “I’m sure you’ll find a way.”

Section IX. Something Far Worse
     

1
     
    Many miles north of Waterloo, deep in the
woods, a man awakens. He stretches the sore muscles in his back,
feeling abused from his slumber on the unforgiving ground. From his
tent he can hear his companions already chattering about something
that he assumes to be their usual asinine prattle. Before emerging
from his shelter, he looks at himself in a small mirror to make
sure his thick black hair is perfect.
    The morning is surprisingly warm compared to
last night. Though it looks to be a beautiful day, he grumbles like
a bear emerging prematurely from hibernation.
    “Coffee’s almost ready, Marko,” one of his
two cohorts says from the freshly stoked campfire.
    “Hurry it up!” he snaps from the collapsible
chair he has dropped himself into.
    Marko’s head is throbbing from a severe
hangover. He lights a cigarette and coughs several times. Each one
worsens his headache with stabbing pain. He finally hacks a thick
gob of mucus from his lungs that he spits off to the side while
waiting for the heavy set camper to bring him his caffeine fix. As
per his usual routine, he cracks open a tall can of beer, needing
‘the hair of the dog’ to get through what he has brought on
himself. The first cold sip is glorious as it moistens his dry,
sticky palate.
    Marko and his friends, a pair of dimwitted
cousins that he often suspects have a much closer blood tie, have
been camping and hunting in these woods just off of the highway for
almost a week. Technically, according to the gaming laws, they are
poaching. Though it is deer season and they do have a couple of
tags for their quarry, they only intend on using said tags if a
game warden wanders too close. Whenever possible, they slaughter
their kills in the field with a chainsaw lubricated with vegetable
oil rather than the standard inedible variety. The trio simply
slices off what meat they want, and the heads, leaving the rest of
the carcasses to rot in the woods.
    They haven’t had much luck this time out. Not
a single deer. They’ve seen several, but with Biff and Jessie
always carrying on the way they do the Whitetail prance off before
they can take their shots. Marko doesn’t mind, which is unusual for
him. Any other excursion they’ve been on he’s berated the pair for
scaring off the deer. This time he’s just happy to get away because
a recent break up with his on-again, off-again girlfriend has him
depressed.
    He’s always considered it a blessing to be
rid of girls in the past. It gave him a chance to find something
better. But not Carla. She’s special. He wouldn’t call it love
because he isn’t even sure if he’s capable of the emotion. A girl
like Carla is more of a trophy. The most gorgeous girl he’s ever
set eyes on let alone been with. He’d choose her over any starlet
from television or movies, including pornographic. He’d choose her
over any of the other girls at the Flagpole. That’s no longer an
option due to the restraining order that makes it abundantly clear
he mustn’t go anywhere near her.
    The twenty-four ounce can of beer is drained
by the time Biff brings him a steel mug of coffee. He’s feeling
better already, partly due to the quiet. That leads him to notice
the missing third of their party. “Where’s the other moron?”
    “Out taking a shit,” Biff says. His orange
hunting vest seems less blinding to Marko now that he has his
coffee and his beer and first smoke of the day.
    “Well, he needs to hurry up!” Marko says loud
enough for the man squatting somewhere in the woods to hear and
pinch it off quick. “We gotta hit a town and get more brews. We’re
fresh out.”
    Biff doesn’t say a word. He knows better. He
just begins to break camp as Marko hinted at. An approving nod from
Marko makes him beam with pride.
    He’s learning , Marko thinks as
he sips his coffee.