Free Santa Vs. The Living Dead by Josh Hilden Page A

Jones said to his only daughter with a chuckle. “Now you need to get into bed.”
                  Lilly hung her head in surrender. The little girl, just three months shy of six, had been waging a campaign to stay up late with the adults on Christmas Eve ever since Kindergarten had gotten out for the holidays. Her mother, aunt, uncle, and grandmother were all in the living room drinking adult drinks and talking and having fun without her.
                  “Alright Daddy,” she said heavily.
                  The lights flickered for the hundredth time that evening.
                  I’m glad Maria got me to top off the generator before the storm started, Eli thought silently thanking his wife yet again for being the practical one in the family.
                  Out loud he continued, “Now give me a hug and it’s off to bed with you.”
                  Her mood returning to light and excited at the prospect of Santa coming, Lilly hugged her father then scampered off to bed. Once her light was off and the Eli was reasonably certain she was down for the night he headed back to join the rest of the family.
                  The lights flickered again.
                  “How’s the little Princess?” Maria asked when Eli came back into the living room. “Did she stop trying to convince you she should be allowed to stay up?”
                  “She’s fine,” he laughed settling back next to his wife on the leather couch. “She tried every trick in her arsenal but in the end she went to bed happy.”
                  Soft laughter filled the room.
                  A fire crackled merrily in the fireplace and the wind whipped outside. Mark, Eli’s brother got up and stoked the fire. Then he went to the window and pushed the heavy curtains aside.
                  “It’s really coming down out there, I can’t even see the cars,” he said turning back to the room. “Good thing we were all planning to stay here tonight anyways.”
                  “When your father was alive he thought a heavy snow was the precursor to trouble,” Dianna Jones said sipping her coffee, which was liberally spiked with Kentucky bourbon. “But your father was also convinced our old neighbor, Mr. Ryerson, stole the Sunday newspaper from our porch every week—so take that as you will.”
                  “Is that why he kept those binoculars by the front window?” Mark asked grinning. “I always thought it was so he could watch the neighbor lady across the street when she was sun bathing.”
                  Mark’s wife Julie started laughing then coughed as she choked on her drink.
                  “No dear that was me,” Dianna deadpanned.
                  Everyone laughed.
                  Then the lights went out.             
                  One, two, three, four, five… the generator should kick on any second now, Eli thought as they all sat cloaked in the sudden darkness. Any second now the beast will turn over and we’ll have power once more.
                  “Umm Eli?” Maria asked in the fire illuminated darkness, “Shouldn’t the generator have kicked on by now?”
                  Eli sighed and got to his feet. This wasn’t the first time the power had gone out and the automatic switchover had failed. Such events necessitated a trip to the shed behind the house where the generator was installed. For the hundredth time Eli wished he’d taken care of the problem last time it occurred.
                  “Want me to come with you?” Mark asked moving from the window and into the glow of the fire.
                  “I’ll never say no to some company,” Eli laughed.
                  The two brothers, best friends since before