Free Revenence: Dead of Winter: A Zombie Novel by M.E. Betts

part of the background, although Shari was trying to get into the habit of using the birds' presence as a clue to let her know where dead bodies, or undead themselves, might be. 
         They were about halfway down the driveway when Shari saw the quick glimmer of a metal object catching the sun's rays to her right, in a thin copse of elm and birch trees.  She turned in the direction of the glimmer, but didn't see any sign of it.  She slowed Eva and narrowed her eyes, peering intently into the narrow wooded area.  After a moment, she saw what she believed she was looking for, about twenty feet behind her and ten feet inside the treeline.
         "Hey Daphne," she called, cupping her hands around her mouth, "wait up."  She dismounted and approached the treeline, her bow drawn.  A corpse lay on the ground, its upper body sprawled over a hollow log.  Her heart sank when she saw the short, dark hair.  She saw the large earplugs, which had caused the decomposing earlobes to droop excessively.  She saw the eyebrow ring, which was, she supposed, what had reflected the sunlight and caught her attention.
         "I don't know your name," she mumbled.
         "Who is it?" Daphne asked from behind her.
         "Jesus," Shari said breathlessly.  "You scared the crap out of me.  Good thing you weren't a zombie, I guess, because I wouldn't have heard 'em coming."
         "No," Daphne said, "but I bet you'd have smelled 'em, for damn sure."
         Shari nodded toward the corpse.  "It's someone who was staying in that cabin," Shari said.  "I found his journal, and a picture of him.  He had written something about trying to make it to Sikeston, said he thought his abusive dad was bitten and getting ready to turn.  I guess he never made it."     
         Daphne stepped around to the other side of the body, crouching down.  "He won't be getting up," she said, pointing to the man's left temple.  Shari stepped around to see what she was pointing at.  She leaned down and saw a small piece of metal about half the thickness of a pencil protruding from the skull.
         "I wonder what happened," Shari breathed, standing to have a better look at the entire corpse.
         Kandi appeared beside her, pointing to the man's dark green T-shirt.  "Well, princess, there appears to be a lot of blood on the back of that shirt...all that blood couldn't have come from that tiny hole in his skull, now could it?"
         No, Shari thought, and besides, there's none on the shoulder of the shirt, just on the back, and on the bottom.   She lifted the shirt gingerly away from the lower back, revealing a large, ragged bite wound.  The flesh and muscle hung in loose, stringy flaps, partially severed from the back ribs.  "He was bitten," she whispered, her chest heaving as she sighed.  "He didn't want to turn."
         "Can't say I blame him," Daphne said.  "I wonder if it was his dad."
         Shari sneered.  "Most likely."  She felt a seething hatred for the young man's father, though she had never met him.  I wish he got to make it to Sikeston.
         "Well, princess," Kandi said, "you can wish in one hand and shit in the other, but if you do, it'll only serve to highlight the fact that you've got no hands left to fight the undead with."
         Shari rolled her eyes, starting back toward the driveway.  "I wish we had a shovel to bury him," she called over her shoulder to Daphne, who strode faster to catch up.
         "Yeah," she said, abreast with Shari.  "But I didn't see one in the shed, or around the house when we first looked around yesterday."
     Shari gazed into the distance, her eyes stinging with tears.  "I don't know why I feel so personally affected by it," she said as she mounted Eva.  "I mean, I didn't know him.  But just the words he wrote...he seemed like a smart kid.  I know he's just one of millions... billions , probably...but if we can no longer see the value in one