Free The Reanimation of Edward Schuett by Derek J. Goodman Page A

gums were black and several teeth were missing, leaving the broken ones that were left to poke out in random directions.
    For all these horrible details, however, he could clearly see that everything seemed to be healing. From his blackened gums several small, shiny bits of bone shown through that appeared to the beginnings of new teeth. A few of the pits on his cheeks looked like they were not so dry as they had once been, and where the pus flowed a little more freely the skin might have been knitting itself back together. The open patches on his skull had the slightest hint of peach fuzz to suggest a new head of hair in the future, even in the places where he had already been bald. And all of this was hours after Ringo and Charlie had first noticed that he looked to be healing. Edward couldn’t guess yet the rate that these changes were occurring, but he didn’t think he would look anything like this by this time tomorrow. Even the cuts on his fingers tingled like they were healing faster than they had any right.
    “Jesus Christ in heaven,” Edward said. “This is insane.”
    “That’s what I’ve been saying,” Rae said. “So, you want to tell me everything you know about all this?”
    “Lady…Rae, I don’t know jack.”
    “Then why don’t you start by telling me anything you remember. Anything at all.”
    Edward sighed and gave her the abbreviated version of everything he had remembered while in the shed and everything from the moment between waking up in the store and getting taken by Ringo. Rae said nothing while he talked, nodding occasionally as she rubbed the stock of her rifle. She held onto the thing like a child might a teddy bear, but Edward didn’t say anything about that. She didn’t strike him as the kind of person who would take it favorably being compared to a little kid.
    “And that’s it?” she asked, peeking her head up to look over the side of the truck as it slowed to a stop. He was about to ask if they were at her place yet, but from his position he could see a stop-and-go light in front of them. It felt strangely comforting that, even with the apocalypse come and gone, things like traffic lights could still exist.
    “It’s at least everything I remember,” Edward said.
    “Well, none of that really tells me shit, except that whatever is causing you to regenerate apparently started some time last night or early this morning.”
    “Yeah, but that doesn’t give us a reason why,” Edward said. “Can I ask some questions now? Please? I think I’ve been in the dark long enough.”
    “I’ll answer whatever questions I can, I guess, but I don’t know how much help I’ll be.”
    “Then I guess you should start with…um, what the hell actually happened?”
    “What which happened when?”
    “Well, the end of the world. The zombie armageddon.”
    Rae raised an eyebrow. “Zombie armageddon? That’s a new one. Why the hell would you call it that?”
    “Well, that had to be what it was, right? The end of the world? Everything now is the post-apocalypse?”
    “Jesus, that’s an exaggeration if I ever heard one,” Rae said. “I mean, yeah, things got bad back in those days. They say three-quarters of the world’s population was wiped out…”
    “Holy fucking shit! Three-quarters? How the hell am I exaggerating, then?”
    “Because, look around you.” She gestured around the truck, then remembered that he couldn’t actually sit up and look. “Or, at least think of everything you’ve seen so far. I know this is probably different than you remember, but you’re from fifty years ago. Of course things are going to be different. Different doesn’t exactly mean bad.”
    “But…all the ruins outside that weird open perimeter circle thing…”
    “Have been that way for as long as I can remember,” Rae said. “No change, not really. You’ve got some people living way out in the boonies trying to farm now, but otherwise there’s nothing new or different. Last I checked