“Cooking to Die For” von Eric Moebius Morlin
When a zombie plague wipes out half the world’s population, people soon discover there are things that they must have to survive… like butter, sour cream, and mayonnaise.
The author is a massage therapist, fencer, school teacher, and retired street poet.. Eric Moebius Morlin is known to make even zombies feel a tad uncomfortable.
This is an excerpt from his new book he donated to us for publishing: “Cooking to Die for…” available on-line at Amazon and Barnes and Nobles…
Juan the Coroner Man
Cocoa Beach, Fl
November 15, 2013
Juan Rinetoot pulled into the Waffle House. Normally, he wouldn’t go there. He was more a Denny’s guy. Only when the guy on the stretcher, in the back of his van, sat up. All bets were off. Juan drove a van for the county coroner’s office, and he’d had bodies make awful noises, and produce worse sounds, but what this body was doing went outside the bounds of what he felt… appropriate.
So, Juan went into the Waffle House to wait for his nerves to settle. He hoped that guy in the back would just lay down and shut up. This also became somewhat humorous. What if the paramedics had been wrong? Only it wasn’t just that he’d done a follow up for the coroner’s office checking heartbeat, before zipping ‘em up to take back to county. Juan had seen the state the body had been prior to the zipping up, the guy had a hole straight through his intestines. There was no way that guy was alive, only Juan could see the body on the stretcher in the back of his truck writhing around like a big black worm.
Again and again ambulances drove by along A1A, and Juan could feel his phone vibrating in his pocket.
A couple came in just then, to sit at a booth not far from Juan. They complained about a guy in the back of the parking lot acting aggressive toward them. After they told the waitress, she’d told the cook, who went outside. He came back inside, bleeding from the inside of his forearm. Juan knew this went along with all the other craziness that was in his head. The waitress Sally Ann called the Sheriff’s Department. Juan was drawn to watch as the two Deputy Sheriffs spoke with the man outside. They then closed on him to cuff him, when he bit one of the officers in the face. The man had latched onto the officer’s lower lip and just held on. All the while the officer is howling,” Get him off me,” Which sounds far less coherent when someone is tearing your lip off.
The officer keeps screaming.
The second officer is hitting the biter now, and trying to shove a metal baton into the other man’s mouth. Finally, the man who bit the officer’s mouth opens and the officer is able to pull free. A long strip of ragged meat dangles free from the officer’s face. The other officer fires at the biter. The bullets hit him in the center of the chest, but he is running at the full bore. The officer barely gets off a swing with is baton, and the man falls. “Stay down,” The officer says laughing, “fucking monstrous piece of garbage,” not even trying to close the distance between them.
Inside the waitress is wrapping the cook’s arm. The waitress calls the manager to tell him that the cook is going to have to go home, and that either they have to get another cook in, or she is going home.
“No, I will not cook, and wait tables,” the waitress says, “either you get your ass in here and cook, or you can find a new cook and a new waitress.” When the officer’s fire their weapon the waitress almost jumps out of her seat. “You hear that,” Sally asks,” Yeah, that was the cops shooting that guy. I don’t get paid for this kind of bullshit. I’m going home.” There is a pause, and then she laughs and says, “Fire me, and then no one will work for you. Charlie got bit by that guy, and he’s leaving too.. You gonna fire him too? There’s people shooting at your people here you jerk.”
Sally continues talking, as across the room Juan signals to her he is getting a refill from behind the counter. She gives him the thumbs up. He also grabs extra cream. Juan then looks back to see that big black, zippered worm flopping about in his truck. Juan leaves Sally a $20 on the counter, so she can see it as he is leaving.
That is when Juan and Sally hear a second shot, then a third. The officers come in through the front door. One officer is bleeding from his face, He is holding a t-shirt against the wound, and blood still occasionally drools down from the drenched cloth. Juan decides there are too many people with bite marks in the restaurant, and he’d rather take chances out in the van,
at least there the body is in the bag.
Only Juan knows he can’t stay here. The officers are preoccupied as Juan slips out the front door heading for his van. He doesn’t notice there are more of those things across the street attacking a tourist. Instead he drives toward work to return the van.
This might be his last night on the job.
Juan had been experimenting with making his own cheese, and so thinks about how if things don’t work out, at least he can eat some good cheese when he gets home.
Browse and continue reading HERE
Paperback: 186 pages, Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (September 17, 2016) Language: English
BW paperback version
… and maybe we can offer another exclusive excerpt soon, keep checking in!
photos donated by E.M.Morlin