The Undead That Saved Christmas

by ed. Lyle Perez-Tinics

  “Follow me, boys and I’ll show you.”

  Santa and his guests exited out a rear door of the work shop and stood near the giant building they’d seen earlier.

  “This is my power plant boys, let’s take a look inside!” Santa said with a smile.

  The party made their way to the one and only door, which opened into a small control room, not more than 20 by 20 feet. They saw two doors on the other side of the room and between them was a bank of computers underneath large windows that looked out onto the plant floor. There were a few elves monitoring the gauges and dials, and for the moment, all those windows showed was a reflection of what was in the control room - the plant floor was dark.

  “Boys,” explained Santa. During better times, this was a warehouse full of toys, but now, it fulfills other needs. This building is where I get my power to run things here at the North Pole.” Zeke heard the door behind them open and felt a cold breeze blow into the room.

  “And I bet this is one of my fresh batteries now,” finished Santa.

  The boys turned to see the elf named Evergreen pushing one of the cages into the control room. Inside the cage was what looked to be a former police officer. She was wearing riot gear and her helmet, but the boys could tell she was a Muncher.

  As soon as the former cop saw the boys, she lunged at the cage wall in an attempt to reach them, but all she managed to do was rock the cage and receive a cattle prod to her lower back, courtesy of Evergreen.

  The elf pushed the cage toward the door to the right of the control panel. As the cage got closer to the door, Zeke noticed that the cage and the door were about the same size. In fact the cage fit right into some grooves on the door frame, once it was pushed up against the door. Evergreen flipped a couple of latches to lock the cage in place, and pressed a button. At that point, the door to the plant floor swung open with the cage door following it.

  Suddenly, a smell of death and decay flooded into the control room. Santa reached over and flicked a switch to turn on the plant floor lights as Evergreen, using the cattle prod, forced the Muncher through the doorway.

  The boys were horrified at what they saw. There was no machinery in the room, no pillars holding the roof, nothing but a large open space filled with Munchers as far as the eye could see, Shoulder to shoulder, hundreds of undead stood. No, they were moving, all walking somehow, in the same direction toward one end of the building. The police officer joined their ranks, pushing some of the more decrepit Munchers aside in her eagerness.

  Zeke tried to look beyond the horde to see what they were shambling toward, and that’s when he saw them. At the far end of the building, on what looked like a stage in an auditorium, were dozens of kids chained to the wall. Some of them looked awful, nearly as bad as the Munchers themselves, while others hadn’t been there long - they could still scream. There was a trough along the wall that looked just like the one in the pig sty at home, where Zeke threw slop to feed the pigs. Then it hit Zeke - near the middle of the small stage was Anna, the girl who had disappeared from Yorktown last year. She had been naughty and Santa finally brought her here. All the color left Zeke’s face and he nearly passed out.

  William then blurted out, “The Munchers! They’re going to kill those kids! You’ve got to get them out of there!”

  Santa motioned to Evergreen and he walked up silently behind William.

  “Don’t worry, the children are safe... mostly. Look at the floor, it moves with the undead. We built a giant treadmill, and their movement generates all the power we need here. The only thing we need is a reason for them to keep walking.”

  As Santa spoke his last line, Evergreen clamped his meaty hands on William’s arms and forced him toward the door to the left of the control panel.

  “You, see William and Zeke, I need, let us say... bait, to keep the undead moving. That’s why I keep track of all the naughty boys and girls and bring them here, so they can ... motivate my helpers out there to power my workshop. You’ll be quite helpful, quite helpful indeed!” Santa explained, as Evergreen pushed William toward the door. The boy screamed and pled for his life, but it was too late. He had been on the list for years and it was his turn.

  Silence again filled the control room as the door behind Evergreen and William closed. Zeke and Santa watched as Evergreen moved William down a caged hallway and into place along the bait wall, chaining him in place, leaving just enough slack to reach the food trough. Then Evergreen returned to the control room and faced Santa, waiting for his next task.

  “What are you going to do with me, Santa? Are you going to chain me out there too?” Zeke sobbed, knowing that there wasn’t much hope for him right now. He knew he’d been bad, but he was sorry, really sorry for everything he’d ever done!

  “No,” said Santa, “you’ve been brought here because I’ve noticed that while you question your elders, are often negligent in your chores and have been late to class many times ... you’ve not made it to my naughty list ... yet.

  Every year, I bring a few boys and girls to the North Pole to learn what happens if you are on my naughty list. This way they can straighten out their own lives as well as influence others. I’ve visited Yorktown for just this reason before, and I think you know the last young man I gave this talk to,” Santa explained.

  With that, Santa reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of magic dust and blew it into Zeke’s face.

  * * *

  Zeke awoke in his own bed the next morning. Looking around, everything seemed normal. He questioned himself - Was it just a dream? What really happened last night? He looked out the window to see if there were tracks in the snow, but more had fallen during the night and he just couldn’t tell.

  “Zeke, you up? It snowed some last night and your father really needs your help outside clearing a path to the guard tower,” called his mother.

  “Sure mom,” replied Zeke, as he threw on some clothes and his coat before heading out to help his dad. Walking outside, he noticed that the path was already cleared and his father was standing at the base of the tower waiting for him.

  As Zeke started apologizing over and over for not helping, his father just laughed.

  “Hey sleepyhead, your timing couldn’t be better. Want to head up the tower and do some target practice?”

  They scaled the tower and Zeke, who was normally a decent shot, couldn’t hit much of anything. He turned shame-faced to his father.

  “Son, what’s wrong? Your aim is all off, your hands are shaking. You’re practically missing the ground with your shots today!”

  “Sorry, dad. Last night something happened. Well, I think something happened, I’m not really sure. I was almost asleep when I thought I heard sleigh bells, and then... ” Zeke stammered.

  His father looked at him soberly. “You met Santa’s Helpers, didn’t you?”

  Story Art Cover

  By Jason Tudor

  http://www.JasonTudor.com

  Dedication

  To dreams, nightmares, and everything in between...

  Author Bio

  I am a lifelong Horror/Zombie/SciFi nut who decided one day it was time to write a novel. I had no real plan at first, but after thinking a while I felt that an apocalyptic story told completely from the zombie's point of view needed to be written so I wrote Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective. I wanted to do the whole book, cover to cover, my way, and after a few disagreements with publishers I started Zilyon Publishing with my buddy Greg Bogle. We've also recently released "The Undead Nation Anthology" with Alan Gandy (author of Voyeur Dead) and "Living My Nighmare, The Work Of Filmmaker Coven Delacruz". I love to write and publish, and I also have a web comic at www.TedDead.com to keep me busy. www.CalvinALMillerII.com. cal_in_space@yahoo.com.

  Santa Claws is Coming to Town

  By Calvin A. L. Miller II

  “Leaving me is not going to solve anything!” I shouted, a bit pitifully. “I do everything for you and we are great together!”

  “We are not tog
ether, at least not anymore,” She said as she pulled on her jeans, and she meant it. Our relationship had been spiraling downward ever since I quit school. I only had a year to go but I couldn’t bear the thought of Kelly alone for any period of time so I just quit and moved to Philadelphia to be with her. We met at the beach over Memorial Day weekend at a bar called Secrets. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen and I had one of those movie moments where everything went silent as I saw her across the room. I waited until her glass was nearly empty and asked the bartender to give her one of what she was drinking. The second she was finished I walked over to her and said, “Hi,” while the bartender handed her a madras and said it was from me. Perfect timing. We spent the entire weekend together and began dating immediately. She lived in Philly and I went to school at the University of Maryland but we made it work. It wasn’t that long a distance and my friends thought I was completely crazy to quit school. My parents were pissed.

  “It’s a year, dude!” my buddy Craig said. “Just finish up and then see what happens. You might not even be together by then.” My dad said nearly the exact same thing. I believed them both and felt the only way to keep her was to be with her all the time. At first she loved the idea, and I really believe she loved me too. But it didn’t take long for my jealousy, which had been well hidden when we were over a hundred miles away, to come out and drive a wedge between us.

  “All you do is work at that drug store and play video games.” She said as she closed her suitcase. “And you follow me everywhere and watch my every move. We never go out or go anywhere either and I’m tired of being broke, James.”

  She is the only one besides my mom that calls me James.

  “What if I got some money? We could go on a trip. Or we could get married. Please don’t leave me Kelly,” I begged.

  “I have to go. I’ll get the rest of my things later, or not. I need time to think. I need to breathe. Merry Christmas James.”

  And she was gone.

  I woke up the next morning feeling horribly alone. I could think of nothing but who she had spent the night with and how I needed to win her back.

  So I came up with a plan…

  I would be closing the store that night, Christmas Eve. The biggest day of the year in sales. And I would be in charge of the money. And the receipts. If I worked it right I could skim a couple thousand dollars off the top and no one would ever know. No, I would volunteer to work the entire day! I got my cell phone out and dialed Dave.

  “Hello, and Merry Christmas Jimbo!” Dave answered. “Surprised to see you on the Caller ID. Why are you up so early, it’s not even six o’clock?”

  “Dave, how about I work the whole day. Kelly left last night an-”

  “Jim I am sorry,” Dave interrupted. “That’s a shame.”

  “Yeah, well I’d like to get my mind off it, you know. Keep busy. So what do you say?”

  “Well, OK Jim,” Dave said after a few long seconds. “You know the code to turn the alarm off when you open up. It’s the same as setting it when you close. You have the keys. Take it easy buddy and let Barb and I know if there’s anything we can do. You know what, come on over tomorrow if you feel up to it. We can have some Christmas dinner and then watch a movie. We’d love to have you buddy.”

  Why is he being so nice and making this so God Damn difficult?!

  “If I feel up to it I will. Thanks for doing this Dave, and enjoy the day.”

  * * *

  I got to the store and brought in the newspapers that had been dropped off earlier. I then began to finalize my plan. I was the first one there; it was six thirty AM. Store opens in an hour and a half and the staff doesn’t show until seven thirty. Plenty of time. First I needed someone to set up. Bob was my man. He was old and it would be understandable if he lost something. Or we’d fire him, I really didn’t care. I could even slip a few hundred dollars in Bob’s coat while he worked and later “catch him” in the act. He kept to himself and no one really liked him that much. It was even common knowledge among non-management that he stole small items now and then. The thoughts I was having were those of a monster, but I just had to get Kelly back. I’d make Bob a key carrier so he’d have keys to the register drop boxes and I’d send him to pick up money from the registers to bring to me in the office. I’d have him wait until the boxes were really full to make each haul a big one. The store was in a neighborhood that uses a lot of cash. Not many of the customers that shopped in this store used or even had credit cards, even in this day and age. But I’d have access to the numbers of everyone who did. I wouldn’t be using the numbers to buy anything, or even get cash advances, oh no... But I imagined there were people who would be interested in purchasing the numbers from me. I could sell them before the New Year. It seemed almost perfect. By my calculations I should be able to get about five thousand dollars in money “lost” or “stolen” by Bob, and who knows how much for the card numbers.

  I heard a knock at the door up front. It was after seven o’clock already, but no matter. My plan was complete. I got to the front and the face outside the glass door looked very familiar. I unlocked the door.

  “Ma’am we aren’t open until eight o’clock.” I said, smiling broadly with the thoughts of my plan and getting Kelly back firmly in my head.

  “Jimmy Paugh, I can’t believe it!” she said astonished.

  I knew who it was instantly. It was Celia Curry, the girl who used to baby sit me when I was younger. My mother had choir practice Wednesday nights and my dad worked, so Celia would watch me for about three or four hours nearly every Wednesday from when I was four to when I was around six years old. Then my dad started working days and she stopped. She lived in the apartment above us and was about nine years older than me.

  “Celia! How are you? Come on in!” I said as I let her in and relocked the door. “You live in Philadelphia now?”

  “Yeah, I moved here a few years ago.” she said smiling. “How are your mom and dad? Your dad was so funny!”

  “They’re great, still back in Maryland. How about yours?”

  “They both died. Auto accident. About a year ago.” She said. I could tell she still felt bad, but she started to get a little fidgety.

  “Hey!” she said obviously wanting to change the subject. “The Christmas decorations just reminded me, do you remember the story I told you that time about Santa Claws?”

  “Santa Claus?” I answered with a question.

  “Santa C-L-A-W-S, remember?” She said, spelling it out and smiling deep into my eyes.

  Then it came back to me… Santa Claws. I remembered. I was young, right when she started to baby sit me. It was around Christmas and I had been snooping around my parents’ bedroom while my Mom was in the bathroom getting ready to go to choir practice. I found them! My Christmas presents! Was there no Santa Claus? Did he come early? I had heard Chris Sykes and Tony Wymer, two older boys, talk about how there was no Santa Claus but didn’t believe them. They also told me there was a pool on the roof of every apartment and that they wrote the Star Spangled Banner. I heard a knock at the door and my mom going to get it. I had begun to unwrap one of the presents instinctively and hurried to put the tape back. I came out of the room looking guilty I imagine, but my mom was in a hurry and didn’t notice. Celia did, and she also noticed the small, torn piece of decorative tape on my shirt. Mom kissed me goodbye and left.

  “What do we have here?” she asked, pulling off the tape. I was remembering all this very vividly now. “You look like the cat that ate the canary!” She was thirteen at the time and usually treated me cruelly. Later, as I got older, rumors were going around that her father molested her, or at least physically abused her in a non-sexual way. She was always a strange girl. How I had forgotten, I don’t know.

  I remember she hit me hard on the head and grabbed me by my neck.

  “I bet you were in HERE!” she said as she dragged me into my parents' room and to the closet. “Bad kids sneak looks at the gifts their parents a
re hiding for Christmas, and bad kids get GOT by Santa Claws!”

  “I didn’t do it!” I cried.

  “You’re a liar!” she screamed as she threw me on the bed. “Let me tell you what the deal is you little son of a bitch. Your parents, everyone’s parents, have to buy gifts now because Santa Claus is DEAD! He died at the North Pole last year and now Santa CLAWS comes on Christmas instead!” And then she spelled it out so I would know.

  “But HE only comes for bad kids now, bad kids like YOU!” she continued her tirade. “He comes in on Christmas Eve and kills the bad kid’s parents and family. Then he sinks his claws into the bad kid and takes him back to the North Pole!”

  I must have had my hands in the air acting out the scene when Celia broke in…

  “I see you do remember!” she cackled. “Well if you are thinking about being bad, I wouldn’t. Santa Claws is coming to town.”

  We both looked in each other’s eyes and started to laugh. I had long since forgiven her, at least in my head, for the way she treated me. She had quite possibly been tortured by her father and she never really hurt me, she was just a bit rough. Maybe I just wanted to forgive her, or maybe it was just so long ago. I don’t know.

  “Listen, take care of yourself Jimmy.” She said, turning to leave.

  “Hey wait, why did you come here anyway?” I asked.

  “Oh, for a paper!” she answered as we laughed again. I handed her one, she gave me the money, and she was on her way. I locked the door and stayed up front and waited for the staff to arrive.

  * * *