Page 4 of Dark Obsession

Cody kept a hand on his arm, seemingly not yet ready to release him. “What do we do with this?”

“We should call Lucia, let her know it needs to be picked up.”

“Right. Or…”

Demetrius frowned. “Are you really thinking what I’m afraid you’re thinking?”

“Probably.”

“Ugh. Why do you want us to do it?”

“So we don’t have to call Lucia about it.” He held up a hand when Demetrius opened his mouth. “And I know you’ll call her so I don’t have to deal with it, but first of all, she and I are getting along better now.”

Demetrius crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows.

“Fine. We’re tolerating each other more often, how’s that?”

“Yeah, all right. But⁠—”

“And,” Cody said over him. “You know this body will lie out here for days until Harriettville DPW can come out and haul it back to Eternal Rest. If we lived next door to this place, I wouldn’t want it rotting in the August heat that long. That woman who called us about this wouldn’t be too happy.”

Demetrius groaned. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“And when we get back home, we can shower together.”

“We’re still conserving water, huh?”

“It’s not my fault we’re in a drought.”

“We had rain this afternoon.”

“One thunderstorm does not resolve a dry month.” Cody lifted one shoulder. “Therefore, we shower together.”

Despite the circumstances, Demetrius chuckled. “Fine. Do you have a plan for getting this…gentleman into the back of the truck?”

It turned out Cody did have a plan. He backed the truck up the driveway and partially into the yard, avoiding the worst of the mud. The truck was still about ten feet away, so they pulled on gloves. Cody volunteered to take the shoulders. Demetrius slid his hands under the knees, and Cody counted to three. It was lighter than expected, and Demetrius shuddered as he felt the bones shifting within the loose skin. A dirt-caked wing tip dropped off as they carried it across the yard, almost causing Demetrius to trip. A black sock hung off the withered foot, and it swung disturbingly close to touching him.

After some maneuvering, they laid the body inside the bed and Cody closed the tailgate. Demetrius retrieved the shoe and dropped it next to the body, then they tossed their gloves in a bucket secured near the toolbox and climbed into the cab.

Demetrius lowered the visor and flipped open the mirror. When he saw the dark splatters across his face and neck, the hamburger Cody had grilled back home for dinner flopped inside him. “So gross.”

Cody passed him a couple of antibacterial wipes. “Use these for now. When we get home, I’ll scrub you down good.”

“So romantic,” Demetrius said as he wiped at the spots.

Once they’d wiped off as much as possible, Demetrius looked out at the abandoned house.

“What?” Cody asked.

“I don’t know. Something feels off.”

“About that house or our chosen profession?”

Demetrius chuckled. “Both, I guess.”

“Well, let’s leave that for now. We caught our critter. Our client will be happy.”

The Hollow of Eternal Rest cemetery was off Route 118 on the way out of town to Harriettville. They passed through Parson’s Hollow’s downtown business district, the storefronts all dark and the sidewalks empty this late on a weeknight. Demetrius was still scrubbing at his face, working on a particularly stubborn spot, and he glanced out the window at the heavily shadowed alleys and doorways. How many other zombies might be stumbling around in the dark? And what else was out there?