The Undead That Saved Christmas Vol. 2 Read Online Free PDF

and in this case it was hardly as auspicious as sending her off to college.
    Finally, Bob said, “Okay, take her, but please promise you’ll take care of her.”
    “I promise,” I replied. “And I want you to promise you’ll do everything in your power to protect Timmy. To that end, I have something for you.”
    That’s when I took a step back, reached into my sack, and produced the shotgun and shells the elves had presented me with only hours before.
    I handed the weapon over, even as I wished Bob and his family would never have cause to use it.
    Then I bid them a merry Christmas and was on my way.

    11

    As I returned to my sleigh and joined my flight-team on the roof, they were more than a little restless. I did my best to calm them and let them know everything was fine, and our mission was continuing according to plan, even if we would be breaking in a new team member.
    It took a moment to incorporate another bridle into the team’s harness and tack, making sure the bit was virtually indestructible. Then we were ready to be off
    As I stepped into my sleigh, I took the reigns, and with a glance at the household below me, I proclaimed: “On Dasher, on Dancer, on Prancer and Vixen. On Comet, on Cupid, on Donner and Blitzen… Hey Rudolf… cut Eden some slack! It wasn’t that long ago you were the newbie , remember!”
    What a sight we must’ve been, silhouetted against the sky, Santa’s sleigh and reindeer… led proudly into the night by a flying zombie.
    God bless us everyone… except for the walking dead. They can kiss my jolly white butt.



Story Art Cover
    By Jason Tudor
    www.JasonTudor.com

    Dedication
    For Tina, all my love

    Author Bio
    Joe McKinney is the San Antonio-based author of several horror, crime and science fiction novels. His longer works include the four part Dead World series, made up of Dead City, Apocalypse of the Dead, Flesh Eaters and The Zombie King; the science fiction disaster tale, Quarantined, which was nominated for the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for superior achievement in a novel, 2009; and the crime novel, Dodging Bullets. His upcoming releases include the horror novels Lost Girl of the Lake, The Red Empire, The Charge and St. Rage. Joe has also worked as an editor, along with Michelle McCrary, on the zombie-themed anthology Dead Set, and with Mark Onspaugh on the abandoned building-themed anthology The Forsaken. His short stories and novellas have been published in more than thirty publications and anthologies.
    In his day job, Joe McKinney is a sergeant with the San Antonio Police Department, where he helps to run the city’s 911 Dispatch Center. Before promoting to sergeant, Joe worked as a homicide detective and as a disaster mitigation specialist. Many of his stories, regardless of genre, feature a strong police procedural element based on his fifteen years of law enforcement experience.
    A regular guest at regional writing conventions, Joe currently lives and works in a small town north of San Antonio with his wife and children.

Death and the Magi
    By Joe McKinney
    An Homage to O. Henry
     
    The big Christmas tree in front of the Dayton Mall had fallen down sometime during the last year. Kevin’s gaze drifted over the faded tinsel and mud-encrusted ornaments and wondered when it had happened. Probably during the rains back in early September, he figured. Those had been bad. A lot of the area had flooded, and the winds that came with the rains must have done that damage to the tree as well.
    Of course, he really didn’t know for sure. The only time he ever came back here anymore was at Christmastime. The world had ended three years before, just before Christmas, and the inside of the Dayton Mall still had a lot of decorations hanging from the common areas and inside the shop windows. Every year right around this time he made the trek back to the mall and scavenged whatever he could carry to decorate wherever he was living at the moment. These