Walter Cheatham's Cannibal Christmas

By Stephan Michael Loy

Walter Cheatham is a detective of sorts, a finder of lost things. Today, Christmas, he’s busy finding a kidnapped ten-year-old girl. Time is a factor, for this child is invited to her captors’ Christmas dinner – as the entrée. In a strange and marvelous dystopian world where death and horror are the everyday backsplash of a dull, gray existence, Walter must learn what truly matters when not even life has value. Walter Cheatham’s Cannibal Christmas is an engaging holiday story for science fiction fans everywhere!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Stephan Michael Loy
• Release date: Nov 23, 2013
• ISBN: 9781310205255

Stephan Michael Loy

Stephan Michael Loy has been churning out stories of adventure and fantasy since way back in junior high. He's been writing professionally since the 1970s, breaking in his writing chomps on the Louisville Courier-Journal and IU's Indiana Daily Student newspapers. He has a degree in Journalism from Indiana University and an advanced degree in Art Education. He is a military veteran, having served five years in Armor and Cavalry commands in Europe and the United States. He uses all of these experiences in the stories he creates. He has published multiple novels and novellas on Smashwords that can also be found in print at Lulu.com and Amazon, among other online sources. Go to stephanloy.com to easily find these books in print or ebook formats. Stephan Loy lives in Indianapolis, Indiana with his wife Amy and their two criminal cats, Buffy (the Cat Toy Slayer) and Oz.

Book preview

Walter Cheatham's Cannibal Christmas

By Stephan Michael Loy

Walter Cheatham's Cannibal Christmas

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2013 by Stephan Loy

All Rights Reserved

Published in the United States of America

Smashwords Edition License Notes:

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people except as stipulated in your user agreement. Outside of such stipulations, if you would like to share this book, please purchase another copy for each person you share it with. If you are reading this ebook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for you by another person, please go to your preferred point of purchase and purchase your copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work and intellectual property of the author. We all gotta eat.

Be sure to check the notes following the conclusion of this ebook.

Contents

Part 1: Zero

Part 2: Jack DeSeneca

Part 3: Marcos

Part 4: The Three Marys

Part 5: Walter Cheatham

Afterword

Part 1: Zero

(Back to Contents)

I could see why they wanted to kill me, but not why they made such a fuss of it. Two pulled me by the arms, gripping me so closely that their iron stink of dried blood forced me to breathe through my mouth. Three others massed behind me to push, though pushing is only a polite word for their brand of shoving, punching and low-blow kicks. They were loud, rough and bloody-minded. They were a mob, and hungry.

Those were the ones I could count. At least thirty, maybe more, growled and bellowed to either side, a gauntlet packed into the narrow, dark space as meat is packed into sausage sleeves. They cursed me, threatened, and lobbed gobs of spit. They laughed and heckled. The scariest of them stood behind the screamers, only their heads and shoulders exposed. They glared at me, their eyes recording but showing no emotion. Dead eyes, black eyes. They belonged to the fanatical fringe of this lunatic community. The silent ones were the true believers. They were the priests of the cannibals.

My escorts wrestled me through the snarling press, my boots and theirs scraping over the uneven rock floor and scattering a fog of ice crystals. The gauntlet was only about fifteen yards, then they kicked the back of my knees and dropped me like a spilled tray onto the ground.

I cringed on all fours, enduring a barrage of kicks and punches that seemed not to end. It was soccer hooligan heaven, and I got to play the Jew, the ball, whichever gets kicked the most by such people.

Finally, it ended. The crowd backed off a few precious feet. Their roar fell away as if somebody