Choice Cut

By George W. Parker

Two kinds of humans walk the earth – the Living Dead and the Living Alive.

Private Investigator Bill Keaton is hired by the richest man alive, Raymond Davies, the owner of the Synthmeat process, to protect his daughter Ruth. Keaton thwarts a kidnap attempt by the Harlequin gang, dropping three LD members with gunfire. Then the job really begins.

Equilibrium, where LDs and LAs live side by side and together. Where Chop Shops process human meat for the black market, free-range LDs herds roam the open range, and business/government manipulates everyone to elongate their own personal existence, selectively blending LDs with LAs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: George W. Parker
• Release date: Mar 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005059972

George W. Parker

George W. Parker has published an intertextual cycle of American genre novels: Death; Juxtaposed, The Letters, The Krew, Conversations at Night, and Vanishing Trick. Additionally he has authored The Boy in the Box and The Law the second and third novels in the Marvin Davis PI series along with Choice Cut, a zombie/noir novel. He lives in Austin and is currently working on Chop Shop, a zombie/noir follow up novel to Choice Cut. You can purchase paperback editions at Amazon.

Book preview

Chapter 1

The night was moonless. A hot, gusting, wind from the Northwest carried South Plains dust in it. On the crest of a rolling hilltop two kilometers from a highway, near a small travel trailer and a long bed pickup truck, a single glowing pole lamp was the only evidence of life between the towns of Haskell and Throckmorton.

Along the highway, following a steel fence line, a mob of Living Dead worked their way down a hill. They could smell Living Alive in the trailer.

Pressed up against the fence railings, they staggered along until they reached a Texas Gate, a metal grid of pipes that allowed cars gateless entrance onto the property. They flowed through the opening, the leading LDs moving quickly toward the trailer. Behind the surging frontline several hicog LDs followed at a slower pace.

***

The trailer swayed with the gusts of the wind. Crowded around the trailer’s built in dining table Jerome, his wife Kay, their oldest daughter Kate and the younger girls ‘the Twins’ sat eating soup under the unshaded ceiling light.

Jerome and Kate were in jeans, tee shirts and boots. Kay and the Twins were in pajama bottoms and tees.

Kay said, I hope that wind don’t flip this thing over.

Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz? one of the Twins asked excitedly.

Kate laughed.

No, honey, Jerome answered. No flying to Oz. We’ll be okay. I got a couple of tie downs staked before the dirt hit. They’ll hold us.

Darn, both Twins said together.

Kay did not look convinced.

There was the sound of glass smashed outside.

Jerome jumped up from the table. Someone’s breaking into the truck! Kay, get the girls out of here!

Girls! To the bedroom! NOW! Kay ordered pushing Kate toward the front bedroom with her right hand as she pulled the Twins out from behind the table with her left.

Jerome rushed to the countertop drawer next to the door. He pulled out a Colt automatic and two extra magazines. He moved to the door and secured a heavy bar across it.

Kate, leave the lights off and get the mattress moved over, Kay ordered as she hurried the Twins into the front bedroom.

Kate pushed the corner of the mattress off its platform exposing an empty, shallow storage area.

Kate, get that piece of plywood out of the way so you and the Twins can get down under to the front storage. Just like we’ve practiced. You can go out either way then if you need to, Kay instructed. She smiled at Kate.

Kate slid under the mattress and into the narrow storage area. She moved a small section of plywood aside as her mother had instructed.

Girls, follow Sissy and do what she says. No arguing, Kay told the Twins as she helped them into the space under the mattress.

Get on down into that bottom storage. I am going to move the mattress back now. IF, you stay quiet, no one will ever know you’re there. Love you. Now hush, she added and pulled the mattress back into place.

Kay smoothed out the bedspread so it was neat and went to the closet for the twelve gauge.

Someone beat on the door with a fist.

I’ve got a gun and I’ll use it, Jerome shouted.

Kay came in from the bedroom with the shotgun.

You should be with the girls, Jerome whispered loudly at her.

I can shoot better than you, Kay answered.

That you can, Jerome grinned. Cover the windows behind us.

Yes, sir, Kay replied.

Someone beat at the door again. Several voices chanted, Open. Open. Open,

Kate wiggled her way down into the lower storage compartment and onto some boxes of winter clothes. She pulled her sisters down beside her. Stay hushed, like Momma said.

The Twins nodded.

The trailer began to rock left to right. Kate pulled her sisters close to her. The rocking back and forth became stronger. There was the sound of breaking glass from inside the trailer. Two shotgun blasts rang out. The trailer tipped over and fell onto its back side. Kate and her sisters were buried under clothes.

The outside access door to the storage area was forced open. Hands reached in and pulled out clothes until they touched one of the Twins. Hands pulled the girl out of Kate’s arms. Both twins screamed.

There were more gun and shotgun blasts. Then there was just the gusting wind.

Chapter 2

The sun was high in the cloudless sky. It was hot. There was no wind. The bus sped south on Buckner Boulevard through the Dallas suburbs. The name on the side of the bus read Lake Highlands Collegiate Academy. The bus was empty except for the driver. He was a young man dressed in dark clothes His hair was cropped short. There was a small tattoo on his right hand between his thumb and index finger.

The bus crossed over I-30. The driver gave a signal and moved over to the inner most lane. The lights at the Buckner/Samuell intersection changed. The driver slowed the bus and stopped.

The intersection air was filled with the smells of fast-food hamburgers and fried chicken. People were busy entering and exiting the Sam’s Club on the right. The driver quietly watched the lights, waiting. The orphanage was just ahead on the left.

The light changed; the driver moved forward toward the left-hand turning lane. He signaled and eased into the center lane and stopped across from the orphanage entrance. He turned on his left turn signal and waited for an opening in the oncoming traffic.

When the opening came, he cut across traffic and pulled into the orphanage. He stopped in front of the Administration Building.

A lean woman in a sleeveless dress came out of the building. Her hair was loosely pulled back into a ponytail. She walked quickly to the driver’s side window and tapped on it with her right hand. There was a small tattoo between her thumb and index finger.

The driver opened the window.

You’re late! the woman said.

I got here as fast as I could after I got the pickup call, the driver answered. Should have given us some warning.

You get what I get, she snapped back. We never know when we’ll get the word to clear ’em out.

Where are they? the driver asked.

Back in Admin, she answered. They’re ready to tear the walls down. They can’t wait to go somewhere, anywhere.

She pointed up the road with her left hand. "You can turn around up there and stop here. We can load ’em from the curb then.

Okay, the driver said.

I told them they were going to the rodeo, the woman added.

Cool, the driver answered with a grin.

The woman did not comment. She stepped away from the bus window, turned and headed back to the building. The driver put the bus in gear and went to turn around.

***

The woman followed the last child up the bus stairs. Just sit anywhere, she said to the little girl. The bus was two-thirds full of elementary age kids. They were bouncing and jumping around and talking excitedly.

Is that all you got? the driver asked.

That’s all I’ve got that won’t be missed.

Almost a waste of gas, the driver noted.

Almost. The woman clapped her hands loudly three times. All of you have to sit down and put on your seat belts. Ben, here, won’t move an inch until you settle down and act like human beings. Do you want to be late to the rodeo? Do you want to just stay here?

Most of the kids shouted No and quickly settled down into their seats.

The driver turned around and faced the kids. Anyone need help buckling up? he asked.

More shouts of No!

Okay then, the driver responded. Let’s go to the rodeo.

The kids put up a cheer.

Are you going with us? the driver asked the woman.

No, she answered with a head shake.

He winked at her. You’re welcome to come.

No thank you, she restated.

Then you need to hop off. We’re ready to roll, the driver laughed.

The woman spun around and headed down the steps of the bus and out onto the sidewalk.

See you next week, maybe, the driver called after her as he closed the bus door. The woman did not seem to hear him as she walked away.

The driver watched her through the glass in the bus door for a couple of seconds before he put the bus in gear and pulled away from the curb.

Back on Buckner the bus continued southward. After a few minutes, the kids became more animated. The overall volume rose. The seven-year-old girl in the seat behind the driver shouted, Mr. Ben! Are we there yet?

The driver looked up into the long mirror above the windshield and made eye contact with the girl.

We’re not there yet, he answered. But it’s not much farther. His eyes went back to the traffic around the bus.

I’ve never been to a rodeo before, she said with a wide grin. Have you?

The driver looked back up at the girl and smiled, This won’t be my first rodeo.

They don’t hurt those babies when they rope them, do they? the little girl asked.

The driver’s eyes came back up into the mirror. Sometimes the calf gets hurt, he answered. But not often. They take care of it pretty quick.

They have doctors there for the cows? the little girl asked.

The driver’s eyes were back in the mirror looking at the girl. Yeah, kind of, he answered. Now let me drive. We turn left up at the next light and then we’ll almost be there.

Okay, Mr. Ben, the girl answered. But then she quickly added, Will you set with me?

The driver looked up and smiled. I’ll sit with you.

Super, she said with a squeal.

The driver made a left-hand turn onto a smaller street. After a couple of blocks, he made a right hand turn unto a still smaller street which went through a light industrial area.

He pulled into a graveled lot that backed a large sheet metal building. He stopped the bus near the building’s overhead garage door.

One of the bigger boys at the back of the bus shouted, That don’t look like any rodeo to me.

The driver stood up and looked to the back of the bus, Do you know what an indoor rodeo looks like?

No, the boy answered. But it don’t look like that. Several of the bigger kids laughed.

"Let’s wait and see before we pass