Welcome to My Monday Minis.
This is where I review short stories and flash fiction.
For today I’ll be telling you about Drop Dead Tavern
by Chad P. Brown
My Review
You’d think after watching Walking Dead nothing would shock me.
This short story should have come with a warning. “Brace yourself.”
All Kent wants is a bottle to swill away his grief. To forget about the loss of his brother, the zombies gnashing around, and his loneliness.
He pulls his bike up to the tavern and after making sure the coast is clear, he enters.
Aah, right there amid the broken bottles stands one survivor. Looks like he’ll sleep good tonight. Maybe there’ll be no dreams.
Suddenly, he’s confronted by a boy. He looks like a street urchin, filthy and haggard.
Once Kent establishes the boys trust, he gets his story.
Any zombie fans would love this short tale.
It didn’t take me long to read it, but by the end it felt like forever. Like those dreams you have where you are running and running and never seem to get anywhere.
I must have been lulled somehow, because what happened in that tavern really tore me up.
Without fluff or wasted words, Chad got right to the matter, dragging me in.
You have to remember, this is a zombie apocalypse. It ended leaving me torn and wishing there was more. I really liked Kent and wondered what would become of him.
4 Stars
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Chad P. Brown was born in Huntington, WV. Once he outgrew his childhood fears of haunted houses, clowns, and toy monkeys with cymbals (although those still creep him out a little bit), he discovered a dark love for writing and an affinity for macabre and eldritch matters. He holds a Master’s in Latin from Marshall University and is an Affiliate member of the Horror Writers Association. In October 2011, he released his first horror novel, The Jack-in-the-box. He has appeared in the anthologies SPIDERS (August 2012 by May December Publications) and Gothic Blue Book Vol. 2 – Revenge Edition (October 2012 by Burial Day Books). His current projects include a recently released zombie novella, Messiah of the Zombie Apocalypse, and various short stories, as well as a dark fiction novella, The Pumpkin House, which is in submission.