Lovienthal: A Short Story

The man staggered to his feet—wobbly like a newly born deer. He wasn't slowed down for long as he began to quicken in his movements. He began shambling his way back towards Steaks and Mary, who by now had spaced themselves a distance. Steaks quickly pulled Lovienthal's small kitchen table in front of him and Mary creating an impromptu barrier between them and the infected man. Lovienthal finally appeared in the kitchen behind Steaks and Mary to see what all the commotion was about, his sudden appearance causing the dead man to turn his attention on him. The dead man gave Lovienthal an imprecated snarl like he had done to Steaks and Mary earlier. He then followed that up by opening his mouth wide, showing his bloody
Rushing past suddenly from seemingly out of nowhere, Chuckles came barking and equally snarling at the man. Taken aback by the dog’s ferocity, the man staggered back a couple of steps like a wobbled drunk not being able to maintain his balance. Chuckles held his ground and edged forward knowing he already had the upper hand. When the dead man had regained his full balance, he tried to eschew past the dog so he could go for another try at Mary, Steaks, and Lovienthal who were by now all cowering behind the small kitchen table. His efforts ceased though, when Chuckles jumped up on his hind legs making an attempt to bite the man’s face. Steaks, having left his 9mm under the seat in his Cadillac, searched for a new weapon. Spotting what was in arms reach, he grabbed Lovienthal's ceramic Cookie Monster cookie jar off the counter. He threw it as hard as he could directly at the man’s head, hitting him square on the button. The jar exploded into sharp fragments upon impact with the man’s face, knocking him backwards and back out the doorway. He then tumbled down the porch steps and out on the lawn. The trauma the dead man sustained from the jar had broken his nose along with knocking most of his front teeth out. As he began to get back up a few could still be seen dangling like pendulums connected to his gums by thin sheaths of