With gun in hand, I walked around my cabin and quietly opened the back door. I crept inside, silent as a graveyard. I heard the television blaring in the front room. Standing there in the kitchen, I risked looking through the bar opening that connected with the front room.

I saw the top of Brian’s head. He sat in my recliner, currently faced away from me. He was watching a movie on TV. After a few moments, I recognized it as Night of the Living Dead. How quaint.

I imagined a spider creeping along its web as I navigated the bar and slipped into the front room. I lifted the double-barreled shotgun and pointed it toward Brian.

I moved forward and placed the barrel against the back of his head. “Guess who,” I croaked. The dryness in my voice surprised me.

“I certainly didn’t expect you,” Brian croaked right back at me. Whom had he been expecting – a visit from Merry Maids?

“I didn’t think you would,” I replied. He had enough sense left in his rotting brain to refrain from making sudden moves. I took advantage of his momentary surprise and circled in front of him. I didn’t want the TV to divert his attention away from me or the shotgun.

“How does it feel to have the tables turned on you?” I asked.

He moved his head slightly, causing an eyeball to fall out and onto his lap. The broken optic cord dangled from his empty socket and reminded me of a withered snake. His remaining eye moved toward the nearby coffee table. I followed his glance and saw the .44 Magnum sitting on the table.

I waved the twin shotgun barrels threateningly. “Don’t even think about it.”

He snarled at me, his decaying face sagged with dead flesh. “You got no right returning from the grave. You should still be dead.”

I chuckled and felt a loose tooth fall out of my mouth. “I have every right. There was no reason to kill me. Did you think a bullet in my brain would bring your daughter back? I’ll admit that shooting you for my daughter’s death was a mistake, but your son killed her. Besides, I was in a blind rage and you were covered in her blood. What was I supposed to think?!”

“You were supposed to give me a chance to explain, Carl. It’s the least you could’ve done. After 15 years of friendship, you owed me that much. Instead, you murdered me.

“I don’t know what power allowed me to continue living after I was obviously dead, but I decided to take advantage of the opportunity. When I crawled out of that grave and realized I was on your property, I just knew I had to make you understand. “But the truth of the matter, Carl, is that I killed you because you killed me first. Vengeance is a good reason in my mind, especially considering I was innocent.”

I lowered the shotgun to his chest and stepped forward, pressing the barrel into his sternum. “If what you say is true, Brian, then maybe you can guess why I’m here. I’m going to kill you for killing me. You’ve heard of the circle of life? Consider this the circle of revenge.”

Before he could reply, I let him have it with both barrels of my shotgun. A hole opened up in his chest big enough to throw a basketball through. His head rolled forward and he slumped off the chair and onto the floor. There was no blood, only the dry, pulpy remains of vital organs spattered all over my recliner.

I picked up his body and carried him outside. I reburied his corpse in the original grave I had dug for him – the same spot I’d just crawled out of earlier. I threw him in the hole and covered him up. Maybe this time he’d stay put.

Being dead, I didn’t feel many emotions beyond satisfaction and relief. I decided to go back to my cabin. Once there, I let myself in and sat on the recliner – I didn’t even bother to clean it. I saw another movie playing on TV, Dawn of the Dead. The station must be running an all night zombie marathon. With the remote on the other side of the room, I didn’t bother to change the channel. Eventually, I fell asleep.