The artist had rendered Lionel in bronze, perfectly capturing the lines in his face, the set of his shoulders, even the minute details of his Remington 788. The viewer’s eye was meant to start at his head, taking in his unflinching gaze, and then travel down the rifle’s barrel to the creature whose head it pressed against.

The fingers of its right hand were wrapped around Lionel’s ankle. It had no legs, only remnants of them, the trailing tendons recreated realistically by the sculptor. Its rotting face looked up into Lionel’s with blank eyes. Looking at the monument, the viewer could easily picture the horror of this dead thing dragging itself determinedly toward its prey.

The plaque at the statue’s base read, “Lionel McGovern, Hero of Mayview. Sept. 9, 2026.” It was a stunning tribute to the man who had rallied his town to triumph over the undead.

20 years had passed and Lionel still couldn’t look at the statue, though he walked past it each day.

No man wants to remember shooting his own brother.