D. Walker - The Snacking Dead

4 Use a serrated knife to cut each sandwich, diagonally, into 2 triangular pieces and serve.

Frozen pizza dough will last long into the outbreak.

T he rain didn’t bother him much,but the chill made him feel more alone. He lit some coals in a barbecue and brought it up to the porch. Fact was, he didn’t trust houses. His first house burned down with his mother inside it. Merle eventually fled the next house, leaving him there with a drunk dad who whipped him bloody. He’d take the woods over a house any day.

But a kitchen, that came in handy. His mama hadn’t been much of a cook, but the few times she paid him any mind she’d made him a pimento-cheese sandwich. She’d fed it to him and watched him eat. Those were the few times he’d felt warm and safe. His mama’s pimento cheese tasted like home.

Thing about a sandwich—you could manage it. You could carry it, it didn’t get in your way, and it wouldn’t desert you. A sandwich had your damn back.

He was lost in thought when a walker came spilling out of the front door at him like a drunken ape. Must’ve gotten in the back door. He’d let his guard down.

He jumped back, keeping the Weber between them. The biter’s desiccated skin had pulled away from its broken teeth, leaving an obscene grimace.

“Shoulda told me you were coming,” he said. “I’d’ve combed my hair.”

The biter stumbled and caught itself on the grill. Coals clung to its arm like nettles, and flames sprang up on its ragged sleeve. It went up like a match.

He gave it a roundhouse kick to the chest, throwing the thing backward into the house. He followed it in with his hatchet. By the time he got near enough to brain it, flames had peppered the tidy old living room.

He grabbed some flour and hot sauce from the kitchen, then stood outside watching the smoke escape through the lace curtains. He felt Mrs. Floral Print would want it this way.

But he had to admit, the smell of singed meat was making him hungry.

makes 10 to 12 servings

PORK

1 tablespoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

½ teaspoon cayenne

¼ teaspoon celery seeds

1 (7-pound) boneless pork shoulder, skin and fat left intact

BASTING SAUCE

3 cups apple cider vinegar

1 cup ketchup

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons dry mustard powder

2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

Hot sauce, to taste (optional)

10 to 12 soft buns

Shredded cabbage or lettuce

1 At least 12 hours and up to 3 days ahead, start the pork. In a small bowl, combine the salt, garlic powder, black pepper, cayenne, and celery seeds. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork to coat evenly. Place pork in a covered bowl and refrigerate overnight.

2 Combine all sauce ingredients in a large saucepan and stir to dissolve the sugar. Let simmer for 3 minutes, then let cool. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

3 Preheat the oven to 300°F and place a rack inside a large roasting pan. Transfer the pork to the rack and bake for 2½ hours, then pour half the sauce over the pork and continue to bake 1 to 2 hours more, basting pork every 30 minutes with sauce and drippings from bottom of the roasting pan. When done, the internal temperature of the meat should register 180°F.

4 Remove the pork from the oven and let cool on the rack until cool enough to handle. Meanwhile, warm the remaining sauce in a saucepan over low heat. Transfer the warm pork to a cutting board and shred, pull, tear, and chop the meat into bite-size pieces, mixing in some of the fat and skin. Transfer pork to a large bowl; add sauce to taste, and mix to combine. Season with hot sauce to taste if you like.

5 Serve the pork on buns with cabbage or lettuce, passing any remaining sauce on the side.

A portable grill should be on your go-list. Fuel is easy to make yourself, and the hot coals are less likely than a campfire to attract drop-in dinner guests.

H e followed a line of uneven footprints in the undergrowth,his brother’s Marine knife in his hand. The knife had gotten Merle into trouble oftener than out of it, but it was sharp and could drop a walker quick enough.

Years ago, after Merle had left home for good, Daryl had stolen his brother’s old BB gun and taken off into the woods.

He hadn’t known what he was going to do with it. He didn’t even have hair on his face yet. He ran till he tasted blood in his mouth. He wanted to be alone, far from his dad’s brutal temper.

He fixed a scampering critter in the gun sight and fired. Just a damn squirrel. In his mind he could hear his brother laughing at him. But by now he was hungry.

He laid the animal belly-up on a fallen log. He opened it up with his hatchet and started to eat.

A twig snapped. He spun around to see a scruffy girl staring at him from behind a tree. She didn’t look as scared as he felt. He yelled at her to get the hell out of here.

She just kept looking at him. His cheeks burned and he closed up the squirrel to hide its exposed insides. He wiped at a drop of blood running down his chin.

Finally, she asked him for the squirrel.

He didn’t know what to do. He squinted at her and held out the dripping carcass. She took it from him and ran off, holding the animal at arm’s length. His brother would have laughed his ass off. But he never told his brother.

Next day she found him in the same woods. Without a word she offered him a paper bag. Inside was a hamburger on a bun with fixins. Well, sort of a hamburger. He recognized the taste. But it tasted better than any squirrel he’d had before.

Now he snuck up on a fat walker wearing a fluorescent hunter’s vest. He pulled its head back and drove the knife up through its chin, skewering it like a camo kebob.

Hell if he was going to end up like that old squirrel.

serves 4

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 chipotle chile, minced

2 pounds ground whatever you’ve got (beef, turkey, lamb, pig, hamster)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ cup (2 ounces) grated Cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese

4 hamburger buns

Lettuce, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, as you like, for serving

1 Light the grill or heat up your grill pan. In a small bowl, stir together the mayonnaise and chile.

2 Divide the meat into four patties and season well with salt and pepper. Grill burgers until done to taste, 2 to 4 minutes per side. When the burgers are 30 seconds away from being done, top each with a quarter of the cheese. Let cheese melt, then transfer burgers to a plate.