Shock SuspenStories: Carrion Death!

[alicemacher]

A horror/suspense tale from EC's Shock SuspenStories #9 (June-July 1953). Script by Al Feldstein, art by Reed Crandall. Trigger warning for gore.


The story opens with the panel posted above. So why's this guy begging the vultures to come down? Does he have a death wish?

As he waits, the unnamed protagonist recalls how he got to this point, lying in the desert with no water in four days. After robbing a bank and murdering a guard, he'd driven off into the country, only for a state trooper on a motorcycle to close in on him. He slammed on the brakes in an attempt to make the cop crash into the rear and die. Instead, he ended up trashing his car (thereby setting the stolen money on fire) and blacking out as the trooper passed him.

When the crook came to, he found himself handcuffed to the cop, who was calling in the arrest but not keeping his eyes on him. So the crook caught him off-guard and strangled him to death. Finding the trooper didn't have a key on him, the robber had to carry the corpse on his back all night while fleeing into the rocky badlands. By the time morning came, he was so exhausted and thirsty he knew he'd only make it if he could somehow get free of the corpse.

Comments

[dcbanacek]

Wonder if they were homaging this in Countdown with Pied Piper...

[starwolf_oakley]

IIRC, this was adapted for Tales From the Crypt on HBO. Kyle MacLaughlin played the criminal and only one buzzard followed him the whole episode.

[dark_tzitzimine]

Indeed, that was one of the best (and creepier) episodes on the whole series.

[bruinsfan]

Pfft. If you're handcuffed to a corpse, just step on its hand until the bones are all dislocated and you can pull the cuff off. This guy was an idiot.