45 pages 1 hour read

Morgan Talty

Night of the Living Rez

Fiction | Short Story Collection | Adult | Published in 2022

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“Night of the Living Rez”Chapter Summaries & Analyses

“Night of the Living Rez” Summary

After spending time with his father, David returns to the reservation to find that his mother is annoyed at both Paige and Frick—his sister because she’s “gone wacko” (230) and now believes in zombies and is often missing from home, and Frick because he’s “been weird” (231) for the past few weeks, sleepwalking and talking about the arrival of Jesuits. David heads out to meet JP and Tyson, who believe that they’ve seen a pugwagee—a cursed mythological being—in the forest. While out hunting the pugwagee that night, they find Paige crawling through the forest, too high to recognize David. He follows her home and sees her crawl into the shed and sleep there.

David doesn’t see Paige again for the next few days. Later that week, after coming home from hanging out with JP and Tyson, David finds Paige in their mother’s bed screaming, with Frick, who has taken Ambien, on top of her, trying to take off her clothes. David helps get Frick off of her, and Paige repeatedly hits Frick over the head with a poker from the fireplace. Their mother returns home, and Paige and David plead with her not to enter the house.