If you can believe it, he already went by Mortis when he became a zombie.

Why? William James Miller IV was a mouthful, to start with. It wasn’t like William James Millers I-III had been any great shakes, passing their boring name on generation after generation as if it was some kind of precious jewel. Plus, there wasn’t much left in the nickname department. William James Miller I had been “Big Bill,” his son had been “Chip,” and then “Trey.” “Quad” didn’t lend itself well, nor did “Lil Jim.”

So after thirteen years as “Billy” he started going by Mortis, or Mort for short, after a character in one of his favorite video games. Trey and Mrs. Miller had assumed it was a phase, but eventually came around to it so long as he stuck to “Mort.” The name, thankfully, outlasted his rather basic goth phase, but it did help with brand recognition when he tried to set himself up as a freelancer in the city after college.

It also somewhat less thankfully predicted his early death at the hands of a horde of fast zombies in an alleyway.

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