Another one late to the party -
Loved the story, *loved* the narration (Rich is becoming a new favourite reader) and loved the nod to the Biblical quote. It reminds me of the undead/dead in The Scar by China Mieville... something like the living people are The Quick, and they live in the city of the Liches or the Reanimated [people move up in society by getting themselves put down and then reanimated as liches]... and AFAIK the narrator never actually *says* the Quick and the Dead but by god they're thinking it...
And happy (belated) birthday Alasdair, from a fellow citizen of the October country
“That country where it is always turning late in the year. That country where the hills are fog and the rivers are mist; where noons go quickly, dusks and twilights linger, and midnights stay. That country composed in the main of cellars, sub-cellars, coal-bins, closets, attics, and pantries faced away from the sun. That country whose people are autumn people, thinking only autumn thoughts. Whose people passing at night on the empty walks sound like rain.” -- Ray Bradbury