If you are interested in a sneak preview of the novel, check out the excerpt below.
CHAPTER ONE
Paul Madison slowly emerged from a deep slumber. Without opening his eyes, he shifted his body in the love seat and rolled his neck from one side to the other. The snapping and cracking of the muscles warned him he would be sore after last night. A bright light on his face told him the sun had risen, though he could not tell if it was early morning or late afternoon and had no idea how long he had slept. Not that it mattered. Paul felt as exhausted as when he fell asleep the previous evening, only now without the adrenalin rush from spending several hours battling the living dead. He definitely could use—
A loud noise came from the other room. Paul bolted upright and felt in his lap for the Vepr-12 semiautomatic shotgun. It lay propped up against the loveseat. The knit comforter he had covered himself with remained across his legs and chest, but someone had covered his shoulders with a wool blanket during the night. Probably Daphne. The thought made him smile.
The loud noise broke the silence again. Only it was not human screams or the moaning of the living dead, but laughter. It came from the kitchen. Then Paul smelled the enticing aroma of eggs, bacon, and sausage. And coffee. Freshly-brewed coffee. For a second, he thought the last two days had been a nightmare until glancing down and noticing his gore-splattered clothes. The others must be having breakfast, enjoying a few moments of the last vestiges of humanity. He could not blame them. It sounded awesome. He hoped they had saved him some.
Paul pulled off the comforter and blanket, balled them up, and dropped them on the floor beside the loveseat. He groaned as he stood, every muscle in his body protesting. Hopefully, the owners of this place had left some Tylenol behind. Once on his feet, he stretched his body, the cracking of his muscles even more pronounced than before. Shouldering the Vepr, he made his way to the kitchen.
The rest of his group sat around the table, chatting and enjoying the first decent meal any of them had eaten in two days. Daphne sat with her back to him. They had been together since zero hour of the outbreak when he rescued her from deaders in Pittsburgh. Together, they had fought their way from central Pennsylvania to the east coast of Maryland, saving the other members of the team along the way. She wore the same outfit she had on when he saved her--jeans, dress boots, circular glasses, and an orange sweater that tightly fit her well-endowed chest.
Akiko and Toshii sat at the long edge of the table to Daphne’s right. He and Daphne had rescued the mother and son from an Exxon service station in Brownsville, where they were hiding after being attacked by deaders. The father had been killed protecting his family. The brindle-colored Boxer curled up underneath Toshii’s chair. Toshii had named it Gojira. They had adopted the dog—or more precisely, the dog had adopted them—after pulling a deader off Paul during the rescue of Akiko and Toshii.
Unfortunately, they had also picked up Sparky, the cowardly, self-centered asshole who owned the service station. Sparky proved to be more of a liability than anything else. Paul had wanted to leave him behind on several occasions but didn’t, letting his humanity get the better of him. He regretted that decision last night while crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. To save himself, Sparky had shoved Rebecca Daniels out of the way, sending the poor woman to her death. Paul corrected his mistake by using Sparky as deader bait so the rest of the group could escape.
Ed Ketteridge stood in front of the stove, scrambling eggs in one pan and broiling sausage links and bacon in another. Ed and Rebecca had saved them after being surrounded by deaders on Route 119 east of Point Marion, Pennsylvania. None of them would have made it this far if not for Ed and his Suburban. In return for helping them out, Rebecca had lost her life. For someone whose good friend and neighbor had died last night, not because of deaders but due to the selfish act of an asshole, Ed seemed to be holding it together well, although that was probably for show.
And finally, Lisa, the young blonde Paul rescued from a limousine as they crossed the bridge. Last night, she had worn a rain-drenched red dress and had discarded her high heels. Now she wore jeans, a white shirt, and sneakers raided from upstairs.
On seeing Paul, Gojira lifted his head and barked once. Daphne grabbed the .38 off the table and spun around in her chair, aiming it at Paul. He stepped back and raised his hands.
“I’m not one of those things.”
“Sorry. Just jittery.” Daphne placed the gun down on the table. “I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.”
“What do you mean?” He pointed to the stove. “You’re having breakfast.”
“It’s brunch,” chuckled Ed. “It’s almost ten in the morning. Want some?”
“Yes. I haven’t had a good meal in days.”
Lisa held up a mug with steam floating from the top. “Hot coffee.”
“Even better. I still want some eggs and sausage.”
“Coming right up.”
Paul went to the coffee maker, poured himself a mug, and returned to the table. Daphne patted the empty chair beside her. When he sat down, she placed a hand on his back and tenderly rubbed his shoulder.
“What were you talking about when I came in?”
Toshii looked up from his plate. “We were trying to figure out what happened to Ian.”
Shit, Paul chastised himself. How could he have forgotten about Ian, the Eagle Scout they had picked up in Griffin after he jumped to safety from a bridge engulfed by flames?
“The last time I saw him was before we crossed the bridge,” said Akiko. “He helped Toshii and me out of the car. We never saw him after that.”
“Ed and I don’t recall seeing him on the bridge,” added Daphne. “We thought maybe he helped you save Lisa.”
“I don’t recall seeing anyone but you until we met up with the others.” Lisa reached out and patted Paul on the hand. “By the way, thanks. I’d still be trapped in that limo if it wasn’t for you.”
Daphne bristled. She slid her hand under the table and massaged Paul along his inner thigh. “Do you remember seeing him?”
“No. I was the last one to climb the suspension cable. I would have noticed if Ian had been on the bridge with us."
Akiko bowed her head. “Poor boy.”
“Hopefully, he went quickly.” Ed slid a mound of scrambled eggs and three link sausages on a plate and placed it in front of Paul.
An awkward silence followed. Paul stared at his plate, embarrassed that he had forgotten about Ian. He couldn’t excuse himself for such a fuck up. Paul wasn’t a stressed-out writer who stupidly omitted a main character. He led the group and bore responsibility for them.
Finally, Ed tapped him on the shoulder. “Eat up. That’s the last of it. No sense letting it sit in the fridge to rot.”
That’s true, thought Paul. They were in a new, terrifying world where death was common. His group would likely lose a lot more people before this ended. He said a silent prayer for Ian and then dug into his meal.
“Where do we go from here?” asked Daphne. “We lucked out that there are no deaders nearby, but we can’t stay here forever. Annapolis is on the other side of the woods. I’m surprised the deaders haven’t found us already.”
Paul finished chewing and swallowed. “First, we have to find a reliable means of transportation.”
“What about the boat?” asked Toshii.
“What boat?”
Toshii pointed over his shoulder. “The one docked at the pier."
The adults leaned to one side and glanced out the kitchen window. Sure enough, a thirty-foot Cobia 330 fiberglass pleasure boat sat two hundred feet away tied to a ten-foot pier. None of them had noticed it last night when they stumbled across the mansion and broke in.
“Yeah,” replied Paul, again embarrassed that he had overlooked something vital. “That’ll do fine. Thanks, kid.”
Toshii beamed with pride.
“Assuming it works,” Ed chimed in.
“We’ll check it after breakfast.” Paul spooned more of the eggs into his mouth.
“That still doesn’t answer the question of where will we go?” asked Daphne.
Paul sipped some coffee. “Our best bet is to find a lightly populated coastal area and land there. Once on shore, we can make our way to a safe haven.”
“Where would that be?” asked Akiko.
“I don’t know. We’ll figure that out later. Right now, the priority is getting out of here before the deaders catch us.” Paul glanced over at Lisa. “You’re welcome to join us.”
Daphne’s grip on his thigh tightened.
“Thank you for the offer, but I can’t. My mother and daughter are waiting for me in Leesburg. I have to get back to them as soon as possible.”
“Are they okay alone?” Ed asked.
Lisa shook her head. “My daughter is ten, and my mother is in her early seventies. She’s in a wheelchair with the onset of dementia. My ex-husband agreed to watch them for a few days. Which reminds me. Does anyone have a cellphone I can borrow so I can check on them? I left mine in the limo.”
Everyone had lost their phones escaping from the deaders. Ed pulled one out of his back pocket, but the screen had been shattered.
“Damn,” Lisa mumbled.
Toshii reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a small leather case. Unzipping it, he removed a cell phone, switched on the power, and handed it to Lisa. “You can use mine.”
“Thank you.” Lisa took the phone, leaned over, and kissed Toshii on the head.
The boy stuck out his tongue. “Gross.”
Lisa stood and headed into the living room.
“Do you think she’ll get reception?” asked Daphne.
“Probably,” replied Ed. “We’re only on day three of the outbreak. It’ll be a few more days before the power grid goes offline.”
“In the meantime, we need to figure out where we’re going from here.” Paul slipped half a sausage link in his mouth and chewed.
“I don’t recommend heading north,” said Ed. “There’s nothing but big cities and coastal communities until you hit northern Maine.”
“Isn’t it the same down south?” Daphne asked.
“Only down to Norfolk.” Ed thought for a moment. “Then there’s more open space once you get off the coast.”
“Where’s a good place to land?” asked Paul.
"Here.” Toshii leaned over to the side and lifted a folder off the floor, which he handed to Paul. Paul opened it. Inside were a few dozen 8x10 pieces of paper with Google Maps satellite images printed on them. Most displayed patches of the United States from the Mississippi to the Atlantic and from the tip of Florida to the Canadian border. Several showed the largest cities within two hundred miles of their location. The last four were close-ups of Annapolis, the peninsula they were on, and the roads leading north and east from the Chesapeake Bay.
“Where did you get these?” Paul asked as he thumbed through them.
“They had a computer in the room me and Mom slept in. It wasn’t passcode protected and the Internet still worked, so I called up Google Maps and printed those out. I thought they might be useful.”
“Good job, kid.” Ed stepped up behind Toshii and rubbed his scalp.
Akiko hugged her child and kissed him on the cheek, eliciting a disgusted look from the boy.
“This is great.” Paul placed the sheets back in the folder. “At least now we’ll have an idea—”
Lisa screamed a single word from the living room. “Fuck!”
Everyone, including Gojira, jumped up from the table and ran into the other room, weapons at the ready to fight off deaders. Instead, they found Lisa with the cell phone still to her ear, kicking the back of the sofa so hard her foot tore through the fabric.
“What’s wrong?” Paul asked.
“That fucking asshole ex abandoned my mother and daughter.”
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