g{x itÅÑ|ÜxËá fâÜzx All rights reserved. Copyright © June 2007 Yvette A. Lynn Cover Art Copyright © June 2007 Yvette A. Lynn This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this novel are fictitious or used fictitiously. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form. ISBN: 978-1-934475-13-3 Publisher: Amira Press, LLC Baltimore, MD www.amirapress.com Wxw|vtà|ÉÇ To my friend, J.R. Mitchell, for all her help and support. Prologue Truth? I didn’t think he’d go through with it. I mean Jake was bold but not that bold. If you know what I mean. He would race his dad’s Porsche down highway 69, breaking all kinds of laws besides the speed limit. He’d bungee jump off the side of the Golden Gate and then outrun the police in a speedboat waiting at the bottom for him. But I did not believe that Jake was crazy enough to get himself turned by some woman who looked like she was already strung out on something other than the blood of her last victim. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. Jake was…Jake. My best friend from kindergarten. I never saw him as anything other than that for twenty years, though he’d told me often enough back then with his big old blue eyes and that platinum blond hair, wild all over his head. He told me “Grace, when I grow up, I’m going to marry you.” I usually just rolled my eyes and sucked my teeth because that idiot boy came up to my waist back then, if that much. I thought he was out of his mind and stupid to boot. But Jake was and is fun, so, I didn’t mind his occasional declarations. Shoot, we were five or six. What did boys know at that age anyway? None of Jake’s usual antics set me up to believe he’d take advantage of the change that was coming on our city, and nothing prepared me to join him. I wasn’t ready to lose my friend to the darkness, to a thirst that would have him trolling the streets for unsuspecting victims. Or for nearly ripping my own throat out. My mind just couldn’t have processed it, had I known before it happened. And now that I was living it, I didn’t know what I needed to do to hold on to Jake. I guess some things in life force you to make a choice…whether it’s good or bad. Chapter One “I’m going out there.” Jake’s baby blues sparkled with unsuppressed excitement. “I’ve got to be a part of that.” I was the cautious one, the one to say “Let’s think about this.” With weird creatures suddenly trolling our streets, I did not think it was a good idea to go out looking for trouble. But that’s what it looked like Jake wanted. I grasped his arm. “No, Jake. You could be killed. Look at that thing. What in the world is it?” He turned his attention back to the crack in the window, a small space left to see out between planks of wood nailed up to keep the whatever they were out. The thing passing by appeared half human, half dog. Or did they call them werewolves? No, this creature had protruding eyes that looked to be missing lids, a long snout not fully formed as if something had halted its transformation. Tufts of hair sprouted at odd places over its body, clearly visible through shredded clothing. I would have looked away except my horrified stare was glued to the hideous creature. “Oh that?” Jake chuckled. God, sometimes I wondered if he was still human at that point. None of it scared him. “That was supposed to be a werewolf, but something else tried to eat it in the throes of change. Now it’s a freak of nature.” I blinked, “Like they’re not all freaks of nature? Why do you want to go out there? The news report said to stay inside.” He shook his head. “Like hell I will.” He surged up off the couch and jogged around the apartment, stuffing his backpack with various items. “I don’t care what those cowards think. I’m going down to that crash site that started it all. I’m going to learn something about what’s causing it. And then maybe I’ll do a little experimenting on my own.” I followed him around like a puppet, wringing my hands. “What do you mean? Experimenting.” He paused in loading a gun. I didn’t even know he had one. “I’m going to get bitten.” “What!” I’d never fainted in my life, but I was perilously close right about then. “Bitten? Jake tell me you’re not going to do something stupid.” A grin spread across his face, and he learned toward me to mutter, “I’m not about to do something stupid.” “You’re lying.” A kiss on the cheek was his only reply and he turned back to his weapon. He tore open a drawer and scrounged around for something. When he pulled out a gun clip, loaded with bullets, I started to shake. “Jake.” My voice squeaked. I was near wetting my underwear. And I tried to twist my wrist skin off, if only I would wake up from this nightmare. I wasn’t as wild as Jake. That’s probably already apparent. But I was no prude either. I followed him into a lot of crazy schemes when we were coming up, stuff that should have landed us in jail. And though we were both twenty-five, the responsibilities of life still hadn’t gotten a hold of us enough to act like mature adults. But when a weird meteor crashes down just outside our city and begins to have weird affects on all the citizens of Bindmore, I have to draw the line. This kind of thing brings out the best or worse in you. You get to know if you’re destined for greatness, or more of a loser than your third grade teacher thought you were. Right then, I was agreeing with Ms. Lectin. I was too scared to follow Jake. Not at that time, anyway. Jake walked over to the door and called over his shoulder, “Lock up behind me. Don’t let anyone in. If I don’t come back…” He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. Then he turned back to face me. I know I looked like one of the cowards he always made fun of, but I couldn’t help it. He took my hands in his and pulled me close. His arms wrapped around me in a bear hug that nearly crushed my ribs. Jake was already big. The scrawny little kid had grown up and passed me in height by a good seven inches. My nose was buried in his wide chest. I remember thinking he smelled of Lever 2000, his favorite soap. It was crazy, I guess. I should have thought Jake was the hottest man in the city. His bright blond hair had darkened since he grew up, to a sandy color with blond streaks. His jaw was square with a perpetual five o’clock shadow and his eyes were the stuff to make girls drool. Yet, to me he was still Jake, my friend. After a few minutes he pulled back but still held on to my hands, “If I don’t come back, Grace…just know that I will always love you. I’ll always remember your sweet little face with your soft brown eyes, pug nose and rich caramel skin.” I felt like I was going to cry. My friend never stayed down though, “But if I do come back, I’ll be twice the man I am now and I’ll demand you as my wife.” It was a stupid declaration, made in jest with the tone of the times when knights rescued damsels in distress. I thought he sounded like a fool, but I didn’t tell him so. I was still a little choked up. There wasn’t much doubt in my mind that he was about to get his crazy behind killed. Then what would I do? I didn’t get to say all the things I wanted to. Jake kissed me again, snatched open the door and was gone. Chapter Two It had been a full day since I’d seen Jake. I’d gone out during the day, figuring it was safer, though there were day creatures about too. I kept a good sized stick in my hand, poised and ready to crack the skull of any mutant that came near me. Mostly, they just stayed to themselves, though I did see some weird sights out there. It was two in the afternoon before I got the nerve up to venture outside. I dressed like I was going to war in some old fatigues of Jake’s that were about five sizes too big. I pulled on scuffed black boots though it must have been eighty-five degrees out there, and then I found a couple of kitchen knives and shoved those in my pockets. Like I said, in my hands I carried a thick wooden stick. Figuring it would be overkill if I hammered a nail into it, I let it go and stepped into the hall. Jake’s apartment had been an upper middle class establishment once upon a time. He may not have held down a job more than a minute, but he was skilled in computers, and those type of jobs paid big time. Now after only three weeks of chaos, the apartment building looked like a crack house. Bodies littered the stairwell leading out to the street and the stench was near unbearable. We’d had to press towels at the bottom of the door and use almost a full roll of duct tape to seal all the gaps. Gingerly, I stepped out into the hall, making sure nothing was about to jump me. The vampires, werewolves and other creatures of the night were not patrolling at this time of day, but that didn’t stop the halfers—the things that hadn’t changed completely over and those who simply got sick of some dreaded disease. In some ways, they were more vicious, resentful of those of us who were unaffected so far, like me. Jake had warned me to stay inside, but I had to know one way or another what had become of him. I wanted to be sure that he was alive or to be resolved to him being dead. Spending the next couple of weeks cramped up inside his apartment until the food he’d stocked it with ran out, did not appeal. So I had to overcome my fears. I made it safely out to the street with no problems and turned toward First. That street would lead me all the way to the end of town and beyond to the site. This route was most likely the path that Jake took last night. As I walked along, I gripped the stick ahead of me, shoulder level, ready to swing....
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