Lynn Thompson's Blog, page 39

Introducing–>>Mia Fox

 

As this weeks Featured Author

 

Mia Fox is a Los Angeles-based novelist who writes contemporary fiction, chick lit, and young adult/new adult focusing on paranormal romances.

She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from U.S.C. Her first novel, “Alert the Media,” is based on her previous professional life working as an entertainment publicist. Today, she is happy to leave that world behind her, preferring that any drama in her life is only that which she creates for her characters.

url
https://www.goodreads.com/MiaFox

website http://miafox.net/

twitter username MiaFoxBooks

genre Paranormal, Romance, Chick Lit

You can also find Mia on…

http://www.facebook.com/MiaFoxBooks

https://twitter.com/MiaFoxBooks

http://pinterest.com/miafoxbooks/

http://instagram.com/miafoxbooks

 

 

Series by Mia Fox




Romani Realms (2 books)

by Mia Fox

Chasing Shadows (2 books)

by Mia Fox

Surprise Passion (3 books)

by Mia Fox

Hollywood Hotties (1 book)

by Mia Fox




For More on Mia Fox and her books- visit her Goodreads page- https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7036109.Mia_Fox

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 22:2

This was new. I stood beside my bed watching myself thrash as sweat poured down my body. Chase slept in a chair next to me, worn out. I glanced over at myself. It didn’t look like I was doing so well. I hated to wake Chase, but I needed the Doc. I reached over to nudge Chase. My fingers sunk into the flesh of his shoulder. Wow. That was kind of cool. I tried again. My hand emerged through the back of his shoulder, tingling unnaturally, unreal, and funky. I pulled it out of his shoulder quickly.

I sighed. I needed to get his attention, but how? I thought about it as my breathing got shallower by the minute. If something happened to me he would never forgive himself. I stepped in front of him and screamed as loud as I could. We had a connection; I hoped he would hear me somehow. It worked better than I thought it would. He jumped up and right through me a split second before screaming for the Doc. I shuddered at the weird sensation of our energies mixing for that brief second.

I heard the Doc run up the stairs at an extremely fast pace for an old guy. He came barreling into the room. If I had to guess his age, I’d say about 110, which was ancient to me. He was of Indian descent, with long gray hair, add a few black strands to that, parted perfectly, and braided down his back. He also had the sharpest, most amazing, light blue eyes I’ve ever seen.

I swore his gazed landed on me right before he stepped in front of my body and shouted out demands to Chase. I tried to peek over his shoulder to see what he was doing but he blocked my every move. I also tried to walk over to the other side of the bed, but apparently I was attached to my body, because I could only wander a few feet before I got yanked back to my original spot.

I focused on Doc and Chase and found their movements chaotic. Chase skidded into the bathroom for a cool, wet, cloth, and started patting my skin down. Doc check my vital signs with quick deliberate motions. Chase raced out of the bedroom, only to come back with something that smelled and looked horrific. Green and brown goo, reminding me of something that came out of a sick baby’s bottom, filled a pestle and mortar set. The Doc began slathering my body with it.

Yuk!

I’d be better off back in my body, not knowing what he was doing.

I attempted to dive back into my body. I rejected myself. How weird was that? My body didn’t want me, yet if I walked too far away from it I got yanked back. Now, that was too much to wrap my mind around. I focused on the Doc again. He was checking my IV and the other miscellaneous needles and tubes he’d hooked me up to. He nodded, content he’d done everything he could, sent Chase out of the room, sat down, and stared at me. Not my body, but me.

I stood my ground as we kept an eye on each other for the next few hours. The only interruption: his getting up periodically to make sure my body still breathed. Chase came in and out of the room several times, and I listened to him leave a message on Max’s cell phone, giving him an update on my condition.

It’s amazing how easy it is to stay standing for so long when you don’t have a body that gets tired, too bad I couldn’t go very far.

The next time the Doc got up to check on me I snagged his seat and kicked my legs up onto my bed. He gazed over at me and sat on his rolling chair. Huh, he really did see me.

“So does everyone call you Doc or do you have real name?” I asked sarcastically. I wasn’t trying to be rude. I was just a tad bit annoyed with my predicament.

“I will tell you when you return to your body,” he replied.

Wow, he heard me.

“I don’t feel like it, it hurts too much in there, especially when the pain killers wear off.”

“So that is why you are out here? The pain killers wore off?”

I shrugged; I had no idea why my body rejected me. “Could be, it doesn’t matter. I’m not planning on going anywhere.” I glanced at the empty shell that used to hold my spirit. “Maybe I just needed a physical and mental break. Tell me about Max.” I said, changing the subject.

“He will tell you himself when he gets back.”

I laughed. Max was as secretive as they came.

“Hey Doc, who are you talking to?” Chase asked, coming into the room.

Doc glanced at Chase, “Montana. Come, sit in my chair and keep her company.”

Doc avoided my gaze.

“Keep her comfortable, she is starting to get cranky. I need to go down and make some more paste.”

“Ooh, my very own voodoo doctor.” I really couldn’t help myself.

Chase waited until the Doc left the room before whispering in my ear. “I should have known you were going to go out and play hero. I’d hoped you and Max would come to a compromise, but apparently that wasn’t the case.”

I stood at my side of the bed and leaned over towards him. If the Doc could hear me maybe Chase could too. “I’m so sorry, Chase. He didn’t want me involved.”

Chase didn’t acknowledge me.

He blew out a breath and grabbed my hand. “I could have stopped this if I’d said something to Max, but I didn’t.” He lowered his head for a moment, moving closer to me. “He really is a good guy. A little over protective of you. Okay, a lot over protective, but he’s still a good guy. The only reason I didn’t tell him was because he most likely would of duck taped you to a chair, which wouldn’t have helped matters.”

He grinned wide for a few seconds and chuckled. I was sure he was imagining me bound to a chair. They would have had to gag me too.

“What were you thinking Montana?” Chase asked, serious again.

“I was thinking I would handle it, and I did. Max has him now; he can’t threaten me anymore or anyone else.” I knew Chase didn’t hear me, but continued anyway. “He could have taken you out in the blink of an eye, Chase, and what about Rose, or the girls? He was a threat and needed to be dealt with.”

A low vibrating sounded from his pocket. Chase let go of my hand to answer his cell. “Max?”

Silence on our end. What I would have given to be able to listen in on the conversation.

“She’s had a setback. No, the Doc didn’t tell me, but her fever has come back,” Silence. “He’s downstairs cooking up his concoctions.” More silence. “Okay, I’ll call tomorrow unless something else happens. Okay. Okay.” He flipped his phone shut.

“Max is worried about you. He’ll be back once he gets this worked out.” Chase sighed. “I‘m worried about you too.”

“Don’t worry about me Chase. I’ll be fine.” I wasn’t worried about me.

“Hey Doc, would you please tell him that I’m going to be fine.” I said, as the Doc wandered back into the room.

He just glanced at me and asked Chase to move.

“Seriously, just tell him!”

Doc asked Chase to get something downstairs and then glared at me.

“There is a problem with that.”

“What’s the problem?”

“You are not in any pain out here. Who is to say that you will not stay?”

Chase came back up with whatever it was the Doc needed.

“It’s not like I can just jump back into my body. I’m not going to die or go into a coma or anything. Trust me on this one.”

He leaned over my body and raised an eyebrow at me Chase wouldn’t see.

“Chase would understand.”

He shook his head subtly and began to redress my wounds. There was nothing left to do but wait, and since Chase had taken my chair I was back to standing up. I stuck my tongue out at Doc and paced the few steps I could.

“I’m bored. We need a TV. Chase should take my truck to Max’s or something so no one knows I’m here. Or maybe he should tell anyone who stops by he had to drop me off at the airport. I had to leave for an emergency or something.” I stopped pacing. “You should tell Chase I‘m standing here in spirit and relay my messages.”

A sigh from the Doc.

“I’m not trying to drive you crazy.” I smiled big. “Chase would talk to me if he knew. I need some comedy.”

“We need a TV up here.” Chase stated. “Maybe some zombie movies will bring her back. She loves those.”

“See its ESP or something.” I said, laughing and clapping my hands together.

The Doc turned to Chase. “I need some things anyway. I will write you a list. I suggest some comedy instead of horror. I am sure she has seen enough of that lately.”

I sat down in the chair Chase evacuated and evaluated my empty shell. I looked like hell. I leaned in closer, examining my wounds.

The red streaks spreading out from the gashes seemed to be disappearing, and the swelling was going down, most likely from the goop covering them. My bruises were fading, leaving black, blue, and ugly yellow smudges against my skin. My temperature had gone down too, sweat glistened off my skin, instead of pouring out of my pores. I attempted to rest my hand on my forehead to see if I was still running a fever. My hand flew back.

I wasn’t welcome back into my shell, yet. Yet, being the operative word. At least I was starting to heal. With nothing better to do than wait, I closed my eyes and rejoiced in the pain free, stress free environment I’d found myself stuck in.

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 22

“She’s over here Max! And she’s burning up!”

Was that Chase’s voice?

Several hands caressed my body.

“We need to get her home. Call the doc and have him meet us there.” A hoarse voice replied.

Was that Max? Did he sound scared? I tried to open my eyes, they were too heavy. Was I dreaming of getting rescued? If so I didn’t want it to end, just a few more minutes and I’d wake up.

“It’s over. You’re going to be fine, Montana,” Chase whispered in my ear. “Man look at all this blood.”

“Over here!” Max yelled. “It looks like she did a number on him. We need to take him too. Go get the extra gear while I get some pictures.”

 

“The Doc should be here soon. I’m really worried, Max, she’s got some major gouges in her flesh.”

“I’ll get her upstairs, send Doc up when he gets here, and keep an eye on her captor.”

Their voices drifted over the low hum in my head. I tried to sit up, open my eyes, speak. Nothing on my body would budge. Even thinking took much effort at this point.

Max lifted me gently and carried me to the bed. He removed my cloths, and wiped my skin off with a warm, wet, cloth, starting with my feet, and covering me with a blanket as he worked his way up. The cloth became cooler the closer he got to my face. The gentle caress relaxed my aching muscles; I started dreaming about that bath again.

Ouch, that hurt. Another stabbing pain, another pin prick. I jerked my leg up, hitting something.

Light laughter.

“Hold her down so you do not get kicked again.”

“Is she going to be all right?”

“I honestly cannot tell you right now Max. She has lost a lot of blood, has a high fever, and has too much poison pumping through her system. Not to mention she is dehydrated and has not had any food. How long did you say she was missing?” The doctor replied.

“Five days. Between the last storm and pinpointing the location from the GPS signal on her phone it took us that long to find her.”

“If she makes it through this it is going to take time for her health to come back. Hold her arm down so I do not get punched, I am going to get an IV in her with some fluids and antibiotics. The pain killers will have to wait until we figure out what kind of poison has caused this.”

He inserted a needle into my arm, making me cringe inwardly.

“After I get this set up we will go downstairs and extract some of the poison out of.., well out of that thing down there.”

“Get as many samples as you need before the morning. That’s when I’ll be taking him back.”

What! That thing was in my house! I want it out of my house! I wanted to scream at Max to kill it and take it to the dump. I want to scream at him not to leave.

He planted a light kiss on my lips before they left the room. I fell back into a fitful sleep, waking up periodically to rustling noises around me.

The next time I came around pressure was being applied to my wounds. I waited for the pain to follow, but nothing happened. I opened my eyes. Even though my vision was still blurry the first person to come into view was Max. He sat next to me on the bed, holding my hand. His handsome, rugged face was a sight for sore eyes. I wanted to rub my fingers through the thick whiskers covering his chin, but my hand wouldn’t lift off the bed, and the many emotions flowing through him made my head swim.

I sighed and redirected my attention to the doctor. He bent over me, the epitome of calm, applying pressure to my scrapes and gouges. I tried to turn my head in his direction and found my head refused to move. I wanted to ask why, but I was too doped up to get the words from my mind to my lips, so I looked at him questionably.

“I have got it immobilized for the time being. You were thrashing around and I didn’t want it re-injured.”

Could he read minds? I glanced at Max. He looked really haggard, but nodded at me and smiled.

“Max wants to know what happened. I told him not to get his hopes up about you talking right now. I am glad to see that you are awake.” The Doc smiled. “I think I have been able to get your fever under control, for now anyway. You are beat up pretty bad and have a slight concussion.” He rolled his chair closer to me, and stared into my eyes, making sure I understood what he was saying. “Those are the least of your concerns.”

Boy, the Doc looked old and wiped out this close up. I focused on his lips in attempt to comprehend his words; my brain was already floating away.

“Every time he scratched you he injected poison into you from his claws.”

That made sense.

“I believe I have figured out what kind of poison and I am working on treating it, but he managed to pump a good amount into your body….”

I felt like I was disembodied, I couldn’t concentrate on his words anymore, so I closed my eyes. The last thing I heard was the doctor telling Max that it would be touch and go for a while. I swam to the surface again in time to hear Max talking.

“I have to go. I’ll keep in touch. I’ve asked the Doc to do a few more blood tests after the poisons out of her system to see if there’s some kind of cure for whatever my employers pumped into her. Keep me informed.”

A light kiss wafted over my cheek.

“Will do, I’ll keep an eye on everything for you. Take care Max.”

Chase sat down and grasped my hand. “You’re going to be as good as new soon, I promise.”

I drifted off again.

Introducing–>>Emma Lear

 

As this weeks Featured Author

I’m an almost-graduate of the English Language and Communications and Literature, half-Finnish, half Londoner – I’ve loved stories and writing them since the age of nine. I currently live on the glorious south coast of Britain near to Brighton with the rain, the pebbles and the seagull invasion. I like all the usual person description hobbies that people put in these things, including but not limited to pole dancing, skittles (the candy not the game) and yelling at the television when the touring cars come on.

url https://www.goodreads.com/EmmaLear

website http://emmalear.wix.com/theman

twitter username EmmaELear

genre Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction

 

 

 

When magic and mystery become a part of adult memory, and children only know the hushed whispers in dark corners, people expect trouble at every turn.

For Gin, her safety relies on those dark corners and the danger of the grimy British streets. Magic and fantasy are a long buried dream; until she meets the candle-maker. Thrust into his secretive world with just a sullen, shadowy guide for company, Gin clings to the edges until the heavily guarded line between life and fantasy blurs.

As she chases her inevitable future to escape the echo of what lies behind, the world and all she knew of it becomes one final step into the unknown.

 

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 21:2

His lips were pulled back over his teeth, reminding me of a barracuda, jagged and sharp. A burning sensation began to climb up my arm, making me wonder if he had some kind of poison in his claws. That pissed me off. If I was going down so was he. I ran at him, catching him off guard, and kicked him hard in the stomach. He landed flat on his ass, I smiled at him in triumph. It was about time someone else ended up down there besides me.

He jumped back up and shouldered me in the ribs, knocking the wind out of me. I landed on my hands and knees close to the fire. Breathing hard I grabbed a burning log and swung it full throttle against his leg. The smell of burnt flesh filled my nose. He jumped back and came at me again, slashing his claws across my side as I brought the blade up and sliced diagonally from his kidney to his navel, drawing blood. My side was on fire now, and dizziness started to flow through me, giving me a sense of vertigo. I blinked my eyes a few times to bring them back into focus, rolled onto my feet, jumped up, and kneed him with all my strength in the area where I was hoping his nads would be. He dropped to the ground wheezing. I stood there for a moment trying to catch my breath.

As I took a step forward, my eyes blurred and my head began to swim. I stepped back, leaned against the wall, blinking my eyes fiercely until I got my vision back, and seemed steadier. That minute gave him all the time he needed to recover and come at me again. In one swift motion I slid down the wall and brought the knife up, stabbing him in the stomach, and twisting it as far into his gut as the blade would allow. He fell heavily on top of me.

The burning from the gashes on my arm progressed to my shoulder, and the burning from my side slowly forged its way down my leg, making it difficult for me to move. The torn flesh on my chest stung.

I sat there with tears in my eyes. I needed to move, to get home and clean out my wounds before they became worse. With the remaining strength I had I pushed him off of me and onto the floor. My hands shook as I pulled the rope out of my pocket.

My vision blurred, again. I shook my head hard to clear it, making myself nauseous in the process. The ground under me shifted and trails of light flickered around me. His chest rose with shallow breaths. As quick as I could I tied the pieces of rope together, though I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Carefully I flipped him onto his stomach with my foot, avoiding blatantly staring at the big pool of blood gurgling out of him, and pulled his hands behind his back. Just the sight of the spikes, not horns, on his back covered with my blood made me sick. I swallowed hard and tightly bound his wrists together. I took the scarf off my neck, wondering how I managed not to get strangled with it, and tied it tight around his ankles, bringing it up and tying it to the rope around his wrists in the same fashion he’d tied me. After that was done I crawled over to the fire and attempted to empty my stomach. With no food and little water I only managed dry heaves.

Dizziness consumed me. I wasn’t going to make it out. I was burning up. I crawled to the back side of the fire, away from the mutant thing and laid down. The pain and burning from his claws was getting worse. I took note of the damage. My whole arm and side were red and inflamed and it was spreading. I sighed. I glance at the exit, only being able to see a few feet ahead of me.

My last thought was I’d figure out what to do right after I rested. I rolled over to my semi unhurt side with my back to the fire and closed my eyes.

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 21

I woke up abruptly. The dream about Max coming to my rescue, fading. I laughed. I didn’t plan on waiting for him. I surveyed the inside of the cave and shivered. I’d forgotten to put wood on the fire.

Not sensing my friend I stood up and added a couple of logs to the sputtering embers. I needed to get out of here quick, but wasn’t going to get far if I didn’t stretch out my aching limbs first. My movement was stiffer than I wanted it to be. Besides it was cold outside, I wanted a little warmth before I left. I did a few yoga stretches to limber up, warmed my hands, and then looked around again to make sure I was alone.

I blew out a breath, it was now or never. I pulled my knife out of my boot and slid it up my sleeve. I had a plan, as soon as I stepped out of the cave entrance I’d run like the devil was chasing me. I took in the darkness of the tunnel, still night, didn’t matter, I was out of here.

I relied on my senses as I placed my hand on the cave wall, and took small steps towards the exit. The nearer I got to my escape route the lighter it became. I’d be able to see the terrain once I left the cover of the bush. A sigh of relief passed through my lips. I made it to the bush unscathed, glimpsed out. Smoke still rose in the distance. I didn’t sense my friend. Taking a deep breath to steady my nerves I focused on the direction of the rising smoke, stepped out from behind the bush, and took off down the steep incline, leading away from the cave.

I ran as fast as my still stiff body would allow, tripping over rocks and logs buried under the snow every few feet. My pace slowed a touch, to avoid breaking my neck. I was heading down the hill at a good pace when my foot slid and flew out from under me. My arms flapped in the wind, trying to catch my balance. I failed miserably, landed hard on my hip, and slid the rest of the way downhill. There was nothing to grab hold of and I must have hit every single sharp rock on the way down. I felt so badly bruised by the time I came to a stop that I had a hard time standing back up.

Wiping snow from my clothes, I ran, gimped, and walked in the direction I thought I should go in. The plume of smoke was no longer visible through the forest of trees, so I had to rely on my “ha-ha” excellent sense of direction. I’d made it a good distance from the cave and almost to the tree line when my alarm rang. He closed in on me.

Shit! I couldn’t let him corner me again.

Before my thoughts could process an escape route he flew up behind me, grabbed my hair, and yanked it hard enough to bring me to a full stop. My legs flew out from underneath me; I was flat on my ass again with my loving, psycho, snow clown, pulling me back up the steep slope I’d just come down. I let my body go limp as he dragged me by my hair and jacket through the bush, into the cave, and to the fire.

The bump on the back of my head shot pain through my skull. A tickle of sticky, wet, blood, oozed down the back of my neck.

He dumped me in the same spot I’d first found myself, facing the wall. His eyes burned a whole in my back, with a mixture of anger and amusement. I grasped a hold of his anger, making it my own, as I laid there waiting to see what he would do next. Once again we were having staring contest. The only difference, this time he was the only one staring. I played possum, again.

I hoped he stared at me for the next hour. I would give me time for the pain in my head to abate, and the nausea in my stomach to go away. The longer he gazed at me the more his anger grew. My head calmed to a hateful throb, my stomach had settled on just being queasy when I sensed and barely heard him turn on his heel. I slid the knife out my sleeve into my hand, flipped over onto my feet, and lunged onto his back, holding on tight.

Pain laced through my chest and stomach from the small razor sharp horns on his back. I hadn’t noticed them before. I began to bleed almost immediately. The sharp edges stung like hell, but I held on tight as he tried to throw me off. He swung around, backing up towards the cave wall as I swung the blade under, and up, attempting to get a stab into his chest. He blocked me, grabbed hold of my wrist, and shook it hard a couple of times. I held fast to the knife. While his attention was diverted I dug my knees into his sides hard, wrapped my arm around his neck, getting a choke hold, and squeezed. He dropped my wrist and dug his claws through my jacket, into my arm, pulling it away from his neck.

Shocked, and in pain I jumped off him, cringing at the sucking noise my skin made as it ripped free of his horns. Amazingly I landed on my feet. I backed up, looking at the gashes on my arm quickly, blood seeped out, the marks inflamed and burning. I glanced back up at my captor and swore he was smiling.

Introducing–>>S.K. Gregory

As this weeks Featured Author

 

 

 

When Mackenzie Murphy goes looking for her father she finds herself caught in the middle of a demon war between three rival families. Still trying to master her own demon abilities, who can she trust to help her? The mysterious Lucien? Or Taryn, the son of the enemy? With all three families hunting for a talisman that could shift the balance of power, Mackenzie must get to it first and finish what her father started, or die trying.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have been writing since I was a child. I recently had my first novel Daemon Persuasion published with Mockingbird Lane Press. I love reading especially horror and fantasy.

My zombie novel After has been published by J Ellington Ashton Press.

website Http://www.skgregory.com

twitter username Sam_skgregory

genre Fantasy, Horror

 

Due to technical difficulties with WordPress this morning I am unable to put the rest of her books up in this post. You can find more on her stories Here…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 20:3

My head throbbed, goose bumps needled my flesh. Why the hell was I so uncomfortable? Oh, yeah, I was stuck in a damn cave. I swallowed a moan as my sixth sense sounded and alarm, someone had joined me in the cave. My heart skipped a few beats while I debated on whether or not I should continue playing possum. No, I needed to deal with this head on. I forced my eyes open, my heart stopped, I blinked, then pinched myself. What was that thing?

All of a sudden memories came flooding back at me full force. I crouched in the bushes, gun drawn. Before I got off a shot he pounced, a blur, faster than I’d given him credit for. I vaguely remembered the pain shoot through my skull before he knocked me out. I’d lost my backpack, my gun, and my flashlight too.

I cringed, kept myself from rubbing the bump on my head.

On the positive side Max and Chase would be looking for me, or at least they will be, once the storm blew over. Was the storm over? I wish I knew. Now, all I had to do was stay alive until they found me, or I found them.

Until then, I only had a knife to defend myself with. Could I defend myself with just a knife? Would I have to?

I grimaced at the thing while studying it. Male, more human than animal, but definitely mutated. A chuckle bubbled up into my throat. I held it in. The last thing I needed was him to attack me because of my nerves.

He reminded me of someone trying to pull off dressing like a big, white, snow clown. Clowns were right up there with cockroaches, except clowns were freaky scary, roaches were freaky gross. I refrained from shaking my head, I’d lost my mind. A snow clown, now that was ridiculous.

A big, mean, snow clown sounded better. About 6’2, his hair, face, and body were as white as the snow. His clothes, if you could call them that, were skin tight. I took a closer look, scratch cloths, the white, sparkled sheen flowing over his body was an outer layer of skin.

I now understood why I never caught a real glimpse of him. He’d camouflaged himself well, according to nature. I bet if he needed to he would molt, or whatever he did, into the color of the cave.

His eyelashes were crazy long, sparkled white, and covered eyes that bulged out of his head. He had two slits in the sides of his head. Ears? I watched him watching me. His eyes moved in an eerie, circular, motion. One eye settled on me, the other scanned the rest of the cave.

His nose was small and angular, with two small slits in them for breathing. I pictured small razor sharp teeth underneath his thin lips. I glanced down at his hands. On both, five fingers fused together into a group of two and a group of three, giving them a tong-like appearance. Nasty claws spiked out of each finger. His bare feet were identical to his hands. I pictured the bruises on my ankles; too similar to be coincidental. He glared unspoken hatred at me.

I wondered again if my knife would be enough to take him out.

I’d never seen anything quite like him, and hoped I never would again. I didn’t pick up any violence in him at this moment, just hate and curiosity. Not one muscle moved in my body. I waited patently to see if he intended to make the first move. When nothing happened I sat up straighter, attempting to get semi comfortable. My back was killing me, and my bones ached from leaning up against the wall.

In slow motion I unbent one leg and stretched it out before bending it back up. I didn’t want my knife to be too far out of reach. I did the same with my other leg, both of my arms, my neck, and my back, keeping my eye on the psycho-mutant-creature the whole time. He’d taken an alert stance while I stretched. We remained staring at each other for so long I thought I would die of stiffness and boredom. Suddenly he turned on his heel and walked through door number one, towards the exit.

My heart caught in my throat. Was he leaving again? Please let him leave! I exhaled long, slow, breaths, waiting for what seemed like an eternity before I got up. I did a full stretch on my aching muscles, and stuck my knife up my sleeve. For whatever reason he wanted me here he certainly didn’t seem interested in feeding me, or hurting me, at this point anyway. I picked up my bark and slowly tiptoed through the tunnel. I didn’t need my torch to see light outside. Maybe my new friend dropped off the face of the earth, and I would be able to escape.

As I walked through the tunnel my momentum began to slow down. How long had I been gone? I didn’t know if I was two or three days into this fiasco, because I had no idea how long I’d been unconscious. My stomach behaved as though it had been a week. I shuddered at the thought. That would mean that Max and Chase weren’t coming or something bad may have happened to them. What if I gave them too many sleeping pills? I shook my head, I’d only added a couple to their drinks.

Bringing myself back from the worst case scenario I concentrated on the positive. I had water. I reached the bush, happy I hadn’t been jumped, and peeked out. Still snowing. I collected as much snow as possible, plus a couple of leaves, and headed back to the fire thinking about Max. As many times as I wished he’d vanish, I really needed his help now.

Ignoring the hunger pains, I melted the snow, drank it, then made several more trips back to the bush. I brushed my mega fuzzy teeth the best I could with the leaves while dreaming of a nice hot bath in my Jacuzzi. By the time I made my last trip to the entrance the snow had subsided into flurries, but the sun sat low on the horizon. I sighed; another night stuck in the cave.

I whipped my cell phone out of my pocket and pushed the power button. Nothing happened. I pushed on the power button again for a couple of seconds longer. Still nothing. I checked to make sure the battery was still in my phone, it was. Damn! I must have forgotten to charge it. I glared at the overcast clouds. No, I specifically remembered plugging it in. Hell, the charger probably wasn’t plugged into the wall. Or the phone may have been on, while I lay unconscious, searching for a signal. That would drain the  battery quickly. I heaved a long sigh. Whatever happened I was minus a phone. My mind blurred from hunger, my head throbbed, I was sore, exhausted, and my escape plan had been thwarted today.

Frustrated, I plopped the stupid thing back into my pocket, instead of trowing it at the wall. I separated the branches of the bush. Nothing looked familiar, but if my vision still worked correctly, and I hoped I wasn’t hallucinating, smoke puffed up from a chimney in the distance. I smiled. A house. Darkness settled into the sky, leaving now wasn’t an option, but that was the direction I’d be heading in come dawn. I returned to my spot in the cave, sat with my back against the wall, and lit a smoke.

I didn’t understand why he wanted me, but I could come up with several reasons. The one thing I was certain, my life was in danger. Anger coursed through my veins. And since anger was a lot better than despair I grabbed hold of the emotion, lit another smoke, and stewed until finally I was emotionally drained enough to sleep.

International Authors Day Blog Hop

 

 

I could start with- My mom read to me when I was a kid-  she did, but I’ll skip that part. I really wanted to be an artist while I was growing up. And I wasn’t to bad at it either.

I’m going to fast forward to my heart throbbing teenage years. I used to read a ton of romance books. I’m sure most teenage girls do. I mean, back then my dreams consisted of the handsome man rescuing me from immanent danger, and I so wanted a happily ever after. Not in the fairy tale way, but in the way of having a soul mate.

Then a girlfriend of mine introduced me to soft porn. I must of had a permanent blush on my face throughout the couple of books I read. I stopped reading them because I really wasn’t a soft porn kind of teen.

My mom was fairly strict so I wasn’t allowed to watch horror movies until I turned 16, even though I did. My first was The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I refused to walk alone a night for at least two months after watching it. I lived in an area where canyons surrounded me, and my imagination firmly told me anything could happen. Eventually  I watched The Birds by Alfred Hitchcock. My imagination soared with that movie. I kept my eye on any swooping, congregating birds for a long time. A few months later I happened to walk in on my mom watching The Stand by Stephen King. Stephen King peeked my interest to the point where I’ve read close to every book he’s put out. Although I Love Stephen King I wouldn’t want to live with his dark imagination. I’d find monsters in everyone and jump at the slightest sound. LOL

In my 20′s I started dreaming of writing a book, but I couldn’t seem to come up with a whole story. Every story I thought of started in the middle of a book and ran on until the ending. No beginning would come to me. And since I had a gypsy personality back then (I couldn’t seem to stay in one spot for long) I let the dream slide into the recess of my mind.

To make a long story short I got pregnant and ended up settling down. On my off time from a busy life books became my escape again. When my son hit his teenage years and gave me the “I don’t need you hovering over me but I still need you speech” I decided to finally sit down and write, just to see if I could do it. My first book, Blake- A Montana Dayton Novel flowed out of me easily, and many other stories continued to rise to the surface. I now have two novels and two short story books out on Amazon and a few other places. The stories continue to flow. I’m in the process of writing a YA and another Dark Fates short story. Life has gotten busy again, so now it’s all about finding the time to write.

 

 

 

Thank You Book R3vi3ws for hosting the International Authors Day Blog Hop

Linky Code for WordPress Platform:

 

 

 

Blake-A Montana Dayton Novel Ch. 20:2

The closer I moved to the end of the tunnel the colder the air became. Chills wracked my body when I finally stumbled to the entrance, or in my case the exit of the cave, a huge bush blocked my way out. I moved a few branches aside, just far enough to notice the inky sky and whiteout conditions. I squinted in attempt to get a grasp of the location of the cave, but could barely see my hand in front of my face, let alone the rest of the forest. I considered using my cell phone and sighed. I didn’t think I’d pick up a signal in this mess and I didn’t want to run down the battery trying to get one.

Mumbling more than a few expletives I walked back down the tunnel at a fast pace, until I made it back to the smoke filled fire. I nodded my head in exhaustion. I needed to add more fuel to the dying embers. I didn’t want to freeze to death in a cave where no-one would ever find me. I rounded the cave, checking the dark corners, and stumbled upon heavy branches, drug them to the pit, and proceeded to break and stack a few pieces, tee pee style, onto the dying blaze. The dry leaves and wood caught quickly and my eyes followed the flames to where I believed would be a ceiling. I’m pretty sure there was a ceiling somewhere up there, but I couldn’t see it. Feeling toasty again I took a deep breath before wandering through the opening of the second tunnel.

Halfway down the tunnel I stepped on something dry and crunchy; I jumped back, picturing cockroaches crawling over the floor. Did I mention my imagination was working on overtime? A shiver marched up my spine to the top of my head, making my hair stand on end, bile rose into my throat. I despise cockroaches, they gross me out, and even worse was the sound of them being stepped on. Yuk. Another shiver ran up my spine.

I lowered my torch, sweeping it above the floor and close to the walls. Nothing skittered across the rough stone. The floor was different. I swore the floor moved, but didn’t have enough light to identify what crept under my feet. I took a few soft steps, hearing a crunch with each. Freaked out I ran the short distance to the other smaller cave, praying a huge momma cockroach didn’t wait for me inside. Pitch black surrounded me; I crouched down, waving the torch close to the floor.

A crazy women’s laughter bubbled from my throat as I sat down to catch my breath. Leaves were scattered throughout the soft dirt. My mind had been playing tricks on me. My nerves took over, shaking uncontrollably a cackle escaped my mouth. Taking big gulps of air I relaxed a little, telling myself I wasn’t going to cry. I just needed to wait out the storm, and for daylight for my escape. Once I started breathing normally again I rose and began to search the cave.

My stomach rumbled, my lips were parched. I didn’t think I would find any food, but water or a bowl would fill me up for the time being. I followed the same routine I had before, only this time I followed the walls. Halfway through the cave I stumbled upon a big pile of leaves. As I circled around to the front of the pile I realized it was some kind of nest, another small nudge at my memory. I squatted down to look inside, careful not to start the thing on fire.

What I would do for a flashlight right now.

Yuk. Dead bird carcasses.

I moved away from the nest quickly and finished scouting the cave. Besides the burrow of leaves, nothing else stood out.

I returned to the main cave, sat down, and lit a smoke. Something about the nest tickled the back of my brain. I waited for the memory to surface, but it stayed beyond my grasp. Sighing, I forced myself to stand and walk to the cave entrance. I needed water, snow was frozen water. I eyed the trunk of the bush and began to carefully cut a makeshift bowl out of it.

My first attempt rewarded me with a medium size piece of bark. I set the makeshift cup down and sliced out a bigger piece of bark. After scooping fresh snow into both pieces I turned my back on the darkness and blowing snow, trudged to the fire, set the bark down close to the heat, and melted it. I drank the minute amount of water, knew I should collect more, but couldn’t convince my body to move another inch. Yawning, I crawled back to the far end of the wall, shoved the knife into my boot, got into the most comfortable position I could, sitting up, and closed my eyes.