Mary Newman's Blog - Posts Tagged "excerpt"

I feel as if I'm a bad person since I've been neglecting my blog, lately. Part of it was a general feeling of "meh, I don't really feel like posting" and the rest was my nose was deep in a post-apocalyptic world writing my next book. That being the case, I figured I'd share a snippet. Please be aware, this is UNEDITED and may undergo some changes before the book is actually published.

Excerpt:

The store and bar was easy to find. There wasn’t anything else around. I’d expected a town of some sort, but there was nothing but the one big building. Arnie pulled up in front and we sat for a moment.

“I know I suggested this, but do you have a plan, Arnie?”

“Not really,” Arnie chuckled. “Just wasn’t going to stop you when you offered.”

“Gee, thanks for letting me stick my foot in it and leaving me hang.”

“Not a problem.”

“Seriously, how are we playing this?”

“Gonna play it by ear.”

“You’re lead, then. Rhett did say Joey would take to you more than me.”

“Yep.”

I followed as Arnie led the way into the bar side of the building. It wasn’t anything special, just a bar along one wall with the requisite home brews on tap and various bottles with dubious contents lined up behind it. A few tables and chairs were located in a haphazard fashion. Joey was easy to spot. Rhett wasn’t kidding that he looked like he’d yet to see his fifteenth birthday. Slender bordering on skinny, baby-faced, with coal black hair that probably didn’t occur naturally, bright blue eyes and pale skin. A thick black collar bedecked with shiny flat silver studs around his neck and fastened with a tiny padlock proclaimed he had an owner. Arnie, as direct as usual, approached him, and I watched for even a flicker of fear. Joey simply looked Arnie up and down, licked his lips, and smiled.

“I must have been a very good boy sometime in my life,” he said.

“Looking for Flint.”

“Oh, pooh, and here I thought it was gonna be my birthday and Christmas all wrapped up together.” Joey winked. “Have a seat, luscious, and I’ll fetch him.”

Arnie chose a table set apart from the others, and took a seat. Joey left through a rear door without even looking my way.

“You want something?”

“Probably should stick with water, Luke,” Arnie tossed a small drawstring bag, which I caught and headed to the bar.

“Two waters.”

The bartender raised his brow. “Bottled or tap?”

“Same difference, yeah?”

He chuckled and drew two mugs of water. I tossed a silver coin on the bar and he picked it up, looked at it and placed it on a scale. Once he nodded his acceptance, I picked up the two mugs and headed back to Arnie. We sipped the water for several minutes before Joey returned with a tall, red-haired male.

“You think you have business with me?” the same husky voice as last night asked.

“Yep. Have a seat, Flint. I’ve brought a message.”

“Lose the weapons and I’ll think about it.”

“Sit down and I won’t cut your fucking heart out with a rusty spoon.”

“I don’t do threats, big man.”

“And I don’t give second chances to those who launch an unprovoked attack on what’s mine.”

“Aha, so you’re the big bad with the arrows last night.”

Arnie stared at Flint, not flinching. Flint returned the stare then took a seat opposite Arnie.

“Get me a beer, Pet.”

Joey rushed over to the bar and grabbed the bottle the bartender had put up when Flint entered the room. I didn’t bother telling him his threats might work better if his employees didn’t have such easily read tells. Joey sat the beer in front of Flint and sank gracefully to the floor, resting his head on his master’s thigh.

“None of this would have been necessary if Rhett had just come out and talked to me,” Flint sighed.

“Bullshit. You don’t bring an army to talk.”

“Well, I might have been a teensy bit put out last night. He still could have come out.”

I’ve been working on the second book in the After the Coming series, and thought I’d share a snippit. Mick (who was a runaway in the first book, In the Beginning) is one of the main characters and is meeting Joey and Flint for the first time:

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying on something soft and there was a wet cloth on my forehead. Cool hands were kind of petting and stroking my head and face. I turned my head to find a little guy that looked close to my age sitting beside me on a bed. He was cute, I noticed. Really cute. With coal black hair, bright blue eyes, and a sweet smile.

“Welcome back,” he said. “You look pretty rough, Sweetie. What’s your name?”

“Matt, I mean, Mickey.”

“Which is it, Honey? I’m not gonna hurt you and neither will my master. You can give me your real name.”

“Preacher Jonah called me Matthew after they shot my dad and told me I couldn’t ever say my real name again.”

“So, Mickey it is. My name’s Joey. You’re in my master’s bunker. Want to tell me why you were running?”

“Gonna kill me,” I muttered and closed my eyes. “Joshua was mad ‘cause I wouldn’t shoot and then someone stole the Jeep and I knew he was gonna kill me when him and Preacher Jonah got back.”

“Hmm… Hang on, Mickey. I think my master needs to hear this story so you don’t have to tell it twice. Think you can get up, now?”

I tested my legs, which seemed to be working and sat up. I nodded and stood. Joey stood up and he was a lot smaller than me. I felt huge next to him.

“You’re younger than me,” I blurted. “How come you’re in Hell? What bad stuff did you do?”

Joey laughed so hard he had to sit back on the bed. I just stared at him, wondering if everyone went crazy in Hell. He finally stopped and wiped the tears from his eyes.

“Oh, you are a sweetheart, aren’t you? I’m 25, Mickey, and this isn’t Hell, although I’m sure I’ve done plenty of bad stuff to rate a spot in the real one. For me, at least, this place is a little slice of heaven. Come on, Honey, let’s go back to the office and you can tell Flint your story.”

I followed Joey back to the office and sat on the big couch where he directed me. I was given another bottle of water and I drank it, since I didn’t know what else to do. The door opened and that red-haired man came in. I jumped up, spilling the rest of the water down my front.

“You’re dead,” I said in a shaky voice. “I saw you and you were dead! Please! I don’t want to be dead, too.”

Joey came over and sat me back on the couch while the tall, red-haired man just stared at me.

“It’s okay, Sweetie,” Joey patted my hand. “Flint’s not dead, but he was hurt. Did you see the ambush?”

“I was there,” I nodded and began babbling. “Me and Micah and Joseph and Garrett. We wouldn’t shoot. Garrett was having a panic attack and he held him while he cried and shook. We couldn’t kill anyone. It’s wrong. We didn’t want to cleanse all the sinners out. Joshua made us go, but then he was mad because I didn’t shoot any arrows and he’s gonna kill me. Preacher Jonah would have killed me anyway when he finds out I don’t want to have sex with the girls, and I promised them I’d come back and get them and now I’m gonna die, and I’ll never get to keep my promise!”

This is a repost from my Wordpress blog:

I've been working on the second book of the After the Coming series, with a working title of Let There be Light. I'm hoping to release it sometime in September. This is an unedited snippet:

“Go away!”

I glanced over at Arnie, who had his back to a tree that was almost as big around as he was. That had been the voice of a kid, not an adult. No telling if the kid had missed us on purpose as a warning, or what. Arnie had his thinking face on, so I didn’t say anything. Another bullet hit the tree I was hiding behind.

“I don’t think whoever is firing has bad aim, Arnie,” I said quietly. “Those were warning shots.”

“Yep.”

A twig snapped, bringing my attention back to the trees around us. Arnie was watching the cabin around the edge of his tree, so I started looking in the surrounding bushes and trees. I caught sight of movement about twenty feet away and focused on it.

“Got an adult, guessing male, about twenty feet to our right.”

“Armed?”

“Can’t tell. He’s hid pretty good.”

“Watch him.”

“I said, go away! Next bullet will take out your trike.”

“You take out my trike and we won’t be going anywhere!” Arnie called back.

I wasn’t real worried about the trike. Arnie had armor plating covering most of the engine and the front tire was solid rubber. It wasn’t going flat. I saw the barrel of a rifle around the edge of the tree where I’d seen the man hiding. I grabbed my bow, nocked an arrow and let it fly. It glanced off the barrel, jarring it enough the bullet I was sure had been aimed for Arnie missed him.

“Damn it!”

“You always shoot first and ask questions later?” I yelled.

“When them’s as not invited are doing the showing up,” a male voice called back.

“Well, put your damn gun away,” Arnie huffed. “We didn’t come here to steal or hurt anyone. We’re traders, not thieves.”

“Don’t know you. Never seen you around these parts.”

“Haven’t been in a couple of years. You gonna shoot if we come out?”

“Louis! They got guns?”

“Not that I saw, Jake! Just bows and knives, I think.”

“Come out, then.”

“Put the damn gun away first,” Arnie said. “I’ve no mind to get shot this far away from help.”

“Nothin’ doin’ since I don’t know you.”

I watched the figure move out from the tree slightly and nocked another arrow. I let it fly and this time the rifle dropped to the ground. I’d been careful not to actually hit the man, just the stock of the gun. I was up and running as soon as the arrow left my bow. I tackled the guy and kept him from reaching the gun, sitting on him and drawing my knife to end his struggles.

“Jake!”

The door to the cabin opened and a boy, maybe twelve years old, came flying out towards me and Jake. Arnie ran over and quickly got hold of the kid and I got off Jake and picked up his rifle. I held the barrel down, so he’d know I wasn’t aiming to shoot him, just as I hadn’t wanted to use my knife for anything other than defense.

“Let me go! Jake! Let me go, you big oaf! Jake are you okay?”

“Stop your damn struggling,” Arnie put his big arms around the kid and hugged him tight. “I’m not going to hurt you and Mick didn’t hurt Jake.”

I walked over and retrieved both arrows and slipped them back in the quiver after examining them for breakage. When I straightened up I took a good look at the pair whose cabin we’d apparently happened on. The man was barely that, my age or slightly younger, and was nowhere near my height. Both he and the boy Arnie held had dark hair and eyes and were most likely related since their features were similar.

“You stop kicking and struggling or I’m not letting go,” Arnie stated.

“Settle down, Louis,” Jake said and sighed. “I told you don’t come out of the cabin. What were you thinking?”

“He was gonna hurt you, Jake.”

“And what if he had? Then you would have been hurt or killed, too. Then who would take care of Emelia?”

“Emelia!”

Louis had stopped struggling and took off for the cabin as soon as Arnie released him.

“Tell him not to shoot,” Arnie sighed. “I’m Arnie and this is Mick. We’re not going to hurt any of you.