New release sample: DAWN OF THE LIVING PROOF

 

"When it first ran away, it went in a straight line for the nearest border," Kurt reported. He reached for the deluxe oatmeal cream pie he had been eyeing since he and Jane sat down at the table. "What?" he said, when she and I exchanged grins. "Is there a boobytrap or something hidden inside? Something only girls are supposed to like eating?"

"It's a recipe we came up with," I said. "We're just curious if you'll like it, that's all."

"Uh huh." He glanced between us a few times, then opened his mouth as wide as it could go and took a bite. He closed his eyes and chewed a few times. Paused. Opened his eyes. Turned the pie over a few times, examining it. Then chewed a half dozen more times, before taking a swig of tea to wash it down. "Umm, Jane … did I ask you to marry me yet?"

"Changing your mind?" She leaned back in her seat, shoulders shaking slightly from repressed laughter.

"Heck no! This would just seal the deal if I hadn't made up my mind already."

The rest of us laughed, and Kurt nearly inhaled the oatmeal pie. Too soon, though, the light moment passed. He returned to what he had been saying.

"The freaky thing is, it hit the line where Neighborlee met Cutterville and it bounced back. There was a flare, a color of light or energy I've never seen before." He shook his head, contemplating his empty mug for a moment. "It seemed like there was a matching flare on its body where it hit, around the shoulders and upper arm, like if a linebacker tried to bulldoze through a defending line. That flare faded when it backed up and changed its angle. Then it hit the shield again and bounced back even farther than the first time."

"We've spent most of the last few hours following it around, staying on the Neighborlee side of the border with the surrounding towns," Jane said. "Each time, the same flare of some kind of energy we've never seen before, and that flash of bruised light where it ran into the shield. Each time, it waited until the bruise faded to brown before it tried again. The whole thing was starting to feel a little frantic near the end."

"Yeah, I could almost feel sorry for it," Kurt said, through a mouthful of his second oatmeal pie. "The weird thing is that I was pretty sure it couldn't see us or even sense us, hidden in the Ghost field. But that was the only way we could see it. We experimented about an hour ago." He checked his watch and nodded. "Yeah, just short of an hour ago. We stepped out of the field, and the thing vanished. We brought up the field again and there it was, trying to get over the border into Darbyville. It slammed against the shield five or six times before it gave up and ran away."