You can't call them Zombies!

Looking down at her boyfriend of two years writhing on the pavement as blood poured down his face sent her heart through vibrations that she wasn’t used to. Her aching stomach gurgled and she ran her hands through his bloody hair. Pieces fell out, clinging to her blood soaked fingers. If it was any time before this entire outbreak she would have been squeamish, but it was too late for that now.

“Alex, I’m sorry. I…” Words failed her. She lowered him to the sidewalk and reached for the rock. It’s coarse texture cold to the touch. The creature behind the bars twitched, a low gurgle came from its throat for a moment before falling silent.

The bitter scent of blood coated everything. Death surrounded her and she stared at the rock. She needed to do this before Kyle turned on her. She took the rock in two hands and raised it. The sharp end cast a shadow across her face.

Kyle groaned, the blood flow had slowed and his pale face looked in stark contrast to the cement. He twitched and opened his eyes. “Please… before its…” He fell silent. His lips quivered, his glazed eyes watching her, wanting her to go through with it.

She knew what she had to do, the rock remained poised above her. Her muscles ached, her chest hitched in a sob and she drove the rock down into Kyle’s skull. The bone cracked, splintered under the force. Closing her eyes to the sight of the last person she loved and holding onto the memories they shared. She drove the rock into him time and time again. Kyle didn’t make a sound. Her screams echoed in the still air. Blood coated her arms up to her elbows and she only stopped bringing the rock down onto him after her hands went numb. She turned away and heaved. Nothing came out, but sweat sprung out all along her body.

She already missed him, but couldn’t bare looking at him. Casting his body aside, she stood, wavered and stumbled off the sidewalk. Collapsing into the street, she struggled back to her hands and knees. The need to survive still strong and somewhere in the back of her mind she knew the creatures would come because of her screams. The thought shot her eyes open and she scanned her immediate surroundings. Nothing so far.

Standing, she needed to get away from Kyle. She couldn’t bear to look at him; just knowing that his blood coated her arms was enough. Forcing her body to move, she started back toward the highway. Hunger ate away at her energy and she stumbled numerous times as she made her way up the hill.

“You did the right thing.” A man said.

Anna didn’t even stop to acknowledge the person who sat on the crest of the hill.

“Hey, wait a sec there. You need some food?”

The word got her attention. She looked at the man. He sat on a small backpack, his hunting rifle slung over his shoulder. His tan skin was in contrast to the orange hunting vest that he wore. He gazed up at, a grin and he offered her a package of peanuts.

The salty aroma lifted her spirits and she took a handful. They went down in a flurry and she mumbled a thank you between bites.

“Where did you come from?” The man released the peanuts to her grabby hands. She downed the remaining and tossed the package.

“Huh?”

“Where did you guys come from?” He asked again with a bit more irritation.

“A nearby town.” She had failed to remember its name. “You?”

“Would you like to join up?”

“No.” She didn’t want another mistake of hers to cost anyone else.

“You sure? You look like you could use it.” He held out a canteen.

She took it, shook it, sniffed the contents a little suspicious of this stranger. After taking a small sip and realizing it was water, she downed a few gulps. It cooled her aching throat, washing over her tongue and lifted her spirits. “What do you have in mind?”

“I was thinking the Army base, they have more guns than I do.” The man said.

Anna stared at him. What did she have left to lose?

You can't call them Zombies!

“Fine, let’s do this.” Kyle’s stomach growled as he stood before the reaching man. He was starving and this was better than going on without food.

“We need to find something we can kill it with.” Anna searched the surrounding area. The way that she moved, stalked, around the sidewalk gave Kyle the creeps. His skin crawled as she started to pick up shards of glass, none very big, and then turned to rocks.

Kyle’s gaze locked on the dead eyes of the man. His top lip had been torn away, dried blood caked his teeth and his neck had deep scratches along the jugular. A low guttural growl emanated from where his voice used to be. A name tag hung from his chest pocket, but the name was covered in blood and something that looked like tissue.

“Found it.” Anna said. She held a sharp rock in her left hand. “You do it.”

Kyle stared at the rock and noticed Anna’s hands. They were scratched, bruised and just looked like utter crap. What did this world do to us? He sighed and took the stone from her hand. Its weight felt about the weight of a brick, yet fit comfortably in his hand. Almost like it was made for this purpose.

The creature growled as he approached. It seemed to recognize the stone and stopped reaching. He almost shied away for a moment until Kyle stood before the bars. He needed the man closer, so when he clubbed him that he wouldn’t be too far away. “Come on.” He called to the man like a frustrating pet.

The man backed away until only the glimmer in his eyes was visible. An animal’s glare sat deep in the man’s eyes and he soon vanished into the dark.

“No.” Anna yelled. “This is crazy!”

Kyle lowered the rock, turning his back on the man. “He seemed too smart for us.”

Anna glared at him. Her fury like a storm that washed over him. He shivered and wondered why she was mad at him. Not like it was his fault that her plan failed.

Her glare disappeared as her jaw slackened. “Look out.” She darted toward him, but fatigue caught up to her and she stumbled up the curb. It was long enough that she didn’t make it before.

Kyle spun as the man rushed the cage; his hands locked around Kyle’s neck and pulled him toward the bars. He slammed into the iron, cutting his face and dropping the stone. He saw his own reflection in the man’s eyes. Kyle’s pulse raced as he regained his bearings. The man was strangling him and his body reacted accordingly. He jerked and tried to punch the man, but his fist grazed the man’s head, taking off a small piece of dead flesh.

Anna appeared at his side, her balled up fists slamming against the man’s grip, but the man didn’t even give her a glance. His full attention was on Kyle and the feast that he was.

The man’s grip tightened. Stars popped in front of Kyle’s vision as the man moved closer. His mouth open; the smell of death closing in and Kyle couldn’t do anything.

Despite Anna’s help, the man didn’t hesitate to pull Kyle tighter against the bars. The iron crushing Kyle’s cheek bones. The pain excruciating as it ratcheted up along his face.

Using the last bit of his strength, he dropped his hands against the man’s wrists and heard a pop. The creature didn’t seem to care as his grip tightened again.

“Let him go. Kyle don’t give up.” Anna picked up the rock and slammed it against the man’s arms. More bone breaking and one hand fell away.

Kyle faded. His knees weakened as darkness crept into his vision. Then a huge burst of pain from his cheek erupted. The man had bitten him, the burning, his heart raced like it was trying to burst from his chest and he screamed. He didn’t care if it attracted the entire population of the creatures. This one had enough. His grip around Kyle’s throat loosened and he felt the creature picking into his cheek.

His fingers probed around like he was searching his underwear drawer for something to wear. The pain faded as he knew shock was setting in. This was it.

He turned to her and she stood there in shock, her face pale, her hands covering her mouth and she slumped into the ground. She had tried and failed. It was her plan that got him into this situation and now he had a hole in his cheek.

Kyle would have stepped toward her, but the creature got hold of his hair and slammed him back into the bars. His skull split, warm blood ran down the back of his neck. Anna seemed to snap too and brought the rock back up and hit the creature in the head before it could do anymore damage. As the creature’s grip released, Kyle slumped to the ground and covered his cheek. Blood ran through his fingers. He couldn’t talk, didn’t want to waste the energy.

Over the crest of the hill they had passed over minutes before he saw the silhouette of someone. Could be creature or something else. He pointed with one shaking hand. Anna didn’t follow his finger, instead collapsed against his chest. Her warm tears soaking into his sweatshirt. He still loved her.

Thinking about the blog

So I have been writing this blog for a year now, pretty amazing. I have learned a lot about myself during this time, and one of those things is that I don't know how to build an audience for my blog and honestly it is frustrating.

I want to get a bigger readership, yet feel that in the process of doing this I have neglected my other responsibilities, such as writing and that is the opposite of what my blog is about.

So in response, I think I'm going to be lowering my post counts to 3 times a week, unless the muse slaps me and something springs to mind that I absolutely must post about.

I am making a promise to my 42 followers that I will at least post 3 posts a week with occasionally posting more than that. I hope none of you leave me during this time and stick with me because I would love to share any news with you in the future.

If you have any suggestions to things I could do that you would like feel free to post it in the comments section and I will accommodated you.

Nuances of characters

Lately, I have been hearing from my crit group that my characters are sort of pawns of my plot. At first I was sort of like, what about it? They are the characters in my world, so technically they are pawns of my story....

Then I got some more details, and it was a MAJOR defect in my writing, so my writing goal of the newest book is to make my characters more real and in effect make the story more believable. It only took me what, 2 test books. :).

So now I am trying really focus on making my secondary characters little nuances that make them real to the reader, which is what I should have been doing from the get go. Go figure, better late than never and now, thanks to my awesome crit group, I can add another thing that I have improved over the past couple years of writing novels.

What are some of the things that you have added to a character to make them more real and in effect an individual that stands out instead of becoming a 1 dimensional character?

"Gone" Series

So this past week I finished the two most recent books in the series so far and have to say I'm hooked. I like the characters, like the plot and most of all I get lost in the world. The one thing that sort of bothered me in the last book, "Lies" was the fact that during the middle of the book it sort of dragged on and on. I think it could have been a bit shorter. However, overall I found the series as a whole very inviting and is a good setup for future books.

Has anyone else read any of these books and what did you think about them?

Now I'm halfway through the first book in the "Hunger Games" series, hope to have a review of it coming on in the next couple weeks.

You can't call them Zombies!

Anna stormed off into the distance. She still didn’t mutter a word and despite looking normal, her eyes revealed the pain and anguish that she must be enduring. The girl that she had been protecting almost killed her. Now they were alone again, with nowhere to go and no one to get help from. Kyle felt the weariness wash over him. His body needed to be fed, yet where were they going to find food now. The world had fallen apart.

“Anna, wait up.” Kyle rushed to keep pace with her as she moved determined like a devil was on her tail.

She turned to him, wavered on her legs and collapsed. Her knees cracking against the street sounded like cracking nuts. Kyle wasn’t able to stop her from falling to her side and bumping her head. With his heart racing, he knelt down beside her.

“Anna?” He shook her shoulders and she groaned and her eyes opened.

“What happened?” A small trail of blood ran out of the corner of her mouth where her lip was cut by the pavement.

“I think you fainted.” Kyle sat her up. Beads of sweat lined her forehead. Her skin was pale and she looked like she was going to vomit.

A moment later, she turned her head and threw up in the middle of the street. The sound splashing against the cement didn’t help Kyle fight the weariness in his own body. He shakily stood up and tried to help Anna up.

She refused to be helped and on quivering arms and legs, pulled self up. She brushed her hair out of her face and looked at Kyle. “Sorry. Just nerves, I’m not sick.”

“Fine, but where do you want to go now?” Kyle asked looking back the way they came. The girl was alone in the jeep, those creatures would find her and she would be a goner.

“We aren’t going back for her. She almost killed me.” Anna said. The anger in her voice snapped Kyle out of his thoughts.

“Where to then?”

“I don’t know, but we need to keep moving.”

She stormed off toward the cluster of buildings nearby. Long dead fires had engulfed the storefronts. The air was still choked with gray smoke making it hard to breathe as they approached. The soot stung Kyle’s eyes and he coughed. The smell of cooked meat made his stomach grumble, but that soon stopped when he saw that it was a woman. Her skin was charbroiled, with a few large chunks taken out of her arms and neck. The creatures got her first, but the fire put an end to her life.

“Anna?”

Anna didn’t look back at him, but put her face up to the small corner market. Its doors were shattered, but the metal bars were still intact.

“Anna, what do you have in mind?”

“There’s food in here.” She pointed at the door.

“Yeah, there’s also an iron gate barring us from entering.” He didn’t know what she was getting at. Not like he could break in.

Just as he said that, a decayed man lunged at the gate from the inside. His arm was torn to pieces. His bones were visible in many locations, hanging flesh dangled from each bite. Some looked smaller than others. Kids? The mere thought made Kyle’s skin crawl. Why did they leave the girl alone back there?

Anna stepped away, not scared, but seemed to be searching for a way in despite the creature trying to get to her. He thought she must be losing it when she said, “Kill him, and we can get in.”

She pointed at the man’s key ring which clung to his bloody jeans.

Next Book series to Read?

So now that I have my Kindle, I have been looking for books to read. I'm currently finishing up the most recent book in the "Gone" series by Michael Grant.

I have been looking at picking up the 3 "Hunger Games" books next, but what else should I be looking for? I'm looking for Young Adult and am up for pretty much anything. List me your favorites and most anticipated so I can plan for the rest of the year.