"It's all about
blood, Ivy. It always has been."
I've known something was
wrong. I've sensed but avoided the truth that I was slipping. You'd
think if you recognized that you were dying that you'd hurry to stop
it, to heal whatever is sick. It's innately human to struggle for
life. But for some reason, though it makes no sense, it's also
innately human to lean away from eternal life.
Six years ago, when
millions of people disappeared from the face of the earth in a silent
instant, all hell broke loose. People did what you'd expect: they
panicked. We've been programmed with the will to survive—to care
for our loved ones at any cost. Husbands became murderers. Children
became thieves. The world turned upside-down and survival was all
anyone could think about. That was before we knew about the disease.
INFEC†IOUS, the first
novel in The INFEC†IOUS Series is a post-apocalyptic love story.
Young Ivy has a killer sense of humor, wit and a personal
relationship with the Curse Giver. Ivy longs for freedom from her
overbearing spinster Aunt and from Toccoa's protective fences. A trip
outside the compound brings confusion, danger, romance and death into
her already troubled life. Two different guys--polar-opposites--are
vying for her heart. Ivy is desperate to hold onto The Cure in the
midst of the chaos and heartache. INFEC†IOUS is a love story that
will ravage your heart and leave you hungry for more.
Enter to win a copy at ENTRADA.
Read an Excerpt:
********************
A
standard Taser is fired from a distance. Our devices have been
modified for close proximity. They can drop an attacker by pressing
the electrically charged prongs directly into the skin. Almost like a
short, electrically charged cattle prod. I feel a small tingle of
electricity run through me, but my attacker's arms slacken as the
full current paralyzes him. One shock won't slow him down for long;
but I hear Aunty press the trigger several more times, rendering him
limp and convulsing against the back of my seat. He's still conscious
and the paralyzing effect of the shocks will only last about a
minute. I'm confused and terrified when Aunty starts the car and guns
it towards the highway with the reeking man still behind my seat.
"What
are you doing?" I scream. "We have to get him out of here!
Stop the car!"
My
voice is high-pitched and weak; I can't seem to catch my breath. I
feel like his arms are still around my neck, strangling me. Is this
called hyperventilating? I want to fill my lungs, but they seem to be
working against me! I pant, pulling tiny scraps of air into my
desperate lungs. My eyes are starting to blur!
"It's
a trap." Aunty's voice is flat and calm. "There are at
least two of them, Ivy."
Just
as unexpected as her sudden burst of speed had been, she stomps the
brake; throwing me forward into the dash board. My head hits the
windshield and my elbows rake against the vents on top of the dash. I
slump back, dazed.
"Sorry,"
she says as she thrusts the SUV into park and realizes too late that
she could've warned me.
This
last jolt scared the wind back into me. My lungs are burning, but
they are functioning again. I blink little floating lights out of my
returning vision. We've only gone about a quarter of a mile, just to
where the parking lot meets the highway, but Aunty is hoping it's
enough distance between us and whoever was helping our attacker. She
is already out of the car and coming around to the passenger-side
back door.
Shaking
myself free of the shock I feel - both from the predicament we are in
and the hard knock I took against the windshield - I climb into the
back seat to push the man out as she pulls from the other side. The
zombie is slumped against the back of my seat. He is wearing a silver
suit and a green, plastic Oscar the Grouch mask. His greasy black
hair hangs out in dirty strands from under his mask. Before we dare
to touch him, Aunty gives him one more long burst from her Taser. As
we struggle to tug the moaning, convulsing monster from the tall SUV,
his Oscar the Grouch mask slides to one side revealing his
deformities.
His
ear is rotten with almost no flesh left. His exposed cheek is covered
in strange lumps of red skin and yellow sores. Near his lips there is
a gaping hole, revealing what's left of his stained brown teeth. I
shudder at the sight of him. He's one of the worst I've seen and this
is the closest I've been to one of them for years. His odor is
revolting.
Me
pushing and Aunty pulling, we dump the sick man on his head in the
middle of the road. Jumping back in the passenger side back door, I
check the back hatch area to be sure no one else is hiding in our
car. I see only our new clothes; the once neat piles toppled over
from Aunty's race car driving. I climb up front and, in the rearview
mirror on the passenger side, I see Aunty still bending over the man
in the street.
What
is she doing!
I
open my door to see if she needs me; but she is finally making her
way back around to her door. A second later, she climbs into the car
and I lock the doors even before she slams hers shut. She hits the
lock button again for good measure, and then we peel out. I don't
think Aunty meant to make so much noise as she hit the gas pedal too
hard, spinning the tires before they found purchase, lunging us
forward. I feel whiplashed in every sense of the word. I struggle
with just trying to breathe. To focus. To grasp what just happened.
My muscles are still tense with adrenaline and I'm shaking.
We
are okay, I
try to convince myself.
********************
About the Author: Elizabeth Forkey is a
Christian blogger, novelist, and an award-winning creative writing
teacher (she has a keychain to prove it!). Her debut novel INFEC†IOUS
is a Christian Post-apocalyptic Zombie Love Story and is the first
book in The INFEC†IOUS Series.
The next book in the
series, IMMACULA†E is available now; and, the final installment,
IMMANEN†, is expected to hit the shelves Spring of 2016. Elizabeth
is also an award-winning sugar artist and cake sculptor and the
mother of two very adorable, outspoken daughters.
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