Author: E.S.P.
Age Group: Young Adult
Genre: Sci-Fi, Dystopia
Release Date: August 9, 2013
Published by: Mind Candy Media
Format: eBook
Tour Sponsored by:
Book Blurb:
January 1, 2000.May 21, 2011.
December 21, 2012
These are just a few of the days humans prophesied as bringing catastrophic events that would end the world. We predicted nuclear warfare. Drastic climate change. A call from God.
We were wrong.
Cue the gargoyle invasion—laboratory bred mutants designed to slaughter humans. When the government goes AWOL and gargoyles are swarming by the hundreds, it's up to the citizens of the United States to regroup and save themselves.
Meet Cliff Matthews, a teenage boy separated from his entire family with the exception of his younger sister, whom he is desperate to keep alive. Along the quest to save their lives, he encounters people who aren't all that they seem. Everyday's a battle, but if he can't trust his own species, where does that leave his family?
And we can't forget the man who may be willing to sacrifice Cliff's life, if it means world domination.
In terms of doomsday, no one could've seen this coming.
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EXCERPT
Angel’s chest was rising and falling rapidly as the gargoyles circled them silently. Hunter had never wanted something more in her entire life than to live for another day. She couldn’t even entertain the idea of little Angel being gobbled up by the big bad gargoyle…
She squeezed her eyes shut. Please, please, please, she chanted silently over and over. She knew the type of wound a scratch had given Cliff. What type of pain would they concur on her entire body? Would they eat her right away or save her for dinner? Would they pluck out her limbs and eat them one by one?
Time stopped as the door creaked open. The gargoyles soundlessly cloaked themselves back in the shadows. The stairs groaned as someone walked down the stairs without a care in the world. Hunter could practically hear the gargoyles lick their lips. She wanted to cry out and warn the person. But it was beyond her control. That’s what you get for walking down the stairs so loudly. That’s what you get for walking in the dark during a damn invasion, she reasoned. But her heart was saying something else.
The person reached the bottom of the stairs. The gargoyles uniformly shifted through the shadows. “Hey…” he said suspiciously.
He had realized his danger a second too late. He broke into a run, but the gargoyles would be on him in a second. And he’d be dead.
“C’mon, sweetie.” Hunter whispered to Angel, crawling out from under the stairs. Ignoring the cries of agony, pain, and sorrow, she raced up the stairs. The wood banged against her ankles, but she didn’t stop. There was the cruel sound of cracking. Hunter shielded Angel’s eyes from the scene and dared to look behind her.
The gargoyles were circled around the man. The predominantly bigger gargoyle bit his neck. A gush of blood spewed across its face. The man’s eyes still stared at her, his mouth formed in an O, as if he was trying to speak to her.
“I’m so sorry.” She choked.
She hurried up the steps, slamming her body into the door. The light washed over her body, as did her relief. But her nerves did not settle.
It was barely a second after she locked the door before it pounded on it. And then the screams began.
The scream was so high pitched and devilish that it turned her insides out. She dropped to her knees, sobbing in agony. The screams ripped through eardrums and strummed against her soul. Warm tears flooded through her eyes like rivers.
Angel screamed, flailing around in Hunter's arms. It took all her strength to restrain her.
As she bit her lip, she tasted blood.
Now she knew why the gargoyle screamed like that. It made a person willing to kill themselves. It made her willing to sacrifice her life, if only the torture would discontinue. She choked as something gushed down her face. She put her hand under her nose. When she brought her fingers from her face, they were covered in blood.
If she stayed here any longer, she would die. And so would Angel.
A force heavier than gravity was pulsing through the air, pushing Hunter towards the ground while she tried to get up. It was bone crushing. She felt her insides melting.
The tears continued to slide down her cheeks, though her screams had stopped. She was hollow.
She picked herself up, pushing through the weight of the air. The room was small, she could tell. There had to be some type of exit...some way to get out. She blindly felt the walls with one hand. There needed to be an exit door or an escape hatch or maybe just a window. There had to be.
It smelled like smoke. Not the smoke you smelled when your dad left the burgers on the grill too long or when you forgot you had that last batch of cookies in the oven. This was a dark, penetrating, no nonsense smoke. The kind that made your throat burn, fire singe the inner core of your chest, and slowly killed you from the inside until you were a burning mass of nothing.
It was the kind overtaking Cliff’s chest right now.
He was aware he was conscious and in the back of his head, he knew it was probably an intelligent idea to get some air into his lungs. But for some reason, he couldn’t make his body arise from the sweet peacefulness that was the interface between consciousness and unconsciousness, a cross between life and death.
In his mind, he saw the smoke like a dark heavy being looming over him and slowly wrapping its charcoal hands around his neck. It was squeezing and squeezing until his words were a voiceless symphony and his body became limp and silent.Cliff didn’t know why, but he was okay with that.
He was aware of the sound of something crackling, like twigs being stepped on or a wrapper crumpled in the hand. And then the sound of people screaming—screaming for help, screaming other people’s names.
Screaming for God to save them.
There was another person’s voice that was a lot closer to him, almost right in front of him. It was light and sweet and feminine. It sounded desperate, pleading. Oh how he wanted to see whose voice that belonged to. But it was so far away and his eyes were so heavy. He was so very, very tired. He wanted to sleep forever.
"Please wake up. Please." The voice was saying. "You have to get up. Please get up."Inside he wanted to say, "I want to get up, I do, I just can’t, I need help." But his throat was so dry and a large wave of suffocating heat was pressing down on him, crushing his bones into ashes.
He felt his spinning mind slow down, his heart beating erratically.
And then were cool lips on his and cold air rushed into his mouth, through his body and into his mind, telling him it was time to get up.
He felt his arms being held and slowly pulled, and he didn’t fight it. But he could do nothing to aid in the quest to pull his body up.
His back felt like it had been ran over with a steam roller. It cried out in pain and he wanted to return to the ground and let smoke cradle him as his heart slowed to invisible beats. His legs felt like they'd been drained of blood. Pins and needles burned at his thighs.
His legs gave way. The arms hoisting him up prevented his crash to the ground.
Cliff tried again, extending his legs to their full potential as he began to pick his feet up one at a time, advancing towards wherever the freshest air was. He opened his eyes, but found that it made no difference. All that hung in front of him was thick blankets of smoke. He could hear the fire crackling in the background. He knew the fire wouldn’t be as much of a peaceful death as the smoke. He would burn from the inside and out. The fire would beat him senseless than mercilessly eat up his body until it was unrecognizable dust.
And Cliff wasn’t in the mood for that at the moment.
The arms were still supporting him as they made their way though the room of darkness. He kept fresh air on his mind to motivate him to keep going. Because as of right now, smoke and oxygen were having a fight inside his lungs. And the smoke was winning.
A burst of light flashed past him as a spark fell from the ceiling. "Okay, a little faster now," the voice urged forcefully, as the spark grew into a flame. Cliff’s eyes focused on the space in front of him. Were those big glowing green eyes in the smoke?
Cliff jumped as an ear-shattering scream erupted from the woman behind him. He turned around. The woman's mouth was quivering, her eyes wide with terror. He followed her shaking finger. There was an arm in the middle of the street.
A real human arm, made of human flesh and bone.
Cliff tasted bile in his throat as a huge roar came from behind him. When he looked, he saw the body of the male volunteer who was just speaking before him. If it wasn’t for the vest still attached to him, Cliff would’ve never recognized the blood drenched form bleeding on the concrete.
"Don’t look, Andy." He said with a voice that threatened to crack with a scream or tears. He shielded her eyes with his hand.
"LOOK OUT!!" the women screamed again.
There was another roar. He snapped his head around. A grotesque looking animal stood behind the body of the man. It was the size of a small horse, standing on two legs, its back hunched like a bridge. The figure’s skin was an olive green tone. It looked scaly, like it was dripped in oil.
And the teeth. The teeth hung from his mouth, looking as sharp as daggers. They were at least three inches long, dripping the blood of the volunteer who was just trying to help out.
Another roar was heard as four more monsters joined the original one.
Another blood curdling scream rung in his ears.
The scream was his own.
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ReplyDeleteYou're most welcome Eboni! Thanks for letting me join the fun :)
Deletebecause i like sci-fi
ReplyDeleteSci-fi is awesome and fun! Its one of my fav genre's... Thanks for stopping by and good luck in the giveaway :)
DeleteThanks for the giveaway
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
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