Hope you are all staying safe. If you are on the front lines in this war against COVID-19, thank you for your dedication, your hard work, and your willingness to risk your health to help those stricken by this horrid disease.
As promised, below is an excerpt from Monster, the upcoming prequel to Watcher. This scene occurs soon after Sunny has broken free from her captors and discovers that she’s no longer quite human . . .
~ ~ ~
The smells hanging in the cool night air fascinate me and I make a game of trying to identify them as I jog along a farm lane bordering a vineyard. Each crop field I encounter, whether grapes or alfalfa or almonds, bears its own distinctive scent. Fertilizers and pesticides cloaking the crops and soil add to the tapestry, burning my nose with their chemical odors.
The distraction my little game provides is brief, as once again the hunger stirs deep in my belly.
Something within me changes. A . . . force takes control of my body, and I’m now sniffing the air for a different smell—that of creatures, and the blood they bear. I unexpectedly veer away from the farm fields and head back toward the river.
As I enter the woodlands bordering the riverbank, I pause, puzzled by this strange feeling of another entity inside me, controlling me. And it feels different than one that used me earlier. More calculating, more purposeful. Less insane.
It pushes me onward, and I find myself creeping silently through the forest, tasting the air through nose and mouth.
The scent of blood drifts past, and all thought fades as I hone in on its location and adjust course, then continue gliding through the trees.
Ambling along the riverbank is an opossum.
I move, fast, and before I register what’s happening, my teeth are in its throat and its hot blood is pouring down mine. Deep growls of satisfaction rumble from my chest.
Relief follows the blood’s path into my belly and throughout my body. The hunger and its tension, vibrating through me since my escape, eases with every swallow.
But too quickly the flow fades to a trickle, and with a final hot pulse, it comes to an end.
The other thing inside me—the savage beast—screams, using my voice to vent its rage as it heaves the carcass into the river. Its wrath continues, and it rips a branch from a nearby young tree and flings it into the water as well.
It/I/we tear off through the woods in a mad run. Everything fades to the feel of brush whipping across my body, and the sounds of crunching leaves and snapping limbs beneath my feet, and the violent frenzy consuming me.
* * *
I find myself blindly running along the edge of the woods, with no idea how long I’ve been doing so. It feels as though it’s been hours, and yet I have no real memory of it. Just . . . running.
Drawing to a halt, I survey the area and try to get my bearings. Above me, the sky no longer wears the black of night, and is now clothed in a midnight blue giving way to grey in the east. An unexplainable rush of fear prickles my skin. Alarmed, I step back into the trees and peer outward across the adjacent grain fields. But I see nothing, and uneasily continue my journey along the farm lane.
The anxiety doesn’t fade and, in fact, is growing stronger with each passing moment. Even more concerning is the exhaustion beginning to creep throughout my body.
Which shouldn’t be a surprise, since I’ve been running all night. Yet, this doesn’t feel right. It’s as though my body is filling with lead.
And with another fearful look at the sky, I realize that what’s happening to me is . . . the dawn.
The rising sun and beginning of the day.
Just like in the mythologies.
My mind shies away from the word that encompasses the monsters who drink blood and hide from the day.
Without warning, the other creature inside me takes over and pushes me into the woods. I stumble over the debris-laden forest floor, suddenly driven with a frantic need to find shelter.
But I’m having trouble walking. My arms and legs feel heavy, and seem to be getting heavier and heavier.
I . . . I don’t think I can take another step.
The urge to hide is so strong, though, that I keep moving, stumbling my way through the forest. Panic fuels me, and in desperation, I shove my way beneath a blackberry thicket. The thorns catch on my clothes and tear at my skin and hair as I crawl deeper into the darkened interior, but I don’t care.
I’m so tired, so tired. I just need to rest a moment . . .
My body collapses and a darkness descends over my mind, extinguishing all thought.
~ ~ ~
~RM~
