I am currently working on my next book. 'Scardy Cat.' This is a novel about a teen growing up in the mid-west, who stumbles into a conspiracy of secret government and their alliance with Alien invaders. I have included below an excerpt from this novel which is halfway finished as of 04/11/2010 and on schedule for release in mid July 2010.
Chester strained his eyes, willing the fog to part and reveal their tormentor, but the curtain settled and drifted lazily again. The silence broke, as a sudden fluttering and flapping of wings about eight feet in front of them, burst out and a murder of crows climbed, cawing frantically as they went air borne. Bosco ignored them even as Chester let out a startled yelp. The dog remained statue still. Only the twitching of a muscle here or there gave away that he was real. Even his growl went silent. A minute passed, as quiet again held reign. Another minute ticked by. Then, silently, the big dog began to move. Instead of going toward the disturbance, he padded off quietly to the right between the corn stalks, disappearing into the envelope of ground mist.
"Bosco!” Chester whispered urgently. “Dammit boy, come back here.” It was too late. The dog was gone like a ghost. Not even his shadow could be seen through the fog. Then came the sucking sounds again. Now, as if a blanket over the sound had lifted, Chester knew exactly where it came from. It was in front of him in this row! Coming straight towards him. Again he snugged the shotgun to his shoulder and waited. The fog began to be disturbed again and a shadow appeared inside it’s curtains of mist. Then it stepped through the wall of swirling currents and Chester felt his body cease to function. His finger, curled about the twin triggers, were freezing into a death grip.
“Sweet, hopping Jesus.” He at last breathed, as the thing stood there. It was far worse than anything his mind could have imagined in a nightmare.
Bill had stood at the edge of the corn field as the crows burst upwards and climbed clear of the fog bank to sail away towards Manhattan. He looked down where they had come from and stepped into the rows.
Monster! It’s a monster. His mind screamed inside his head. Move Chester, you old coot! Don’t just stand here. The voice in his head yelled at him. He couldn’t. He was petrified with fear of this unholy abomination before him. It stood there. It’s eyes locked upon his own, as if it were studying him. It was massive. Huge muscular arms coming off a trunk thicker than any tree trunk he’d ever seen. The muscles flexing in the arms as it curled it’s four fingers into balled fists and relaxed into open hands over and over.
The large nostrils expanding with each locomotive like inhale. The face was a horror of piggish snout above a mouth that looked like that of a shark, with it’s row after row of serrated teeth. The thing that transfixed and held Chester in his place was the eyes. They appeared human. A bright blue. That was where any similarity began and ended to a human being. The head was topped with sharply pointed spikes that lay back to hang down over it’s back and massive shoulders. The entire creature was heavily veined with large, purple pulsing veins that ran in cracks between massive yellowish, green scales.
The lower body from the waist down was short and stumpy and powerful. The hips were too big standing out from it’s sides like the photos he had once seen of dinosaurs. The three toed feet were big. They didn’t look like they could balance it’s weight well at all, because of the skeletal thin like shape of the main body of the feet. The toes, however splayed out at angles, were wide and fat, from which protruded six inch long scimitar claws. The legs, double jointed. Chester’s eyes lingered a moment on those knees. The more he looked at them, he realized they were dog like. The bottom joint facing backwards toward the swishing, ball tipped and spike studded tail. It was as he let his eyes travel back up to the things eyes, that he felt the hot liquid coursing down one pant leg.
There was a slight crashing noise behind him as Bill came into the clearing.
“What in the name of God?” Willard Harrington exclaimed. He came up alongside Chester. The old man couldn’t take his eyes away to even look at the newcomer. As he stared into the eyes of the horror before him, he saw a shift in it’s expression. A long snake of a tongue, covered in oozing slime slid out of it’s mouth and back in. It suddenly took a step closer. It’s eyes shifting from Chester to Bill and back again. It seemed to be assessing which was more of a threat. It raised it's arms in what looked for all the world to Bill, like a gesture of pleading. Rediculous! he thought. This thing was unknowable in it's intentions. More likely, it was trying to decide which one to have for lunch. Then, something came bursting out of the corn to the right. Flying at the thing’s head. All snapping teeth and barking fury, Bosco collided with the Alien creature hard enough to make it stumble sideways. It reached up with one hand and grabbed the attacking animal, but not before the dog got to one of the veins in it’s thick neck. Bosco was working his snout into the separation between scales as he clamped onto the vein and bit through it. A huge spurting fountain of something green and slimy shot into the air.
The beast shrieked in either outrage or pain. The men couldn’t tell which. It got a grip on the dog sinking one of it’s claws into Bosco’s flank, eliciting a howl of agony from the Golden Retriever.
"Bosco!” Chester whispered urgently. “Dammit boy, come back here.” It was too late. The dog was gone like a ghost. Not even his shadow could be seen through the fog. Then came the sucking sounds again. Now, as if a blanket over the sound had lifted, Chester knew exactly where it came from. It was in front of him in this row! Coming straight towards him. Again he snugged the shotgun to his shoulder and waited. The fog began to be disturbed again and a shadow appeared inside it’s curtains of mist. Then it stepped through the wall of swirling currents and Chester felt his body cease to function. His finger, curled about the twin triggers, were freezing into a death grip.
“Sweet, hopping Jesus.” He at last breathed, as the thing stood there. It was far worse than anything his mind could have imagined in a nightmare.
Bill had stood at the edge of the corn field as the crows burst upwards and climbed clear of the fog bank to sail away towards Manhattan. He looked down where they had come from and stepped into the rows.
Monster! It’s a monster. His mind screamed inside his head. Move Chester, you old coot! Don’t just stand here. The voice in his head yelled at him. He couldn’t. He was petrified with fear of this unholy abomination before him. It stood there. It’s eyes locked upon his own, as if it were studying him. It was massive. Huge muscular arms coming off a trunk thicker than any tree trunk he’d ever seen. The muscles flexing in the arms as it curled it’s four fingers into balled fists and relaxed into open hands over and over.
The large nostrils expanding with each locomotive like inhale. The face was a horror of piggish snout above a mouth that looked like that of a shark, with it’s row after row of serrated teeth. The thing that transfixed and held Chester in his place was the eyes. They appeared human. A bright blue. That was where any similarity began and ended to a human being. The head was topped with sharply pointed spikes that lay back to hang down over it’s back and massive shoulders. The entire creature was heavily veined with large, purple pulsing veins that ran in cracks between massive yellowish, green scales.
The lower body from the waist down was short and stumpy and powerful. The hips were too big standing out from it’s sides like the photos he had once seen of dinosaurs. The three toed feet were big. They didn’t look like they could balance it’s weight well at all, because of the skeletal thin like shape of the main body of the feet. The toes, however splayed out at angles, were wide and fat, from which protruded six inch long scimitar claws. The legs, double jointed. Chester’s eyes lingered a moment on those knees. The more he looked at them, he realized they were dog like. The bottom joint facing backwards toward the swishing, ball tipped and spike studded tail. It was as he let his eyes travel back up to the things eyes, that he felt the hot liquid coursing down one pant leg.
There was a slight crashing noise behind him as Bill came into the clearing.
“What in the name of God?” Willard Harrington exclaimed. He came up alongside Chester. The old man couldn’t take his eyes away to even look at the newcomer. As he stared into the eyes of the horror before him, he saw a shift in it’s expression. A long snake of a tongue, covered in oozing slime slid out of it’s mouth and back in. It suddenly took a step closer. It’s eyes shifting from Chester to Bill and back again. It seemed to be assessing which was more of a threat. It raised it's arms in what looked for all the world to Bill, like a gesture of pleading. Rediculous! he thought. This thing was unknowable in it's intentions. More likely, it was trying to decide which one to have for lunch. Then, something came bursting out of the corn to the right. Flying at the thing’s head. All snapping teeth and barking fury, Bosco collided with the Alien creature hard enough to make it stumble sideways. It reached up with one hand and grabbed the attacking animal, but not before the dog got to one of the veins in it’s thick neck. Bosco was working his snout into the separation between scales as he clamped onto the vein and bit through it. A huge spurting fountain of something green and slimy shot into the air.
The beast shrieked in either outrage or pain. The men couldn’t tell which. It got a grip on the dog sinking one of it’s claws into Bosco’s flank, eliciting a howl of agony from the Golden Retriever.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment