She used her left to open one of the two massive doors that led inside the house. The knob was warm under her fingers. She pushed it open, listening for any sounds inside of the house. Silence met her ears.
Olive let out a sigh of relief and turned her back to the open door. “We’re all good. I don’t hear a thing.”
Rose nodded before a look of complete horror spread across her pretty features. Olive jerked forward, understanding dawning on her just as cold-crusted fingers grasped her shoulder. Rose reached out her free hand, trying to grab Olive and pull her away from the jenk behind her. Olive’s fingers slipped through them. The grunt of the jenk sounded close to her ear, sending fear skittering down her spine.
“Run!” Olive shouted. The image of little Lana’s face flashed in her mind. Rose stumbled backward, clutching the little girl to her breast. Olive jerked to the side trying to dislodge herself from the jenks grasp. It worked. She twisted her body, but the infected being managed to snag her wrist.
Time seemed to stand-still as Olive turned and gazed into the black bottomless pits of eyes of the male jenk before her. He had long scruffy hair and a couple days growth of a beard on his gray flaky face. Black blood was dried on his lips and an inky trail led down out of both nostrils. He pulled her arm forward with strength that seemed impossible. Olive stumbled over own feet, propelling herself forward into the jenk.
Pain exploded in her arm. Olive gazed down where the jenk’s teeth were embedded in her flesh. The reddest blood she had ever seen squirted from wound around the black rotted teeth in her arm.
“No!” she yelled. She brought her other arm up that held the branch down, the sharp end slamming into the jenk’s skull. He didn’t release his bite on her arm. Instead he pulled back, tearing her flesh away from the bone. She brought the branch down again, repeating the blow over and over while he feasted on her arm and she stumbled against the wall. She hit him more than twenty times before she heard his skull crack under her blow, the sharp end finally tearing into the flesh of his brain and ending him.
His firm grip on her arm released and he collapsed on the floor at her feet. Blood poured from the wound on her arm, coating the dusty tile floor. Its coppery scent filled her nose.
“Olive?”
Her head snapped up and met Rose’s brown eyes. Lana was crying in her arms, a quiet cry that Olive had grown accustomed to over the last few weeks. She wanted to go to her and hold the baby. But she knew she couldn’t. It was too late.
“Run, Rose. Take Lana and run. It won’t be long now.” Olive expected her voice to tremble with fear, but it didn’t. A numbness was spreading through her veins like wildfire.
Rose’s brown eyes jeweled with emotion. She’s crying for me? After everything I put her through?
“Now!” Olive shouted, not wanting to see the woman cry. This was reality and there was no room for tears. Rose jumped and nodded. “And shut the door.”
She could hear Rose’s feet shuffling on the wooden porch as she left. Lana’s cries faded away. Olive looked up at the ceiling, closed her eyes, and knew she was going to die.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read ALIVE.
I totally heart you!!
You’ve met Olive. You’ve watched her destroy everything, including her own life. Does she have a chance at redemption?
Be looking for Olive’s story, INFECTED (Crave, #2), in Summer 2014.
To learn more about the series or Megan’s upcoming releases, check out her website!
http://www.MeganDMartin.com
Acknowledgements
There are so many awesome people who made the novel possible. A huge shout out and thank you to my AMAZING parents and granny, Drew, Paula, and Bobby. Y’all’s support and love is the only way I found the balls to write anything. I love you guys!
Special thanks to my awesome editor Leona Bushman for keeping me in line and smacking my hand repeatedly. (I totally needed it!)
Special thanks to my freakin’ crazy ass beta readers, Dee, Dara, and Kenya. You ladies rock!
Also, I want to thank Busted, the British boy band. (Yes, I’m actually thanking a boy band for something! ;)) Their song “Meet You There” was the inspiration behind the romance in this novel. Wish you guys were still together!
Biography
Megan D. Martin is a multi-published author, mother, student, and editor. In her spare time she enjoys decorating her house with strange things that do not match, playing her old school Nintendo Entertainment System, and buying fish for her many fish tanks. To learn more about about Megan, check out her website. www.MeganDMartin.com
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