Book of the Damned: A-E5L1-01-00: (A reverse harem, post-pandemic, slow-burn romance) (The JAK2 Cycle, Book 2)
Page 25
She looked at Sasha. “The cabin is perfect, thanks for that. Do you remember the way?” He nodded and she gave him a weak smile. “Great. You’re going to lead and I’m going to be last, I’m going to try to cover our tracks as much as possible. Everyone walk single file, to hide our numbers. Stay on the rocks or pine needles as much as possible, don’t step on patches of dirt, break any branches, or pull down any leaves. Got it? Just take your time and be careful, it’s better if they don’t even know where to start looking.”
Then our weird little parade toting all the “necessities” filed off into the woods, with a slightly more broken and bruised Azzie and Spider trailing behind, covering our passage, like living embodiments of the Expeditious Retreat spell.
Man, that was super nerdy even for me.
We disappeared into the forest, leaving no trace behind. If all goes as planned, it’ll be like we vanished from Azzie’s house with no trail for anyone to follow. The people in charge will have the town searched, and as each area is cleared, the game store community will start the evacuation. By the time Azzie’s disappearance is reported, by the time they send troops or bombs or whatever to destroy Salem, hopefully most of the people will be far beyond their reach.
Maybe it’ll be a ghost town by the time the clean-up crew arrives, everyone will be safely disbursing around the countryside, blending in with other survivors, and finding ways to help the less fortunate, those without immunity.
Maybe we’ll see some of them again.
But maybe not.
I honestly give no fucks about the rest of humanity, the five people who matter to me the most are right here, and then the rest of my family back at the Hellspawn compound. Everyone else is on their own.
End of Book Two
Acknowledgments
The world has lost its ever-lovin’ mind. I can’t even.
Thank you to those who helped me hit an arbitrary deadline, and went out of their way to provide feedback, support, and reassurances that they still want to keep reading my stuff and so will other people:
My beautiful beta readers, Nicole Casterline, Kaitlyn Gainey, Tori Clark, and Anne Vandermade.
Michele Patten of Patten Proofing: once again, you made me look good. And thank you for still answering my emails even though I send you ten pages of rambling, spoiler-laden responses to questions like “is there a reason why you have this capitalized?”
Roxie Turner, my bestie. You let me ramble, you read every draft, you make sure everyone stays consistent (and consistently badass), and you celebrate every - single - victory with me, even the ones no one else gets.
Charlie, Juno, Hermione, and Sabrina: sorry I keep forgetting to feed you.
And finally, Dave: you’re still here, and you haven’t smothered me in my sleep, even when I keep forgetting to feed the kids. #relationshipgoals
The story continues in Book 3, The Book of the Lost: AAV-07d25-11.
Playlist for Book of the Damned
Feral on Spotify: https://bit.ly/BotDamnedPlaylist
I Feel You - Depeche Mode
Blood In The Cut - K. Flay
Heavydirtysoul - Twenty One Pilots
What Makes A Good Man? - The Heavy
Kiss the Girl - Chameleon Circuit
How Soon Is Now? - The Smiths
I Need My Girl - The National
This Is The New Shit - Marilyn Manson
Mild Confusion - Tamaryn
Empire - The Black Angels
Right Where It Belongs - Nine Inch Nails
The Sea - Morcheeba
Demons - The National
Kill the Medicine Men - Ron Gallo
Lotion - Greenskeepers
Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes
Somebody To You - The Vamps, Demi Lovato
Apple Blossom - The White Stripes
Heartbeats - José González
About the Author
V.E.S. Pullen is a believer in truth, justice, and the Oxford comma. She lives in southeast Michigan with her family — three cats and only one dog, which is a travesty that must be rectified despite what her husband thinks; “living the dream” is her own pack. She swears like a stevedore, games multiple days a week, has strong opinions on the things that matter, and is frequently the creepiest in any room.
You can follow her on Facebook for occasional pertinent updates, but she mostly just posts things that are only funny to her, like the monster she is. She’ll get a website and other socials eventually, but she’s lazy, it’s cold outside, and there are wolves after her.
Stalk her on Facebook: https://bit.ly/FB_VESPullen