Gifted Excerpt 1

This November, I completed a novel entitled Gifted. It is a zombie apocalypse novel that came out of absolutely nowhere, but I love it. Here is a small teaser scene in which the main character, Jaz, sees the world outside of the compound for the first time.

The abandoned street is even creepier down here and it doesn’t help that as the shadows grow longer, my fear grows stronger. Bleached white bones lay everywhere in this part of town, and not necessarily in any recognizable form. I heighten all my senses, carefully drawing from my battery. I have a feeling I haven’t discovered all the things this internal battery can do, so I don’t want to use all the energy stored up inside of it in case my body decides to show me what it can now do.

Not too far away from me lay a set of arm bones. I crouch down beside them, examining them. The bones are sunken a bit into the ground a ways away from a bright red and rusted car turned on its side. The bones practically glow in the dark to my eyes. They are picked completely clean and I can see small gouges in them set in lines. Teeth marks. Lots of teeth marks.

My stomach rises. The paint on each side of the car is scratched as though it has been keyed and the passenger side door is ripped off and flung into a neighboring yard. Dents cover the entire body and all the windows are broken to daggers. Dark stains cover the upholstery inside and drag to the outside of the car on to the sidewalk. I back away slowly, hand covering my mouth, not daring to look further.

I don’t want to be out here in the dark.

Returning to stand beside my friends I face outward, Katana in hand, eyes watching as much of the vicinity as humanly possible and listening. Listening hard. As long as there is silence in the streets, we should be okay. Any signs of ragged breathing or dragging and I just might wet my pants and kill something.

I realize after a moment, everyone is watching me again. I shrug, to ask them why they were watching me. Bryan nods forward and I nod back, showing him a thumbs up. The coast is clear guys, for now.