A lil' snippet from my new novel "Disease X - The Outbreak"

Pensacola, FL

Natasha Weiss abruptly woke at 3:33 AM for the third night in a row, with that familiar eerie feeling that she was being watched. Her t-shirt covered in a cold sweat as if she’d been having a nightmare, but her sleep that night had been, unusually, dreamless. She switched on the bedside lamp and looked around the room half expecting to see some hideous creature lurking in the shadows. “What the Hell is wrong with you” she said, “Are you, five? You really think there’s a monster in the closet?”

Max, her golden retriever was asleep on the rug beside her bed. He had a bed of his own in the corner, but he didn’t care for it, he’d rather sleep on the rug next to Natasha. He looked up at her, head tilted to the side, as if to say, “What’s wrong Mom?” “Are you talking to me?” “Do you have any idea what time it is?” If there had been any real threat, she knew Max would have been the one to wake first and she would have been awakened by his barking. He was the sweetest, most gentle dog she’d ever known, but he had a vicious bark that would scare away the meanest of monsters.

Natasha’s always had a vivid imagination, which in hindsight was the reason she went into the field of fiction writing. Her parents never owned a TV throughout her childhood, so Natasha had to create her own entertainment. She didn’t see her first television until college, though she never really understood the attraction of sitting in front of it for hours. She still would rather read, write, or listen to music. She was well-educated, level-headed. She was not exactly the type to imagine danger that wasn’t there, and this feeling was just that, a feeling that something evil was coming, perhaps already here… watching.

She knew that going back to sleep was not likely, so she slipped on her favorite tattered robe, the one her Momma used to wear, and went down to brew a pot of coffee. The Keurig would have been faster than waiting on an entire pot to brew, but she didn’t care for the flavor you get from the Keurig. “That thing was a total waste of money Max. Do you wanna go outside?” Max ran to the door, tail wagging, big silly smile on his face. She was feeling better already. “I don’t know what I’d do without you buddy.”

While Max was looking for the perfect spot to do his business, just past their property line, (he was an odd dog, very respectful. Since he was a puppy, he somehow knew what part of the surrounding land belonged to Natasha and himself, and for some reason refused to do his business on their property. He always went just past the line), Natasha sat on the deck of her beach-side cottage, coffee in hand, looking up at the early morning Florida sky currently in beautiful shades of crimson and yellow. This was her happy place. She loved Atlanta, her friends were there, her family, but here she could be who she wanted to be, here she didn’t have to pretend, she could be completely herself. The smell of saltwater, gardenia blossoms, and night blooming jasmine. The sound of the waves gently crashing upon the shore. Yes, this is where she was happiest. On this deck, at this very table is where she had written 3 best-selling novels.

It was 4:02 AM, Max had returned to the deck to lie down beside his master, and the phone rang. “Who could be calling at this hour Maxie?” She saw on the caller ID it was Liam, they’d been best friends since the fourth grade, and married last fall. Both were ex-Navy, Liam currently employed with the CDC in Atlanta, GA. She picked up the cell phone,

“Good morning love, you’re up early.”

Liam’s voice was shaky, he didn’t quit sound like himself.

“Tasha, I’m afraid I’m not going to make it down to the beach house today. There’s some things I have to take care of here at work.”

One of the many reasons she loved him was his dedication to his job. A job he takes pride in, a job that makes him feel he’s doing something to help people in these uncertain and often uncaring times.

“That’s fine love. Max and I will hold down the Fort. When do you think you’ll make it down?”

“It may be a couple days. I can’t say much over the phone, they may be listening. But I do need you to do me a favor… Do you trust me?”

Of course she did, he is one of the few people in the world she’s ever truly trusted.

“You know I do. But, are you okay? What’s going on? Who’s listening?”

“Something really bad is coming Tash, and I need you to be safe. Set all the alarms and stay inside the cottage until I arrive. Don’t answer the door. Don’t go into town. I’ll explain more when I see you in person.”

“Okay, now you’re scaring me a bit Lee.”

“Again, You trust me?”

“Yes, but…”

Liam was not the irrational type; he didn’t jump to conclusions. If he was concerned for their safety, he most definitely had a legitimate reason to be.

“Okay. But I do need to run to the grocery and pick up a few things this morning. I didn’t stop on the way in, and the cupboards are bare.”

“That should be fine, just go soon and make it a quick trip. You may want to get enough supplies to last a few weeks.”

“A few weeks?! But we had only planned to be here for a few days.”

“Yes, I know. But plans may have to be changed.”

“Alright, but you’ve got some serious explaining to do Mister.”

“I know, and I will.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you’ve finally gone senile old man.”

“Maybe I have Tash, maybe I have. I gotta go, I’ll see you soon.”

“To the moon and back Lee.”

“To the moon and back Tash.”

She hung up the phone, looked at Max (who was already staring at her) “road trip?” Max jumped up and wagged his glorious tail and grabbed his favorite rubber ball that was lying beside him, as if to say, “Yes ma’am, I’m ready!

Atlanta, GA

Dominic Martinez’ had worked the night shift, it was 7:30 AM, it only took two glasses of vodka to calm him enough to sleep on this particular morning. As soon as he had slipped off to sleep, his phone rang. “Dear Lord, there truly is no rest for the wicked is there?” He fumbled around in the dark and picked up the phone from the nightstand,

“Martinez’ here, something better be on fire.”

The voice on the other end of the line replied,

“I’m sorry to wake you lieutenant, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. Can you come down to Lenox Square mall as quickly as possible?”

“Stevenson? Is that you? What’s the problem?”

“It looks like a bomb went off but didn’t blow up anything besides humans.”

Stevenson was a good man, a fine deputy, but often Dominic didn’t understand a word the boy was saying.

“What the Hell are you taking about Stevenson?”

“Dead people everywhere Lieutenant, most of ‘em look like their heads were blown off. Not by a gun, but from the inside.”

“I’m on my way.”

Dominic didn’t take time to shower, but he did dress in clean underwear and a clean uniform. “No sense in being a total slob, I reckon” he said to himself. Dominic was a big man, 6’3”, 225 lbs., blonde hair and a baby face. Almost everyone liked him the instant they met him, because of that baby face perhaps. He seemed jolly, always smiling. Although behind closed doors, he was a tortured soul. He had suffered more loss in his life by the time he was 12 than most people would ever have to endure. He longed for a cup of coffee, but thought he’d best get to the mall as quickly as possible. Maybe he could find a cup there.

Stevenson was standing just outside the mall entrance when Dominic arrived. Stevenson, country boy in the big city, was much more intelligent than his vocabulary would lead you to believe. He was a skinny man, brown hair, tall, natural dark complexion. However, his face now looked a bit pale, and he appeared a bit queasy.

“Brace yourself Lieutenant. It’s bad. It’s the worst I’ve seen in my 20 years on the force.”

The boy was not exaggerating. It looked as if everyone inside the mall had simultaneously suffered spontaneous combustion. People sitting at tables, coffee’s still warm, crouched over and covered in blood. People lying all over the halls, people lying in the floors of the shops. Employees, some still holding coffee cups that they were about to serve to customers, one young girl slouched over the cash register with the drawer open, as if she died while making change. It looked like something out of a bad horror movie.

“FBI’s taken over, they showed up right after I called you. That’s the main guy over there. Name’s Gnash,” Stevenson said.

“Well, let’s just go have a little chat with Mr. Gnash.”

“My first impression is that he ain’t a very nice feller.”

“Well Stevenson, some might say the same about me.”