Excerpt 1
They both ran to the nearest exit. As they ran, Kelsey pushed open the door to the stairwell and was shocked as there was a man in front of her. His mouth was covered in blood, and his stomach was open, with his guts dripping on the floor.
“What the fuck…” Kelsey exclaimed, and before she could say anything else the man was on top of her, attempting to chomp at her. Kelsey evaded his bites, screaming as she held his face away. Struggling, the man inched closer and closer to her neck until Anne pulled the man off her.
“Get off her!” Anne screamed, shoving the man away.
He growled as he was tossed aside, falling down the stairwell.
“Are you okay?” Anne asked, assisting Kelsey to her feet.
“I’m fine. Thanks for saving my ass. I owe you one. What was up with that man? He was obsessed with trying to take a bite out of me.“
“Call me crazy but I think that was a zombie.”
“A zombie? Those don’t exist, right? I mean that stuff is all fiction.”
“Then explain to me why that fucker with no guts was trying to take a bite out of you. Or what about those bodies in the mall. They all had bite marks like they’ve been eaten. Either they’re crazy cannibals attacking the mall or these are zombies. Take your pick.”
Kelsey didn’t need to reply as her answer was solved for her. There was another loud groan, and the man that attacked her stood off the ground. His leg was clearly broken as he paid little attention to the crooked appendage. He crawled up the stairs attempting to get to the women.
“Well…fuck me. I guess he’s a zombie. No normal man would be able to shrug off an injury like that.” Kelsey observed.
“So we solved that question. The next question is how. Like you said, zombies don’t exist.”
“While I would love to have this debate with you, we need to get to my car.” Kelsey said, backing up.
Anne followed her climbing up another row of stairs as the zombie crawled after them. They reached the top level and watched as the zombie continued to follow them up the stairwell.
“Well, I got bad news for you. Your car is parked on a level below Mr. Zombie. We got two options. We go back through the mall, dealing with the carnage out there…”
“I’m not going back out there,” Kelsey dismissed.
“Or we go through Mr. Zombie.”
“I’ll take door number two,” Kelsey mocked.
“Good, I was thinking the same thing. We can take him.”
“But how?”
“Well, if he is a zombie it’s safe to assume that a head shot could take him out.”
“How are we going to do that? We don’t have any weapons.”
“What does Master Sato always say? We are the weapon, the swords we use are only tools. We know hand to hand combat. If we can get the zombie closer, we can kick its ass.”
“The last thing I want is to have that thing be closer to me.” Kelsey replied, disgusted out by the grotesque figure.
“Focus. Breathe. We got this,” Anne commanded, as she stood in a fighting pose.
“You’re right. We got this. Remember to go for the head.”
“Took the words right out of my mouth.”
The man approached the duo at the top of the stairs and Anne let out a loud yell, as she struck first. She swept the leg, undercutting the zombie to fall on the ground. In a split second, Kelsey followed with a high leg kick, burying her heel through the skull.
“Ugh, I think I’m going to be sick.” Kelsey gagged and held her mouth as her shoe was covered with brain matter.
“Don’t say it.” Anne coughed and then looked at the downed man. “Well, at least our theory is correct. Zombies are confirmed. Head shots are confirmed too.”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
Anne nodded and the two ran down the stairs towards the parking garage. There were multiple people running and attempting to drive out of the parking deck. Zombies attacked random strangers, as they begged for their own lives. It was violent, brutal, and horrifying.
As Kelsey ran, she spotted a young girl crying for her mother, that laid dead beside her. Kelsey paused and stared at the young girl.
Anne stopped, her eyes opened wide as she looked at her best friend.
“Kelsey, what are you doing? We need to get to the car.”
“We can’t leave that little girl. Her mother, she’s dead.”
“We’re going to be dead if we don’t move. Come on!” Anne commanded as she grabbed her friend’s hand. Before she could pull her away, the young girl shrieked as her mother had awakened. However, her eyes weren’t filled with life. Instead they were black and soulless like the rest of the undead.
“Kes! Let’s go!” Anne yelled.
“No, we have to save her.” Kelsey took a step towards the little girl, but by then it was too late as the mother stood up and ripped into her daughter, biting off large chunks of flesh. The child’s wails echoed in Kelsey’s ears as she stood frozen in fear. As the mother dug into the kid, she looked up from the child’s corpse, blood dripping from her mouth, and stared into Kelsey’s blue eyes. She stood up from the child and began her charge towards Anne and Kelsey.
Excerpt 2
Anne followed and sat next to him. “It’s just this fake marriage. When I agreed to it I didn’t think much of it at first, but now I’m realizing what it is. To me it’s almost like we really are married.”
“But we’re not.”
“Are we though? I mean like, the moment we stepped foot on this base I declared myself married. Right there I went from a single lady to a married lady. I mean what happens if I met someone I want to date?”
“Then we just get a divorce.”
“Really? You think it’s going to be that easy with the newly crowned King Wesley? He’s not going to let us get a divorce. He’s pissed that we outsmarted him and in retaliation he’s going to force us to stay married. God I would hate to see what he’d do to us if we decided to get a divorce.”
“He wouldn’t do that. He’d be reasonable.”
“Ha, like firing squad reasonable?”
Malcolm didn’t say anything as he looked away.
Anne sighed and shook her head. She rubbed his hand and got his attention. “Hey…”
Malcolm looked back up at Anne, peering into his eyes almost like a desperate plea.
“I know the ruse was to keep me here and safe but now it’s become more than that. Now I’m expected to show people how much we love each other when there’s no love there.”
“I mean we care for each other as friends…”
“We do, but how far will that take us? Kissing someone and convincing them that we’re in love is more than just a peck on the lips. There’s emotion and passion behind it.”
“What if there was.”
“What do you mean?”
“Let’s face it, we’ve been heckled nonstop from Kelsey and Zack for not doing more. What if what’s holding us back is the idea of friendship. Let’s just say for one moment. Right here in this tent, we forget what we always tell people and ourselves and just act upon what they see. We don’t think, we just do.”
“What are you suggesting, Malcolm?”
“Kiss me.”
Anne hesitated and bit her lip. Her heart beat seemed to triple as she looked into Malcolm’s eyes. Her fingers felt like they were made out of electricity and her breathing was labored.
“Malcolm …” she muttered.
“Don’t think, just do.” He replied, leaning in close. He paused, hovering over her lips before Anne closed her eyes and completed the space in between the two.
Anne was surprised how good a kisser Malcolm was. As soon as his lips touched hers there was sparks. While her eyes were closed, she could sense him with every fiber in her body. His lips were smoother than she imagined, but the feeling was out of this world. She loved the smell of his woodsy scent as it gave her butterflies. She could hear him gasping for air as his lips never left hers. She could taste his tongue on hers as they deepened their kiss.
They both took shallow breaths as if they couldn’t stand being away from each other for a moment. Opening her eyes, she gazed upon his brown eyes, and Anne could see the lust that drove him. He looked like a man on a mission as he was guided by one thing. Her.
Combined with the way that he held her and the way his tongue felt on hers she was in heaven. His kiss was hot-blooded, pulse-pounding and passionate. All she wanted was more. She didn’t know what came over her as her emotions took over all control. Her hands reached up and grabbed Malcolm’s back dragging him closer to her.
The mixtape for Till The End is a hodgepodge of genres from, rock, rap, r&b and some soundtracks. Here are the top ten songs of the book:
Thank you so much for sharing!
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