An official WIP (Work in Progress) challenge has been thrown down.  The gauntlet is set. Let’s see who is brave enough to reveal their unedited (gasp) first few sentences of their current work in progress.

Danielle Bannister, co-author of our Hallowed Realms trilogy, has challenged me, to which I say “bring it on!”  I’m not afraid of giving you a glimpse into my insanity.  That’s why I pay good money for an editor, right?

Here are the rules:

1. Provide the link back to the post by the person who nominated you.

2. Write a little about your work in progress.

3. Give the first sentences of the first THREE chapters of your current WIP.

4. Nominate four other writers for the challenge.

Easy peasy!

As many of you know, I’m in the process of putting the finishing touches on my first ever horror/thriller novel,  WITHER.  As a newly turned The Walking Dead diehard I was convinced (by some serious arm twisting mind you) to write a zombie book. I like zombies.  I love apocalyptic stuff.  What I HATE is when Dave down the street thinks that I’d be a nice snack.  So I had to come up with my own twist. If you’ve read my other books you know that I never do things the easy way!

WITHER delves into the lives of a group of survivors who are on the run, not from zombies (Withered Ones) but from humans.  Mix in gangs, desperate survivors and some twisted military leaders and you get an action packed thrill ride to the very end.  There is death. There is love.  There is suspense. Did I say death?  Come on…it is a zombie type novel after all!

So…here are the first sentences of the first three chapters of this book, due out on all ebook platforms October 26th.

Psst…you can preorder it RIGHT NOW on ibooks, Amazon, B&N, Smashwords.  Just saying!

WITHER

Chapter 1:

The lights flicker overhead.

I stare up at them, listening to the intermittent hum of the dying fluorescent bulbs.  The dim lighting provided by the backup generator casts an eerie glow on the room.  Shadows multiply in the corners.  My ears perk at every sound, sure that I can hear someone creeping down the hall.

A chill has fallen on the room though I do not feel it.  The fever that arrived earlier this morning has left me flushed and weakened.  I didn’t tell the nurses.  Part of me didn’t want to bother them.  Another feared that they might throw me out onto the streets like the rest of them.

Chapter 2:

A fever consumed me sometime during the night.  Frequent delirium makes me hear voices I know do not exist.  They come and go.  Sometimes they are nothing more than a whisper. A part of me almost wishes they are real. Then I wouldn’t feel so blasted insane!

Nausea impairs my every thought as I roll my head to the side to vomit.  I can hear it splatter against the floor, but I don’t open my eyes.  The retching will only grow worse if I do.

There is nothing left in me now.  What little food I scavenged from the hospital vending machine is long gone.  My stomach twists in knots, spoiled with acid.  Every inch of my body aches, though it is not the pain that makes me ill, but the scent of rot that hovers around me.

Chapter 3:

I grew up in a sleepy town in northern Kentucky, not too far from the Illinois border.  One stop-light.  One mom and pop grocery store that still had small glass jars of candy near the register.  Old tree lined streets with a tire swing dangling in nearly every backyard.  White picket fences straight out of the Leave It To Beaver era.  Everyone knew my name.  I could trust people back then.

I miss that place.  Especially right now.

Looking out from behind the black trash bag covering the grimy window of Cable’s fourth floor hide out, all I can hear is chaos in the night.  I can almost smell the fear and smoke fumes filtering in through the glass and try to prepare myself to enter a world where people have run amuck.  I guess in a way I don’t blame them, not after what Cable told me.

So there you have it. Now I challenge:  Chanda Hahn, Denise Grover Swank, Kristie Cook and Annalisa Grant.  Have fun ladies!