RELEASE WEEK EVENT for AMONG MONSTERS by Jamie McGuire
Travel back to Red Hill on Halloween!
AMONG MONSTERS available on October 31st!
Title: Among Monsters (A Red Hill Novella)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Among Monsters will be available in ebook and paperback on Amazon!
*Amazon Exclusive
Blurb:
Being thirteen has pitfalls of its own, but growing up has never been this hard.
Jenna had promised her mother that if the worst happened during her dad’s weekend, they would meet at Red Hill Ranch. When she finds seven words spray-painted on her dad’s wall the morning after a deadly outbreak, she makes a promise to herself: to get to the ranch with her seven-year-old sister, Halle, and to get them both there alive.
Among Monsters is the companion novella to Red Hill, both exploring from different perspectives what many broken families experience every other weekend: What if your children aren't with you when the world ends? What would you do to get to them? What would they go through to get to you?
For Jenna, seeing her mother again is worth everything. Determined to keep her promise, she is faced with experiences and decisions that force her to leave her childhood behind.
EXCERPT 1
“I’m alone with these kids. I saw your van, and I panicked.
I didn’t know if we were leaving or you were staying. I just knew I couldn’t
keep us all alive by myself.”
Tavia touched her arm. “You’re not by yourself anymore. I’m
Tavia. That’s my son, Tobin,” she said, pointing.
“My daughter’s name is Nora, and my son is Jud.”
“And who’s this?” Darla was referring to the boy who looked
to be around seven or eight, gauging by his oversized front teeth and his baby
teeth on the bottom.
The boy spoke up, “Did you see that blood streak on the side
of the church?”
Some of us nodded.
“That was from my teacher, Miss Stephens. She saved me from
my parents when they were trying to kill me,” he said the words
matter-of-factly, as if he were talking about something that had happened at
school that day.
Darla gasped, and Tavia’s hand flew up to her mouth. Halle
looked to me, not knowing how to react. Since it had all began, all I could
think about was getting to my mom. I hadn’t thought about what it would be like
if she were dead—or worse, if she tried to kill Halle or me.
April offered an apologetic smile and cupped the boy’s
shoulders. “This is Connor. Annabelle Stephens was our first-grade teacher. She
was the best. Right, Connor?”
He looked up at April. His eyes darkened with guilt. “She
would have lived if she hadn’t saved me.”
April frowned. “She wanted it that way. Don’t forget that.
She loved you, and she wanted you to live. She would have done that for any one
of you kids. We’ve discussed this, Connor. You can’t blame yourself.”
“What did you do,” I asked, “when your parents changed and
chased you?”
“Jenna!” Dad scolded.
Connor’s eyes shot up to my dad and then back at me with a
blank expression. “I ran.”
The kids were at the table, coloring quietly. It seemed so
easy for them to forget about the nightmare happening outside while they chose
the perfect shade of blue and dragged it back and forth on the paper. I wished
it were that simple, that I could just busy myself with something and pretend
everything was normal.
I smirked and looked at Connor. “Are we running for our
lives or running a daycare?”
He leaned away from the hole in the plywood and watched me
for a moment, frowning. “If you saw inside the school, you wouldn’t be
complaining. Out of this entire town, only three of us are left. Another boy
was in the church. His name was Evan. He was older than me, but he didn’t make
it out. So, now, it’s just us and April. Your bunch brings the kid population
to a grand total of eight. Eight—that’s not even a daycare. That’s just sad.”
“I…I’m sorry. I was just trying to make conversation. I
didn’t mean—”
“I know,” he said, looking back through the hole. “I didn’t
mean it either. I’m just mad.”
I wondered what Connor was like before this had happened
because he didn’t act his age.
“I bet you are.”
“If I were older, I could have saved more people. If I were
older—”
“There are a lot of adults around. None of them have stopped
this. Don’t carry that around with you.”
“I’m not carrying anything. The only things I have are my
clothes.”
“Where do you live? Maybe we could go get some of your
things?”
He shook his head. “What does any of that stuff matter now?”
I shrugged. His way of thinking made me miss Chloe. I
wondered where she was, if her mom had picked her up in time. I would hope.
That was all I had left. “I wish I could have brought something from my old
room. Makes it feel more like home.” When Connor didn’t respond, I continued,
“It’s not as loud as I thought it would be. Not a lot of screaming or
hysterics. People get quiet when they’re afraid.”
“It’s only been two days,” Connor said without emotion.
“Give them time.”
“Halle used to talk all the time. She’s barely said a word.
She hasn’t even really cried.”
“Good. Loud kids get eaten.”
“You’re creepy,” I said, crossing my arms.
He leaned back and looked at me, the corners of his mouth
turned up ever so slightly. “You’re weird.”
“Yeah? Well, I’m not the one staring at a cemetery when dead
people are walking around.”
“I’m not staring at the cemetery. I’m watching Skeeter.”
“Who’s Skeeter?” I asked.
“The guy who saved me.”
“I thought you said your teacher saved you?”
“He saved me from my teacher.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Oh.”
“He’s burying his wife.”
I furrowed my brows. “Oh.”
“She was pretty. April said she said she was pregnant. I’m
pretty sure he had to shoot her. It was…sad, I guess—if that’s the right word.”
“Sad is the right word.”
“It doesn’t seem like enough.”
“May I?” I asked, pointing to the hole.
Connor wasn’t imagining things. A man was standing in the
cemetery with a shovel, and a body covered in plastic was lying on the ground
next to him. “I see him,” I said.
“Yep.”
The man was filthy, covered in sweat, and once in a while,
he would pause to aim and fire his gun.
So, that’s where the
gunshots were coming from.
He was fearless, his shaggy sandy-blond hair sticking out of
his ball cap. He was too far from me, so I couldn’t make out his face, but his
body would shake periodically, and I knew that he was crying.
“Should we tell him we’re here? He seems like a good person
to have around. Good with a gun,” I asked.
“April already tried. He’s going to find his brother and
niece when he’s done.”
I looked at Connor. “I’m sorry about your parents and your
teacher. That sucks—a lot.”
“Yep,” he said before walking away.
EXCERPT 3
“So, we’re going?” I asked.
At the same time, a low moan sounded behind me, and
something lunged at Dad from around the corner. I didn’t look. I just swung my
bat at what I thought to be at head level. It wasn’t like the video games or
television shows. I hadn’t seen it coming. No scary music had built the
suspense or indicated foreshadowing.
I could hear Dad struggling behind me, but all I could think
about was the mouth belonging to the infected coming at me and keeping it away
from my skin. The adrenaline made everything both sharp and blurry. In one
moment, I was next to its bloodstained clothes and dry, scratchy skin, and the
next, it was standing in front of me, reaching out again. I wasn’t quite sure
how I’d gotten away.
He was tall. I couldn’t kick his knees out from under him,
so I swung the bat as hard as I could. That wasn’t like the video game either.
The vibration from the impact traveled up the bat and into my arms, startling
me, but the creature fell, and I swung at his head. The bat met his skull with
a crack, but I didn’t stop until the bone gave way.
Dad grabbed my collar, and we ran south—away from the
school, away from the house. The groans from the infected had attracted more.
“We’ve got to lead them away from the house!” Dad said.
“This way!”
We sprinted through backyards, hopped over fences, and
dodged plastic pools and swing sets until we made a full circle, sneaking into
April’s backyard once we were sure it was clear.
“Oh,” I said, noticing Dad was covered in dark goo.
“I panicked,” he said. “I was trying to get him off me, so I
could help you.”
“I held my own,” I said.
“I noticed. You weren’t bit?” he asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “You?”
Until that moment, I hadn’t been truly afraid. I hadn’t
realized that something as simple as a bite could take Dad away from me. He
would die, and Halle and I would be on our own.
He pulled open the back door of April’s house, and once it
was closed behind us, he hugged me, and I sobbed into his chest.
Giveaway
Go to Jamie's Facebook Page for a chance to win a signed hardback of Red Hill AND a signed paperback of the new novella, Among Monsters!
About the Author:
Jamie paved the way for the New Adult genre with international bestseller, Beautiful Disaster. Her follow-up novel Walking Disaster debuted at #1 on the New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. She has also written apocalyptic thriller Red Hill, a novella titled A Beautiful Wedding, and the Providence series, a young adult paranormal romance trilogy.
Jamie lives on a ranch just outside Enid, OK with husband Jeff and their three children. They share their 30 acres with cattle, six horses, three dogs, and Rooster the cat.
Find Jamie at www.jamiemcguire.com or on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
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