If I were to tell you three years ago that the world was going to be overrun by the undead you would've called me crazy and threw some change at me like I was some homeless man, and honestly... I would've done the same. People thought this little 'virus' that came into the states was just going to blow over in no time... How naïve we all were in those early months of the pandemic.
It started off in big cities; New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Dallas, the list goes on. Then, it made it's way down to smaller cities. My city, Wrightwood was the last city in California to know that they were evacuating people out. It didn't take long before the biters swarmed our entire city. Now, it's about five months into this pandemic... There are more biters in the world than there are people at this point, there is barely any food or water left in the city, and the biters are making their way closer and closer to my house every day. It's time for me to leave, but I don't know how I can do it on my own.
DeMarcus Johnson, a thirty year old retail worker lived an average life before the biters came into town. Now, all he wants to do is survive until the next day. DeMarcus knows that staying in his small home in Wrightwood will be the end of him, but is it any better taking his chances out on the open road? With biters, marauders, bandits, and everything in between DeMarcus must take his chances on finding somewhere safer until this pandemic gets situated by the Government. What he doesn't know is that on his journey he will be pushed to his limits to see just how bad he wants to live to see the next sunrise. After all, how can anyone live after the end of the world?
Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son.
*****
Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice.
[[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]]
[[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]