It's hot, humid, and strangely windy. A rotting smell wafts through the air, scouring through the blood encrusted streets. Dead corpses degradiate on the abandoned roads, and not one person is in sight. Everyone smart is locked away inside, with enough food and water to last them a year, at the very least. That is, if they're still alive. It's Virginia, and its under attack- by the living dead. Dead humans, searching the streets, infecting anyone in sight with just one bite . But one group of high school students scout the cities, looking for family, friends, but most of all, looking to survive, and find what's left of humanity. A zombie apocalypse novel by @littlebabyplant @eveandsky and @_timelord __.
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]]