Fangs, Claws, and Camouflage

Frances Applequist

Description

Vampires, werewolves, Marines, and the militia work with a powerful witch in a battle to save a town overrun by zombies. The fight begins eight-hundred years earlier with the brave child who became a willful adult, and then the powerful and seductive vampire leader. While other humans hide, two frightened, but stubborn, coeds brave terrifying zombie hordes to document the truth.

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 05 décembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506902432
• Langue: English

Extrait

Fangs, Claws,
and Camouflage:

Zombie Problems

Frances Applequist


First Edition Design Publishing
Sarasota, Florida USA
Fangs,Claws, and Camouflage: Zombie Problems
Copyright©2016 Frances Applequist

ISBN 978-1506-902-42-5 HC
ISBN 978-1506-902-41-8 PBK
ISBN 978-1506-902-43-2 DIGITAL

LCCN 2016945064

August 2016

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .

CoverImages by: Daniel Bode and Nathan Bode


Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data
Applequist,Frances.
Fangs, Claws, andCamouflage: Zombie Problems / Frances Applequist
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1506-902-41-8pbk, 978-1506-902-43-2 digital

1. FICTION /Fantasy / Paranormal. 2. / Thrillers / General. 3. / Zombies.

F2119
Dedication

My deepest love and gratitude to…

…my husband, Ken, for suggesting the book, encouragingme, and reading countless revisions.

…my son, Matthew, for encouraging the book, readingearly drafts, and believing I could do this.

…my son, Mark, for his humor, support, honesty, and forhis military insights.

…my brother, Daniel Bode, for his knowledge ofswordsmanship and weaponry, and for his cover art and limitless talent.
Author’s Note: several of the characters in thisbook are recurring characters from my previous published and unpublished shortstories.
Acknowledgement

My full appreciation to…

…my nephew, Nathan Bode, for his digital assistance onthe cover art.

…my cousin, Joe Pezza, for sharing his knowledge ofordinance.

…the Write On! Cary critique group for theirencouragement and feedback.

…Mr. Patrick O’Kelley for his military insights.

…Marine SSgt Donald P. Corey, for his perspective on thebattle sequences.

…my friends, Carol Puckett and Susan Hewitt-Hardacre, fortheir valuable feedback.

…my friend, Morgan Greer for her editorial suggestions.



These wonderful people are not responsible for anyerrors I may have made, especially in my representation of the military that Iappreciate, respect, and hope to honor.

Table of Contents

BookOne Foundations 11
PartOne - Avianna Reborn . 12
PartTwo - Samurai Sons 17
PartThree - ThePhysician . 26
PartFour - Tomorrow’sSoldier 34
PartFive - FamilyConnections 42
PartSix - Urban Wolves 46
PartSeven - Lostand Found . 55

Book Two The Battle . 61
Chapter1 - The CountryClub Summit 62
Chapter2 - The Senator’sSolitude . 67
Chapter3 - The WhiteHouse Conference . 75
Chapter4 - Housebound . 83
Chapter5 - Vampire Love . 90
Chapter6 - The Reporters’Foray . 96
Chapter7 - The NicciFamily Stratagem .. 125
Chapter8 - The IroniesReport 130
Chapter9 - The Sheriff’sSorrow .. 140
Chapter10 - The ForceMultiplication . 145
Chapter11 - The JohnJohnDiversion . 155
Chapter12 - The O’ClearyHomage . 158
Chapter13 - The DantePerspective . 163
Chapter14 - Linett and TheSamurai 167
Chapter15 - The TargetZones 169
Chapter16 - Across theStreet 173
Chapter17 - The SamuraiSwords 178
Chapter18 - The VampireExoneration . 180
Chapter19 - The MarineEngagement 184
Chapter20 - The WerewolfGauntlet 190
Chapter21 - The MilitiaDetermination . 194
Chapter22 - The VampireRescue . 199
Chapter23 - Wiccan Winds 202
Chapter24 - FatalManeuvers 212
Chapter25 - The Observers 218
Chapter26 - The TrickleEffect 220
Chapter27 - The ForwardStep . 236
Chapter28 - One More Task . 240
Chapter29 - Rest for theWeary . 248
Epilogue - The WiccanRedoubt 254
BookOne - Foundations
Part One
Avianna Reborn


Eight-hundred yearsbefore Battle Day, 2017, asafe distance from the struggles for control in Naples, but still above thetranquil bay, Avianna Riardi chose fight over flight for the first time. Intheir cottage on the outskirts of her small village, the eleven-year-oldstepped between her parents to take her father’s blows. While her motherstumbled into the woods to hide her younger sister, Avianna came back to herfather for strike after strike. He raged at her, calling her a demon child, untilhis drink weakened him. Grabbing his bottle and snarling one last, “ Bambinademone ,” he threw himself on his bed to drain the last drops of oblivionfrom its content. Once her father passed out, the child dropped to the floor ina puddle of her own blood. Bruised and lacerated, with a blackened eye and acracked rib, she embraced a tearless resolve and new determination. In thattight corner of her endangered life, ferocity became the child’s second skin.
Twelve years later the villagers who did not troublethemselves to know her, called the virgin beauty a puttana , a slut. Avianna’stall, slim frame and green eyes were so different from the short, curvaceous,and dark-haired local girls that the villagers—like her father—suspected hermother of dalliance with a traveler. Despite her sister sharing the localcoloring, parents warned their sons away from both sisters and doomed the girlsto dependence on their degenerate father. Avianna refused to wear that shameand strolled through town as though she wore a crown.
One day, as she left the village, she acted asthough she were indifferent, but pumped adrenalinfor the inevitable fight at home. Wearing a simple, green, ankle-length smockwith sandals, she rushed along the narrow path on the ridge between the forest and the Bay of Naples farbelow. As her emotions shifted from hatred for her father to fear for hermother and sister, she ran at a reckless speed. One misstep could pitch herover the loose and uneven edge into the sea, yet she only thought about reachingthe cottage before her fatherwoke from his stupor.
At the split tree, Avianna moved off the path andaway from the ridge into the woods. Dense forest blocked the moonlight andturned the night black. Bats, more bats than she ever remembered seeing before,swooped, dipped, and shrieked in the trees above her and the sudden appearanceof a teenage boy startled her. The expensive cut of his leggings and tunic weremore popular in northern realms than in the local villages, and his blond hairand pale skin shimmered with its own light. Avianna’s unease confused her. Withall she had lived through, shuddering with dread over this slender boy did notmake sense. She braced herself for an attack, but he dissipated into a cloud ofblack smoke. The bewildered young woman listened for a sound that wouldindicate the demon’s direction, but she only heard her thundering heart.
From behind, talon-like fingers dug into hershoulders. Making fists, she swung her body to the left trying to strike at hisangular face. Her body jerked forward as he released her, but jolted backwardwhen he took hold of her again. Shifting her weight to her left leg, she droveher right sandaled foot backward into his knee. Then she raised her foot,again, and slammed it down onto the arch of his foot. He maintained his hold. Grunting,she used her elbows in his ribs and stomach. He disappeared and reappeared froma cloud of smoke in the tree line.
She yelled, “ Fermo , stand still. Smoke withoutfire. What kind of demon are you?”
From several yards away, he shouted, “Yours. Youare mine. You will be mine forever.”
To the hardened woman, the boy soundedridiculous. She picked up a fist-sized rock from the ground and hurled it athim, snarling, “ Mai. Never ,” only to see smoke in his place. “ Fantasmavile, cowardly ghost. If your magic is real and not tricks, why do you hidefrom me?”
At that moment, he grabbed her from behind andsunk his teeth into her neck. Avianna struggled to stay conscious. In themoments before darkness overtook her, she raged against fate, against herearthly father, and against this brooding boy. Di morire come questo ,she hissed, è la beffa del diavolo; to die this way is the devil’smockery.
Unaware of the passage of time, Avianna’sconsciousness rose from her deep sleep. Remembering the boy, she stayed silentand kept her eyes closed. Soft earth cushioned her body and a hundred differentforest scents enlivened her senses. She heard an insect make its way throughthe nearby brush. The heel she used to pound at the boy’s legs no longer hurt.The shoulder he clawed no longer burned. The neck he bit no longer drippedblood. Instead, new strength infused her. She sensed the boy nearby. Throughher closed eyes, she visualized his narrow face, narrow eyes, pale thin brows,and down-turned mouth.
Sounding young, he boasted, “When you wake, youwill realize that you drank greedily from my wrist. You will feel my bloodmaking you my servant.” While Avianna kept her eyes closed, the boy sighed, “Yourgreen eyes will only look for me and your long body will only be mine.”
Avianna’s strange hunger confused her, but she waitedwhile the boy who would be a teenager forever voiced his delusions. When his childishnessbecame unbearable, she opened her eyes. The moon shone like a lantern in acloset. Her situation should have been terrifying, and would have beenterrifying had her father not taught her the uselessness of fear. Ignoring theboy, she rose before he realized she had awakened and, remembering her motherand sister, wished she had made it home.
Moments later, without knowing how she did it,she arrived outside her ramshackle hovel. The roof needed patching. Insects andweather entered the cottage through two broken window shutters. The front doortilted on rusty hinges. Avianna paused. From inside the cottage she heard hersister weeping and