Excerpt: The Colony by Kathleen Groger [giveaway]

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000039_00004]The Colony
(A Rasper Novel, #1)
By: Kathleen Groger
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: April 5, 2016
Genre: YA Sci-Fi

Goodreads

Trust no one.

Never go out in the dark.

Always have a weapon.

Sixteen-year-old Val lives by these three rules etched on her arm. Her rules and her gun are the only things standing between her and assimilation by hordes of human-looking aliens she calls Raspers.

By day, Val gathers supplies. By night, she hides and wishes she could go back in time…before her family died…before the annihilation…before the Raspers began stalking her and demanding she join their collective.

But when the Raspers attack in broad daylight, the truth becomes startlingly clear.

They’re evolving.

A fellow survivor crashes into Val’s life. Adam’s full of charm and promises—like rumors of a safe haven—but there’s something wrong. He’s survived with no supplies, no weapons…no plans. Time is running out. With the formula for survival shifting around her, Val must decide how many rules she’s willing to break to escape the Colony.

 

 

Excerpt

Adam got the car started. He grabbed his seat belt and I clipped mine, too. I shined the light back at the door. The toolbox slid to the side and the door opened. “Go!”

Adam turned on the headlights, dropped the car into drive, and jammed his foot on the gas. The car jumped, then caught. The vehicle crashed into the garage door. I pitched forward, and then the seat belt slammed me back.

The door had broken enough to let light in, but hadn’t shattered. We were still trapped.

Adam threw it in reverse and revved the engine. The car was the size of a tank. We had to get out. I turned and caught the faces of two Raspers coming up behind the car.

Their mouths were open, like they were screaming. My breath caught. “They’re behind us.”

Adam glanced up at the rearview mirror and his eyes widened. He shoved the car into drive and hit the gas with what sounded like a yell.

I shut my eyes.

The car crashed through the door. The seat belt stole my oxygen and dug into my chest. I tried to scream, but couldn’t. The car pushed forward, then jerked to a stop. A Rasper stumbled and stopped at the wrecked garage door. “They’re still coming.”

“There’re more coming around the house. Hold on.” Adam stomped on the gas pedal. The car shot forward and he twisted the wheel. With a spin of tires, we roared out of the driveway, spraying gravel in every direction.

Thwamp. A loud thud reverberated through the car.

“What was that?” I spun in my seat, but couldn’t tell where the noise came from.

“Hold on.” He jerked the wheel to the left, then the right. Something shifted on top of the car.

A burning, anvil­like weight crushed my chest. There was a Rasper on the roof.

Could I shoot through metal? Or would the bullet ricochet?

Adam pushed down on the gas and turned the wheel. I grabbed the handle above the door.

A sallow­skinned hand reached down my window and a whimper tore from my throat. I went for my gun, but it wasn’t in the holster. No. No. No. Where was it?

The hand slid further down. Instead of a fingernail, the Rasper’s index finger ended in a long, pearl­white stinger and he dragged it across the glass.

My chest burned. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t think. I tore my gaze from his stinger and looked at Adam.

He spun the wheel and my Glock skidded across the floor mat. I bent down and reached for it.

“Val, stay down!”

A gunshot rang out above me and glass exploded. I lifted my head. Adam had shot out my window.

“Missed.” He jerked the wheel again.

This time the Rasper’s body slipped off the roof, but he caught himself on the window frame and pulled himself up, his stinger aimed right at me. His face loomed a foot from mine, his eyes shaded by sunglasses. He opened his mouth and released a foul stench, like dead vegetation and dog crap. My throat spasmed. I wanted to throw up, or scream—or both. I pulled back, but the seat belt locked.

“Val! Shoot!”

I raised my gun. The Rasper exposed gray­tinged teeth and grinned using only the

left side of his face. He let go of the car. Disappeared.

 

 

author

grogerKathleen wrote her first story in elementary school about a pegasus named Sir Lancelot. It had no plot or conflict, but it sparked a dream. After serving a fifteen-year sentence in retail management, the bulk in big box bookstores, she turned her love of reading into a full-time career writing dark and haunting characters and stories. She writes paranormal, fantasy, suspense, horror YA books. She is a contributing member of READerlicious, writers who love readers. Check out her blogs here.

She lives by the mantra that a day is not complete without tea. Lots of tea. Kathleen lives in Ohio with her husband, two boys, and two attention-demanding dogs. When not writing or editing or revising, you can find her reading, cooking, spending time with her family, or photographing abandoned buildings.

Website | Twitter | Facebook

 

 

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8 Thoughts on “Excerpt: The Colony by Kathleen Groger [giveaway]

  1. Thanks for being on the tour! 🙂

  2. You’ve been featuring some cool sounding books lately

  3. Stephanie on 11 May, 2016 at 9:24 am said:

    How many books will be in this series?

    • Kathleen Groger on 11 May, 2016 at 11:52 am said:

      At least three. I’m hoping to have the second book out in early 2017. And I have the first two books in a horror/paranormal series coming out in September.

  4. Kathleen Groger on 11 May, 2016 at 11:53 am said:

    Kristin, Thanks for sharing!

  5. Glenda on 11 May, 2016 at 8:07 pm said:

    Sounds interesting!

  6. Ohh I wonder what Val is going to do 🙂 Thanks!

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