Please welcome Olivia Starke and her newly released series today. Once you read this sneak peek about the book, you'll want to get your copy quickly!
Blurb:
Zombies
and super soldiers? Laura is the one hope for a world gone Hollywood crazy.
In only
a matter of hours Laura Swift has been bitten by a zombie, rescued by Mr. Tall,
Dark, and Foreboding, and thrown into a world gone Hollywood crazy. She has no
choice but to follow Damian into his underworld of manipulated viruses and
genetically altered super soldiers. Even as her life hangs in the balance, she
can't deny the attraction she feels for the incredibly sexy and thoroughly
imposing Infantryman.
Damian
Gonsalves believes he has a cure for the virus changing innocent people into
bloodthirsty undead. Within Laura is the key to stopping the horrific plague.
All he has to do is keep her alive and safe, and stay one step ahead of those
pursuing them. Her stubbornness frustrates him to no end, while her body drives
him to distraction.
When
they discover the secret behind Project Terminal, will they survive long enough
to help stop the unleashed horror? Or will they just be two more victims of a
virus threatening all of humanity?
Excerpt:
"Four
more hours. We have to prepare."
Laura
went cold. "Prepare?"
"The
progression will snowball from here." His voice dead, he continued to
stare at some unseen view.
He'd
kissed her with such passion, now he spoke without emotion. How could someone
do such a turnabout? The lousy bastard. Rage, white hot in intensity,
shot through her, her head swimming with it.
"Maybe
you're just stupid, Damian. Stupid for allowing a zombie thing to attack me. I
wouldn't be dying if it wasn't for you. You deserve this, not me." Her
fists balled at the injustice of it all. "You should die for this."
She
sucked in wheezing breaths, unable to fill her lungs, and fell back on her
butt. Her eyes widened, searching a darkened corner of the room, a distorted
face appearing from the shadows. It grinned with broken, yellowed teeth, its
eyes glowing in the dimness.
She
gagged over raw terror.
"Oh
my God, I saw something over there." She scrambled backward. "Damian,
one of those things is in here."
* * * *
Damian
glanced around the sparsely furnished room. Other than a few flies and
mosquitoes buzzing around them they were alone.
He
closed his eyes, the weight of guilt pressing down making it difficult to
speak. "We're alone, Laura. Nobody else is in here."
The
night wore on, and fits of anger mingled with her confusion. Several times he'd
had to prevent her from dashing out the door. He paced the confines of the
living room, waiting for the last of the madness to run its course. Laura lay
on the floor, lashing out toward some unseen attacker, before her breathing
became rapid, labored pants. White foam bubbled from her mouth.
He
pinched the bridge of his nose, turning away. He'd become disillusioned with
the system he'd given his life to shortly after discovering they'd screwed up
royally in creating the virus. In a lab he'd watched a man succumb to it,
changing into a soulless corpse. It'd been horrific the first time he'd
witnessed it. Afterward Headquarters had assigned him to track down an infected
woman outside of the facility. It was his duty as a super soldier to clean up
their mistakes. Now he wanted nothing more than to see the lab destroyed,
something he should've done in the first place. He should've listened to Doug
and Max, two of the doctors from the early days of the project. Their warnings
had come to pass, but he'd been a stubborn, misinformed jackass.
Curled
in the fetal position, Laura looked like a sick child, fragile and broken. His
throat constricted, even though it was ridiculous to have feelings for someone
you didn't know. He was military, Army Infantry, for Christ's sake, he
knew how to pull a trigger without regret.
Laura
rolled onto her back, staring toward the ceiling with glassy eyes. Despite the
tremulous hold she had on life, she was already dead.
He
existed as a government killing machine—an automaton they'd designed. Nothing
more. He'd given his humanity away to the project. He wasn't much better than
the corpses he hunted.
"I'm
so sorry this happened to you, baby. You were right, I deserved this,
not you."
His
vision blurred when he stared down the barrel, the silencer aimed squarely
between her eyes, his heart beating a crazed rhythm in his chest. His finger
squeezed ever so slightly on the trigger. Outside a mourning dove called to its
mate, a haunting song echoing in the room. He recalled a story from his youth
about how a dove would arrive to carry a person's soul to the afterlife. If he
believed in anything but the here and now, in that moment he would've thought
it true.
Laura's
mouth gaped open, strangled noises escaping her throat, seizures taking her
into death throes.
He
lowered his arm and thumped the butt of his gun against his thigh, waiting for
the monster to appear. When she became the undead, when she moved to attack
him, he'd have the power to destroy her. She deserved one last try to get the
best of him. Maybe it wasn't Laura anymore, but he'd honor the fighting spirit
within her. She'd never get past him, but if she took a piece of him in the
process he'd have an excuse to end the whole goddamned thing here, in this
stinking house. If he ever got infected his duty would be to put a bullet in
his own head.
Laura's
body stilled, her eyelids drifting closed.
Any
moment…
Her eyes
popped wide open, her back arching. She sucked in a breath as if surfacing from
deep waters. He turned his body sideways, leveling his gun in dead aim, waiting
for the corpse to lunge.
"Damian?"
