
#
At the last moment I swerved for the first tree trunk. The headlights swung to follow. The deep ripples in the bark were etched as a sepia photograph in stark shades of grey. I didn’t bother with graceful leaps but threw myself at the old oak. My right hand and left foot found holds while my right foot scrambled for purchase. The engine was deafeningly near. Not high enough — my lower legs still faced decimation-by-radiator-grille — so I let go my precarious handhold and clawed for a higher one.
Behind me, the engine roared. Heat flashed across the backs of my legs. The sharp mechanical stench of motor oil and hot metal washed over me. I was out of time. And my legs remained in the line of fire. Panic punched through my brain. I gripped the bark with my right fingers and jerked both legs up, wrapping my knees around the tree trunk.
The monster, brakes locking, slid sideways across the wet grass into the tree trunk. The passenger’s side window exploded, spraying me with sharp little cubes of safety glass. My fingers slipped from the rippled bark. The whole tree shuddered and shook me off like a dog shakes off water. I fell onto the monster’s hood, giving my left shoulder another opportunity to scream at me. The vehicle — a Suburban, I could see from this angle — still moved forward and sideways. Our combined momentum slid me helplessly through the broken glass and along the slick hot metal until my head met the windshield on a most intimate basis.
My skull exploded on contact and one more ache added its soprano to the rousing chorus. I scrabbled for some sort of purchase, but the Suburban was moving in reverse now, so I ricocheted off the windshield like a bloody pinball and started sliding back across the scorching hood. On my back — I was going to land flat on my back in the lawn, in the middle of that broken glass, in front of a homicidal driver in a four-wheel-drive T-rex.
#
He's not winning. And the day's not over yet.
If you've ever wanted to learn how to format ebooks, I'm now giving away my illustrated guide, Format Your eBook the Free and Easy Way. You can download it by clicking here, then scrolling down to the cover and download links, all the way down in the left-hand column.
The Sweet List is below, with links leading to more excerpts from some very talented writers. Thanks for stopping by!
Gunnar
1. Kay Springsteen, Regency
2. Jenna Jaxon~Historical Romance
3. Carrie-Anne Brownian ~ Halloween-themed historical fiction (1970s)
4. Rachel Rossano - romantic fantasy
5. Indigo Chase--Sci fi, Paranormal
6. Patricia Kiyono - Historical Romance (Regency)
7. Susan Aylworth, contemporary
8. Leah Sanders - sweet historical romance
9. Kelly Martin-- YA/Christian
10. J. Gunnar Grey, mystery~adventure
11. Juli D. Revezzo--Paranormal fiction
12. Chynna Laird ~ Contemporary YA
13. J.L. Salter, romantic suspense and romantic comedy
14. Vivian Roycroft, Regency
15. Lindsay Downs-Historical
16. Laurel-Rain Snow - Contemporary Fiction
17. Ute Carbone-women's fiction
18. Elaine Cantrell, contemporary
19. S.G. Rogers - YA fantasy adventure
20. Ruth Rainwater-Historical fiction
21. Marsha Ward~Westerns with Heart & Grit
22. Rachel Van Dyken - historical romance
23. Benjamin Wallace - Humor