Fight for Life and Death (Apocalypse Paused Book 1) Read online

  Shark.

  The near-beauty of this creature was totally marred by the sight of all those teeth. Rows and rows of them, jagged and crude and hideous, designed not so much to rend and sever as to grind and pulp, like an organic garbage disposal.

  Suddenly it was on top of her, and all she could see was that huge destructive maw. She shut her eyes. It didn’t matter what kind of teeth it had, she told herself. Dead was dead, and the time for her to die was now. It was over.

  But the creature did not eat her. Or even bite, exactly. Instead, it pawed around to her feet, clamped its jaws gently around her leg, and pulled.

  A thin strangled sound emerged from her throat as the cat-shark-thing dragged her along behind it. Paroxysms of pain resounded one after another as her broken body was pulled mercilessly over roots, rocks, and ridges. She squeezed a pair of tears free as she shut her eyes again. The bastard couldn’t be bothered to finish her. It had to prolong her torment by taking her back to its lair.

  Or…was it taking her out of some sense of purpose? Was she now a specimen about to be studied? She went cold. The thought of that terrified her more than the thought of death.

  Emma Kemp was not yet dead. But for the first time since she’d received that terrible diagnosis, she wished she was.

  Author Notes - Michael Anderle

  November 29, 2018

  THANK YOU for not only reading this story but these Author Notes as well .

  (I think I’ve been good with always opening with “thank you.” If not, I need to edit the other Author Notes!)

  RANDOM (sometimes) THOUGHTS?

  I’m writing these author notes before the first ZOO book (Birth of Heavy Metal Book 01) is released and I’m feeling anxious.

  [ZMS Edit: The first Zoo Book was released on December 3rd, this is the first book in a new Zoo series.]

  Is it going to work? Will the story (not my typical main character at all) resonate? Will readers go further into the book to see whether Salinger redeems himself?

  Will he learn not to stick his foot in his mouth? (A big ‘if’ as he is a precocious 21 year old.)

  As a father with three sons, two of them just about to hit 20 years old, it seems kids NEVER grow up and just ‘adult.’

  Yet, I’m sure my father looked at me three decades ago and wondered, ‘Will that kid ever grow up?’

  It took me fifteen years longer than you wanted, Dad. But yes, I did finally grow up.

  HOW TO MARKET FOR BOOKS YOU LOVE

  We are able to support our efforts with you reading our books, and we appreciate you doing this!

  If you enjoyed this or ANY book by any author, especially Indie-published, we always appreciate if you make the time to review a book, since it lets other readers who might be on the fence to take a chance on it as well.

  AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

  One of the interesting (at least to me) aspects of my life is the ability to work from anywhere and at any time. In the future, I hope to re-read my own Author Notes and remember my life as a diary entry.

  Today, I’m back in my condo in Vegas having just finished a conversation with collaborator Laurie Starkey talking about ZOO projects, Protected by the Damned projects and a whole new Universe we (mainly she) are releasing starting in January.

  I’ve asked Judith for a sanity check on responses to Matia from Publishers Weekly and to pick out some photos from a photoshoot we did down in Cabo earlier this year.

  Why Cabo? Because the photographer here in Vegas went (in my opinion) nuts after finding out who I was.

  We asked, and received confirmation that we would be getting photography done where we would own the rights once the shoot was done, and what was the price etc. etc. She quoted us (I believe) around $600.

  Then, we send her links about myself and the contract comes to us WAY higher than that amount, with re-use pricing and all sorts of stipulations. We point out this wasn’t what we asked for and she was adamant nothing would change.

  Oh yes, something could change. Our choice of photographers could change.

  So, we were going to Cabo anyway, and Judith found a photographer who could rent out the top level of a restaurant for the morning.

  Now, I have headshots that are a bit unique.

  AROUND THE WORLD I sincerely hope (and pray, and worry) that you are enjoying these books and the ZOO project overall. It is vastly different than some of my other work, and I hope to use the project to allow new authors (including those in other countries) access to a new Universe as they can bring fiction to life from a completely new perspective.

  Imagine if a Spanish, or German author wrote a series using other encampments? Or Russian or Chinese? Or Israeli? I hope (one day) to meet authors from other countries who have written stories set in our ZOO Universe and have American readers who love it.

  The ONLY way this will work, is if we please fans with what we have, and therefore…

  As we say in America -The buck stops with me.

  FAN PRICING

  If you would like to find out what LMBPN is doing and the books we will be publishing, just sign up at http://lmbpn.com/email/. When you sign up, we notify you of books coming out for the week, any new posts of interest in the books and pop culture arena, and the fan pricing on Saturday.

  Ad Aeternitatem,

  Michael Anderle

  Connect with Michael Todd

  Want more?

  Find us On Facebook

  https://www.facebook.com/Protected-by-the-Damned-193345908061855/

  Join the LMBPN Email List

  www.lmbpn.com/email

  Books by Michael Todd

  PROTECTED BY THE DAMNED

  Torn Asunder (1)

  Killing Is My Business (2)

  And Business Is Good (3)

  Sit Down, Shut Up, And Pull The Trigger (4)

  Welcome To The Jungle (5)

  Metal Up Your Ass (6)

  Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (7)

  For Whom The Bell Tolls (8)

  WAR OF THE DAMNED

  Resurrection Of The Damned (1)

  No Quarter (2)

  Dark Is The Night (3)

  Dim Glows The Horizon (4)

  Waking The Leviathan (5)

  Subversive Giants (6)

  Juntto (7)

  DAMIAN’S CHRONICLES

  Crucifix (1)

  Renegade (2)

  Apostle (3)

  ZOO

  DEATH OF HEAVY METAL

  He Was Not Prepared (1)

  APOCALYPSE PAUSED

  Fight for Life and Death (1)

  Books written as Michael Anderle

  For a complete list of books by Michael Anderle, please visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/ma-books/

  All LMBPN Audiobooks are Available at Audible.com and iTunes

  To see all LMBPN audiobooks, including those written by Michael Anderle please visit:

  www.lmbpn.com/audible