Hollow Preview

Hollow is my newest book that will be coming out on June 24^th. I’m very proud of this one, and I think it has many fun elements to it. Every chapter has action in it, and the mystery surrounding what the disaster of this novel is caused by is one that I loved making more than most anything I’ve written before. I hope you’ll all enjoy it. Here’s a preview of the first 2 chapters!

Prologue

“Shh . . .” Piper whispered and put her hand over Owen’s mouth.

It had been eleven days of pure hell, and now they were hiding in a closet just praying this wouldn’t be their last moment. As footsteps stopped at the door, she had to compose herself. This was it. With one hand, she clinched a knife, and with the other, she gently pulled Owen further into the closet. When the door began to open, he jumped up, however, and tackled the killer coming after them. As he sat atop his chest, Owen pounded him with blow after blow. Bruises and cuts immediately became apparent on the man’s face, but that wasn’t the sight Piper was worried about. The man was smiling. It was as if he felt no pain.

He threw Owen off him and got on top of him. Then he wrapped his hands around his neck and squeezed so tightly while screaming out nonsense.

“You took her! You took her from me! You all have to die! Every last one of you!” he screamed.

With no choice, Piper acted quickly. She plunged the knife into his back and stumbled away. The man stopped temporarily and looked as if he felt pain for the first time. His grimace only lasted for a second, however. He quickly recovered and stood to face her. Piper backed into a corner, and the man slowly walked toward her. His smile returned. He was going to enjoy this.

“You don’t have to do this, Mr. Prescott. Just stop,” Piper said.

“You took her. You’re responsible. Don’t you dare lie to me!” Prescott spat as he slammed her head into the wall.

In almost the same moment, Owen ripped the knife out of the man’s back. He quickly stabbed him again. As Prescott fell to the floor, Piper moved to the other side of the room. Owen didn’t stop, however. He stabbed Prescott again and again until they were both covered in blood. It was over, or at least that part of their day was. As Piper helped him up and wiped the blood from his face, they heard something outside. It sounded like a mob of people approaching.

“Should we just give up? We can’t keep going like this. I still don’t know what the hell’s going on, and I don’t know about you, but I think we’re just delaying the inevitable,” Piper said.

“We’re not going down without a fight. We didn’t survive this long just to give up.”

“Then let’s fight, but let’s make it one that determines exactly how this day is going to end. I’m tired of running. How many bullets do you have left?”

“Four. Won’t that attract more of them, though?”

“No. We’ll kill everyone on this street and disappear into the attic. If any others wander up, they won’t know where to look. I’m pretty sure the ones outside heard the commotion in here, though. It’s just a matter of time before they’re on us. What do you say? Should we run, or are you with me?”

“You’re right. Let’s end this,” Owen said and gripped his pistol.

They walked to the door and looked outside. Dozens of people were approaching the house. Piper looked over at Owen and took a step back.

“Are you still sure about this?” she asked.

“They’ve seen us. We don’t have a choice other than to fight through them now. We’ll go left, and I’ll try to carve a path through them with my pistol. Maybe we can find a vehicle somewhere to get out of here. Come on,” he said and took her hand.

They both knew what they were walking toward. They weren’t going to be carving a path to anywhere. This was them giving up. This was a mercy killing.

Chapter 1

The Beginning

Day 1

Piper awoke around noon at her boyfriend’s dump of an apartment in Seattle. It was the last place she needed to be. He was in a band, and the night before, they had played a show. They were still smalltime, but they had attracted a lot of attention from local teens. Piper was certain it wouldn’t be long until Derrick was a world-famous drummer. Then again, their singer was pretty terrible, so she might have been dreaming too big.

She hadn’t originally intended on spending the night with him, but there’s something about seeing dozens of girls asking your boyfriend to sign their breasts that let’s you know he has options. She wanted to remind Derrick of why he should stay with her. It had been a hasty decision that wouldn’t be worth it in the long run. Her parents were going to be pissed.

“Where are you going?” Derrick asked as she got up to get dressed.

“I’ve got to go. My parents are going to be really angry. I can’t . . .”

“Relax. You’re already seventeen. What are they really going to do to you?”

“Oh, I don’t know . . . maybe kick me out of the house,” she said sarcastically.

“So what? Then you would stay with me. I’m pretty sure I could get used to that,” he said as he stood and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m sure you could. I don’t know if I could yet, though.”

“Why not? It certainly seemed like you had a good time last night,” he said and unbuttoned her jeans.

“Stop it. I had a great time, but I’ve really got to go. As for why I couldn’t stay here permanently, you don’t exactly keep the cleanest place, and excuse me if I don’t like your choice of décor. Putting up band posters isn’t my idea of home. It’s more like a twelve year olds’ bedroom,” she said and pulled away.

“Ouch,” he said and took a few steps back.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any offense. Let me graduate high school, and then we’ll talk about me staying here, if you can let me tweak some things.”

“The place is all yours. I know you have to go, but at least take a shower with me first.”

“No. I know what showers with you always turn into, not that I would be complaining normally. I really have to get home and do damage control with my parents, though.”

“Okay. I love you, babe,” he said and kissed her.

“I . . . love you, too. I’ll see you tonight, if my parents don’t try grounding me.”

“Who are you kidding? They’ve never been able to control you. If they ground you, then you’ll just sneak out. There’s this show tonight with an amazing band that . . .”

“And here I was thinking we could take that shower tonight,” Piper flirted.

“You know what? I officially think music sucks for one night only. Come by my place, and we’ll do whatever you want.”

As Piper left, she felt dirty. She had gotten into a bad habit of staying up all night because it was summer. When she woke up the day before, it was already time for Derrick’s show. She had to rush out the door without a shower, and now she was rushing home to her parents after a night of sex. She kept some perfume in the car for emergencies. It would do to make her at least feel a little better. As she pulled up to the house, she braced herself for what would likely be a strong lecture.

When Piper walked inside, her parents were all over her. They asked where she was, as if they didn’t already know she was with Derrick. Of course, she pretended they were crazy. In her version of the story, she had simply stayed with a friend after the show.

“If that’s true, then why didn’t you call?” her mom asked.

“Because my phone died. What does it matter? I’m already seventeen. I can take care of myself.”

“You’re still our child, and you’re going to live by our rules. For the rest of the summer, you’re grounded. Don’t even think about using the car,” her dad said.

“Fine. It won’t matter what I say, so I’m not even going to bother. I’m going upstairs,” Piper said and walked to her room.

She was exhausted. Staying out most of the night, having drinks with the band, and then staying up even later with her boyfriend kept her up until seven, so her noon awakening was a little too early for her liking. It was time to get some sleep. She would just sneak out that night to see Derrick. If she did it right, her parents would never even have to know. As Piper drifted off, she could never have anticipated what would await her when she opened her eyes.

At four, Piper heard a loud noise downstairs. It sounded like two people screaming. It wasn’t that odd for her parents to fight, but what she was hearing didn’t make any sense at all. Her dad was yelling about something she had never heard about.

“You! You’re the one who let her drown, not me. I took the heat for it and got the hell beat out of me, and what did you do?”

“Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!” her mother screamed back.

“Are you guys okay?” Piper yelled.

The only answer she received was the sound of her mom screaming at the top of her lungs. Then there was only silence. At first, Piper just lay there in shock. What was going on? Could her mother be dead, and if she was, how could it be possible that her father was the murderer? They fought, but it was never like this.

Before she could go over things any longer, she heard someone walking upstairs. Piper quickly got to her feet and shut the door. She locked it and backed into a corner. After a second, the sound of footsteps subsided. For almost a full minute, she heard nothing. Piper let out a sigh of relief. Whatever was going on had ended, and it appeared that she was safe. When she stepped toward the door, a loud bang came from it, however, and she heard her dad screaming nonsense.

“What’s wrong, Daddy?” she called out.

“You! You did it! Then you just left us - left me alone with him. I’m going to give you exactly what you deserve,” he said and kicked the door in.

As it swung open, Piper threw her hands up and begged her father to stop. He didn’t, though. He came at her with a bloody knife. He slashed at her, and she moved just in time. Then Piper jumped to the other side of the bed and waited. She didn’t know what she could do to stop whatever was happening, but her dad obviously wasn’t in his right mind. Piper wasn’t willing to die, but she didn’t want to fight him either. Killing her father might have been worse than death. She looked toward the door. Piper was closer to it than her father. She knew what she had to do. She made a run for it.

Piper made it out of the room and to the stairs before he jumped on her. They tumbled down them, and she landed a few feet away from him. She was already exhausted from the fall, but her dad didn’t seem fazed by it. He jumped to his feet and took a step toward her. Piper backed into an end table and stood. Then she grabbed a lamp. It was sturdy. Her mother had insisted on getting the ugliest lamps known to man, but they were rock solid. It would do, if she had to fight her father.

“I don’t want to do this, Dad. Just stop. You’re not thinking straight. I’m your little girl, remember?” she asked.

He didn’t listen. He just kept coming. As he slashed at her once again, Piper dodged the blow and hit him in the side of the head with the lamp. He fell to the floor, and she didn’t give him a chance to recover. Piper hit him in the back of the head with it over and over again until he stopped moving.

“Daddy? Daddy, are you okay?” Piper asked as she dropped to the floor.

She checked for a heartbeat, but he didn’t have one, and the blood coming out of his head made it apparent what had happened. She killed him. Piper took a step back and sobbed. It was in that moment when one more disturbing thing became apparent. She could hear neighbors yelling. It sounded like some of them were fighting. Had the whole world gone crazy? She didn’t dare approach the window to find out. If there were crazy people outside, then she didn’t want them to know where she was. As she stepped out of the room and into the kitchen, another discovery awaited her. Her mother’s body lay on the floor. She had been stabbed several times in the chest and stomach. It was likely her father’s doing. At that point, Piper broke down. Her family had been torn apart in less than five minutes, but what could have been the cause of it all? Before she could figure it out, she heard someone beating on the door.

“Are you in there, Sis?” someone asked.

“If you are, get out here and face me!” the crazed woman yelled violently.

Piper stayed quiet, and when the woman left the porch, Piper walked upstairs and sat on her bed. It obviously wasn’t safe to leave, but what was she supposed to do? It wasn’t like Piper could sit there and wait to die. Suddenly, it occurred to her. Derrick would come for her. She dialed his number, but he didn’t pick up. She tried over and over again, but no matter what, it did no good.

“Think. What could be causing all of this?” she asked herself.

Several thoughts came to her mind, but none of them made much sense. There was only one thing that was clear to her. These people weren’t in their right minds. They were obviously sick. There was a hospital less than a mile down the road. If she could get there, then maybe it would be safe. Surely doctors could treat the sick, and if there was danger in the city, then she was sure the police and military would prioritize protecting the hospital. Then again, it would be risky to leave the house. While she tried to make up her mind about what to do, she heard something that changed everything. A window broke downstairs. Someone was coming inside, and she was about to be in for another fight.

* * * * *

     While Piper was waking up to a whole new reality, so was Owen. He heard the beeping of a hospital monitor as he slowly woke up. That sound was becoming all too familiar. The next thing he heard was unusual, though. It sounded like complete chaos in the hospital. He could hear people screaming. When he opened his eyes, he discovered a horrifying sight. His mother lay dead in a chair a few feet from him. Her face was bloodied and bruised. She was barely recognizable. If not for her light blonde hair, he might not have even known it was her. The screams were now more alarming. His mother was dead. That was bad enough, but was he going to die, too?

Owen took the IV out of his arm and started to stand, but a dizzy feeling overtook him. While he tried to clear his head, a young doctor ran into the room. When he saw that Owen was up, he stepped back cautiously.

“What’s going on out there, and what happened to my mother?” Owen asked in shock.

“You’re not one of them?” the doctor asked.

“One of who? I just woke up. I have no idea what’s going on.”

“You’re definitely like me. It’s hard to explain, but we’ve got to get out of here. I just stepped into the room to catch my breath. I’m Dr. Roland, by the way.”

“I don’t understand. You’ve got to give me more than that.”

“I can’t right now. We’ve got to go. Can you walk?”

“I think so,” Owen answered as he got to his feet.

“Good, then follow me. We’ve got to get to the parking lot. From there, we can get the hell away from this place and find somewhere safe.”

Owen didn’t really know what he was talking about, but it was clear that either this was a really bad dream, or he had just woken up in the worst kind of situation. He followed him out into the hallway. It seemed to be clear. There were a few dead bodies strewn throughout it, though. When they got to the elevators, the doctor seemed relieved, but that didn’t last. After the doors opened in the lobby, what they saw made Owen understand exactly how desperate the situation was. To the right, two men fought, and on the other side of the room, a police officer was continually beating a corpse. Nothing was left of the corpse’s face, but the officer just kept swinging and cursing as he did. At the exit, a woman simply sat screaming in fear. She was looking off in the distance at what appeared to be nothingness, but whatever it was had certainly frightened her.

“Follow my lead,” Dr. Roland whispered, and they crept toward the exit.

As they did, the cop heard them. From the second he looked in their direction, Owen knew things were going to be bad. He had a look of complete hatred in his eyes. He wanted to murder them. The officer ran at Dr. Roland and speared him. They hit the floor, and the officer didn’t hesitate to hit him over and over again. Owen knew he had to do something. The gun was dangling on the cop’s side. He had to take a chance on it. Owen quickly grabbed it and clicked the safety off. The officer turned toward him and stood. Owen didn’t want to, but he fired, sending a bullet straight through the policeman’s heart. That got plenty of attention from the other two men in the room. Owen turned and fired four shots at them, cutting them down in the process.

When he was finally able to turn his attention back to Roland, it became apparent that he was making the rest of this journey on his own. The doctor was still breathing, but he had passed out. He looked pretty bad, too. Owen tried to wake him up, but it did no good. He reached into his pocket and found some keys. Then he walked over to the woman screaming in fear. He tried to get her to come with him, but it was useless. She was more scared of him than anything. Finally, Owen walked into the parking lot and hit the lock button, causing the car to beep. It would attract attention, but there was no other way to find the doctor’s car. What he found was a black Corvette. For Owen, that might have been the only good part of his day. As a fifteen year old without a license, he had hit the jackpot as far as getaway cars go. When he cranked the car, he saw a man approaching it. The guy looked crazy, so Owen quickly sped away. As he headed south, he clicked the radio on and heard an emergency alert directed to everyone in Seattle.

“An emergency . . . do you think?” he asked sarcastically and clicked it back off.

He didn’t look away from the road long, but when he looked back up, a man was standing in his path. He swerved and just barely missed him before plowing into a tree. For a brief moment, the world went black. It didn’t take long for Owen to awaken to the sound of a woman talking nonsense. She was standing in front of the car screaming at Owen about some Sis person.

Owen grabbed his gun and rolled out of the car. His left leg was badly bruised, and it hurt to stand, but he eventually got to his feet.

“It wasn’t bad enough for you to take all of Mom and Dad’s love, but now you want my husband. You don’t get my husband!” she screamed and came at Owen.

With little choice, he fired. The bullet ripped through her chest, and she temporarily hit the ground. The woman just got back up, though. It was almost like it didn’t affect her at all. Owen fired once again and landed a kill shot to her head. All he wanted to do was lie down right there. He had gotten out of surgery, been in a car accident, and killed four people in the last twenty minutes. Still, he had to move. It seemed like everyone had gone crazy in Seattle. As Owen examined his surroundings, he saw that he was in a subdivision. He walked through backyards until he found a house that looked suitable to hide in during what appeared to be the end of the world. Then he took a lawn chair and busted out a window. His plan was to hide out there until help arrived. He didn’t know if it would work, but it was better than wandering the streets. He could hear screams all around the neighborhood. Most were in houses, but it was clear by the dead bodies he had seen in yards that nowhere was safe.

Once he climbed through the window, he simply lay back on the floor for a moment. He didn’t hear anyone in the house. It appeared that he was safe. As Owen stood to explore his new home, however, he felt a pain in the back of his head and hit the floor. In almost the same moment, everything went black. He had come so far, but it appeared that Owen Corbin was about to meet his maker.

Chapter 2

Getting Acquainted

Owen awoke to feel a cord around him. Piper had tied him up with an extension cord from the garage. When he looked at her, she seemed more afraid of him than he was of her. Then again, she was holding his gun.

“You don’t seem like the others. Are you?” Owen asked.

“The others? What are you talking about?”

“All the people outside. They’ve gone crazy. It’s like something out of a zombie movie, only those people are very alive. You don’t seem angry like them, though. I’m not going to hurt you, so if you could just . . .”

“I’m not letting you go anywhere. I’ve heard what’s going on outside, and my parents . . .” she said and paused to keep from crying.

“Hey, I know it’s hard. My mom died, too. As you can probably guess by my hospital gown, that’s where I was when everything happened.”

“What exactly is happening?”

“I wish I could tell you. Most people outside will try to kill you, and the rest are scared of everything.”

“Yeah, well, I understand why they’re so afraid.”

“I don’t mean afraid like us. They scream and cry about nothingness. It’s like they’re hallucinating.”

“That explains a lot.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because my dad attacked me. He would’ve never hurt me before. He kept talking about some girl during it. I couldn’t make any sense of it.”

“I’m sorry, but please untie me. Right now, the people out there are staying put. A lot of them have already killed each other off. Who knows what’s going to happen, though? Normal people need each other for protection now.”

“I don’t need anything. I’m the one with a gun.”

“Have you even fired a gun before?”

“No, but that’s not the point.”

“It kind of is, but what you really need to think about is this. Firing a weapon could attract more attention than you want from those people. Maybe we could just coexist here and be really quiet until whatever’s going on out there ends.”

“Can I trust you?”

“Yeah. You didn’t exactly tie me up very well. My hands have been loose for a couple of minutes, and you don’t know how to handle that gun. I could have already attacked you, if I wanted to. I don’t, though,” Owen said as he showed her his hands.

“Fine. We’ll go through whatever this is together. I keep the gun, though.”

“That’s fine. Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Yeah, if I can trust you to do something.”

“I need clothes. These have blood on them, and I’m going to need more than a hospital gown before it’s over.”

“I think that’s a good idea. You have no idea how horrible it was to drag you across the room when all you were wearing was that. I saw a lot more than I wanted to.”

“Sorry, but it couldn’t have been that bad. I’ve been told I have quite the body,” Owen joked.

“Uh, first of all, I have a boyfriend, and secondly, you need to get information from better sources,” she teased back.

Piper felt a little bad about joking and scowled. Her parents were dead only a few feet away from them, and she was making a joke. How horrible of a person must she be?

“What’s wrong? I was just joking around,” Owen said.

“My parents are dead, and I was too afraid to move them. I don’t want to throw them outside, but I can’t walk through this house and see their corpses until we’re rescued.”

“What was your favor from me?” Owen asked while thinking deeply about what she said.

“I need to take a shower. Call me if anyone tries to get into the house. Oh, and thanks for being so supportive,” she said sarcastically and started walking upstairs.

“Wait a minute. Where can I find a new set of clothes?”

“My mom and dad’s room is upstairs. I think his clothes might fit you. You can take what you need,” Piper said and walked away.

Owen wasn’t ignoring her problem before. He had a plan to make things more bearable in the house. He walked to the kitchen where he discovered Piper’s mother dead on the floor. He picked her up and carried her upstairs to her old room. Then Owen got her father and laid him by his wife’s side on the bed. After that, he went to the adjoining bathroom and washed up. As he stared at himself in the mirror, he saw blood on his forehead. He didn’t know if it was from Piper’s parents or some of the people he shot. It might have even been from the accident. He sighed and wiped it off. Then he changed into a new set of clothes and walked downstairs to clean the floors. Piper didn’t need to see her parents’ bodies or their blood. As he cleaned, he heard screaming from the streets. Some crazed people had wandered into the neighborhood. None of them seemed to be in their right minds, so he doubted they would be very good at finding anyone. As far as Owen could tell, all they had to do was stay away from the doors and be really quiet. He walked into the kitchen and grabbed some chips from the cabinet. Then Owen went upstairs to Piper’s room. She had just finished getting ready, and her hair was still wet. Normally, Owen would have thought she was one of the most attractive girls he had ever seen. Piper had long dark hair with the greenest eyes and a perfect figure. She was obviously a little older than him, though. I wouldn’t have a shot with her in any lifetime, he thought before refocusing on what was important. His mother was dead, and who knew where his younger brother was? He should have been in shambles, but somehow Owen was keeping it together. Maybe it was all he could do.

“What are you looking at?” Piper said coldly.

“Just you. You’re pretty.”

“Are you actually trying to hit on me at a time like this?”

“Nope. You just asked what I was looking at. The answer was you. I know it’s not the time for that, and besides, you have a boyfriend. I can’t help but notice the obvious, though.”

“Well, thank you. I’m sorry I hit you before and if I was ugly to you.”

“It’s fine. What’s your story?”

“I’m Piper. I don’t have much of one. I’m a seventeen-year-old senior, I just had to kill my father after he murdered my mother, and my boyfriend won’t answer his phone. What about you? Why did you wake up in a hospital, and how did you even get here?”

“I’m Owen, and I was having a upper endoscopy.”

“A what?”

“That’s what I said the first time I heard it. It’s where they run a little camera down your throat, or at least I hope that’s the end it went in, and they look in your stomach.”

“So are you sick?”

“Something like that. Maybe I’ll tell you the full story if we get out of this. For now, just know that I’m fifteen and a half, I woke up to find my mother dead, a doctor who was unaffected by whatever’s going on led me downstairs, and then he was killed. Thankfully, I was able to get a gun from a police officer gone mad and shoot my way out of the place. Then I took the doctor’s car and headed south. To make a long story short, someone got in front of me, and I crashed. Then I made my way here thinking that anywhere was better than standing out in the street.”

“You’re only fifteen?”

“Why are you so surprised?”

“You’re just really tall. You look my age. I’m sorry about your mom. I know what that’s like. I don’t even want to leave this room because I’ll have to see them again,” she said and looked down.

“I took care of it.”

“What do you mean?”

“If we can’t bury your parents, then they should be somewhere they were comfortable. I took them to their bedroom and laid them side by side. I managed to clean the blood off the floor, too. You can move around the house freely now, as long as you’re quiet. Some more of those people are outside.”

“Will they get in here?”

“I don’t think so. They seem to be hallucinating. They attack anything that moves, but as long as they don’t see us, I don’t think they have the awareness to come looking.”

“What are they?”

“As far as I can tell, regular human beings who are really tripping out on something.”

“Do you think Derrick’s okay?”

“Who’s Derrick?”

“Sorry. I guess I haven’t told you his name. He’s my boyfriend. He lives about four miles from here.”

“I can’t say for sure, but most people were affected. He’s probably crazy like the rest of them.”

“No, don’t say something comforting,” Piper said sarcastically.

“I’m sorry. I’ve never really been in love, so I don’t know how bad it hurts to potentially lose someone. I should’ve chosen my words better.”

“It’s okay. I don’t know if I actually love Derrick, though. I do care about him.”

“Oh, so it was a new relationship?”

“Not exactly. Love is just complicated, and I’ve been burned in the past. I cared about him, and he was a drummer in a really cool band. We had fun, and I wanted to keep him around until I could decide if I loved him. What am I saying? I’m talking like it’s a forgone conclusion that he’s dead.”

“It’s understandable. Things aren’t good out there. Most would assume the same.”

“You said that not all of them are aggressive, right?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“What if Derrick was affected, but he’s not dangerous? What if he’s just in fear right now?”

“If that’s the case, then he’s screaming at the top of his lungs, and one of the other people are going to find him sooner or later.”

“Then I have to save him.”

“Are you nuts? That’s not possible right now.”

“It’s only four miles from here. My car is in the garage. I can get there and be back in no time.”

“Let’s assume we even have a chance of getting to his place before someone kills us. What happens when he attacks us? We’ll have to kill him, and you don’t want that on your conscience.”

“It’s better than doing nothing. Derrick’s one of three things. He could be normal like us, or he could be hallucinating something terrifying.”

“You forgot the third option where he kills us.”

“I never said us. You can stay here.”

“There’s no way I’m letting you go alone. I don’t know you, but as far as I can tell, you might be the only sane person left in this city. I need you, and you’re not thinking straight right now.”

“You can’t stop me, Owen. I’ll be quick,” Piper said as she stood.

Owen grabbed her arm before she could get to the door, though. She had a gun, and he hated to use force, but she was killing herself. He had to stop her somehow.

“Let go of me!” Piper yelled and pulled away.

Before Owen could respond, they heard someone beating on the door.

“I thought I said we needed to be quiet. Now we’re screwed,” Owen said.

“Maybe not. We were about to leave anyway. I’m sure it’s safe at . . .”

“Do you have an attic?”

“A small one. Why?”

“Lead me to it. We’re not dying today.”

“What about Derrick?”

“We’ll get him later. We have to hide now, though.”

Piper led him to the attic, and he let it down. As they were climbing up, they heard the front door being kicked in. Owen was able to pull the ladder up and shut it just in time. It was starting to get dark, and they couldn’t see much. Hearing a man downstairs scream about killing them was enough to make the darkened attic seem like the scariest location possible.

They both lay back and waited, hoping that the intruder would leave. It wasn’t working, though. They heard him as he made his way upstairs.

“You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into. You think I can be controlled! I do the controlling. I’m going to rip your heart out when I find you!” he yelled.

Owen noticed that Piper was shaking. She might have been older, but that didn’t mean she was any braver than him. Owen was good at looking composed, but inside he felt exactly how she looked. He wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close. Then he whispered some reassuring words.

“We’re going to get through this. Just sit tight with me. We’ll be out of here in no time.”

They sat there for two long hours listening to a man rave about some woman they had never met. Just before ten, they heard something that changed everything. Two gunshots rang out, and someone yelled out in pain. Within a few seconds, there was another shot. Then they heard a woman saying all sorts of crazy things as she walked back downstairs. They listened for any sign of her over the next ten minutes, but it appeared that they were alone.

“Should we go now?” Piper whispered.

“I think we should give it a little longer. What I’m more concerned about is the fact that they can shoot guns.”

“They’re still human. Why wouldn’t they be able to?”

“I don’t know. I guess I just thought they were too out of it to operate at any higher level than screaming and punching.”

“We should be worried, shouldn’t we?”

“Yeah. I thought the gun I got from that cop gave me an advantage, but we could easily get taken down by one of them and never see it coming.”

“Oh, there’s your optimism,” Piper said sarcastically.

“If you want, I could lie.”

“No, but what do we need to do now?”

“Why are you asking me? Aren’t you the oldest here?”

“I guess you’re right. In that case, I think we need to leave. The neighborhood obviously isn’t safe, and I want to check on . . .”

“Scratch what I said before. Age has nothing to do with it. We can’t go when there’s a murderous woman with a gun somewhere close. I think we should spend the night up here and decide what to do tomorrow.”

“You’re joking. It’s really hot up here, and aren’t you creeped out?”

“Yeah, but not as much as I would be down there with those people.”

“Okay, maybe you’re right. I’m a little scared to leave, too. They could kill each other off by morning, so it’s probably best to wait. It’s not like I’m going to be able to sleep, though.”

“Me either. There’s something about knowing the whole world wants to kill you that makes you never want to close your eyes.”

“As long as we’re going to be awake, I want to take this opportunity to try to figure something out. My dad kept going on about some girl who died. He said my mom left him with some man, too. It didn’t make a lot of sense, but I want to look through some of their old stuff. Maybe the things these people are saying mean something.”

“Okay. I’ll help you, if you tell me what we’re looking for and we can be quiet.”

“Old pictures or journals would be nice.”

They searched until Owen found an old picture in one of the boxes. It was of a family. Owen didn’t recognize any of the people in the picture, but he figured he should show Piper.

“This is my dad as a child with his family. I think I get it now,” Piper said as she examined the picture.

“Get what? It’s just an old photo. What could it possibly tell you?”

“My grandparents had two boys and a girl. Their girl was the youngest, and she died when she was nine. No one in the family will talk about what happened to her, but this picture and what he said gives me an idea of it.”

“So tell me.”

“My uncle was older, and in all the family photos, he always had bruises and marks on his face. My dad told me he used to fight a lot. Maybe that wasn’t true. Today Dad said that some girl drowned, and he took the blame for it. After that, someone left him with a man who beat the hell out of him. My best guess is that his sister died from drowning, and it was actually my uncle’s fault. Dad probably took the blame because his brother got beat all the time. Uncle Frank was already eighteen when she died, though. He probably left shortly after that. Then my dad was alone with a man who thought he killed his daughter. It explains a lot of the marks on Dad in some of the later family pictures.”

“Wow. You’re really observant.”

“I’m not. I never even questioned what happened to my aunt until now. Everything I just said is a theory anyway. None of it might be true, or at least I hope it’s not.”

“It sounds like it could be. Maybe whatever this is stimulates the part in our brain that causes rage and makes us hallucinate. I mean, if your theory is right, I’m sure there’s no one your dad hated more than his brother. He just left him there.”

“I never realized how screwed up we were as a family. Now I know why my dad would never let me stay with my grandparents. Then there’s the fact that I killed my own father. How messed up is that?”

“If it makes you feel any better, my family was just as screwed up. Here’s why I was in the hospital. My mom was a drug addict, and she figured out real quickly that you could get pain meds from the doctor if you pretended like you were in agonizing pain. Eventually, people started to catch on to her, though. That was when I was little. She convinced me that I was sick and started taking me to the doctor for my problems. It didn’t take long for me to realize what was going on. Even at eight, I understood that she had a problem. She was mean when she didn’t have the drugs, though, and my dad wasn’t around anymore, so I went along with it. I’ve supposedly had just about everything wrong with me that you can think of. If enough doctors do enough x-rays and stick enough tubes in you, they’ll come up with some type of theory on what could be wrong with you and shove pills at you for the pain.”

“That’s horrible. Where’s your dad?”

“He left when I was six. He couldn’t handle Mom anymore. I can’t say I blame him, but I wish he had come back at some point. We could’ve used him. I let her get drugs through me all this time, so my little brother Matthew didn’t have to go through that. Now I don’t even know where he is. He’s probably dead somewhere.”

“Don’t think that way. We’re going to find him and Derrick tomorrow. I promise.”

“If you say so.”

“I do. Now, we should at least try to sleep if we’re going to do this tomorrow.”

They lay down on the hard attic floor. A few hours ago, they were complete strangers, but they were getting to know each other. That was a good thing because the next day would be the hardest one of their lives. They were both going to need a friend by the end of it.

If you’ve made it to the end of this preview, then I hope you’re intrigued. I’m going to post the link below to where you can preorder Hollow, but either way, I’m glad I get to share at least these two chapters with everyone. Hopefully you were entertained, and I’ll have more news about Hollow and my future work coming soon.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GADLLNU