You guys, this is it...the final day in the blog hop!
Your last chance to win goodies from all the authors and the rafflecopter! So make sure to
check out every single author, enter as much as you can, read and enjoy all the gruesomely
​dark posts everyone has put up, and enjoy the final hop!
​

I currently have four books on sale - all post-apocalyptic, dystopian or paranormal. 
Out of the Dark #1 (book two releases next month)
Odium 1 The Dead Saga
Thicker than Blood #1
​Limerence 1 The Obsession Series

​Make sure to pick up your copies before they go back up to full price. The four of them will cost you less than $4, but at full price they should be $15.96 so it's a really great deal.

Here's the link -->  amzn.to/2zd30P5​

Also, make sure to check out the charity zompoc anthology which released last month - TREASURE CHESTS. ALL proceeds go towards Breast Cancer Care and it's filled with so many magnificent stories by some amazing writers. Go grab your copy!
​Here's the link --> ​amzn.to/2i1MCxW

​





​

I held on to the straps of the backpack while I walked through the forest. Without Conrad’s continuous chatter it was quiet. Too quiet in fact. The noise inside my head was getting louder. What started out as a quiet hush in my ears, was now almost a raging storm. Winds howling,
the crackle of thunder in the background. I needed a distraction from myself. From my wicked
yet equally delightful thoughts.
Yet I was alone.
Again.
That bastard Conrad really screwed me over by trying to kill me.
My boots crunched over broken twigs and dried out leaves and I thought about what I would do when I got to the coast. Conrad had been looking forward to the women. Idiot hadn’t considered that they would all be dead—or at least mindless zombies. He was still thinking short term, and that they would be sunbathing in tiny bikinis, soaking up some rays and topping up their tan. He was stupid enough to believe that parts of the world could still be untouched by the virus.

Of course, I knew that wouldn’t be the case.

The disease which had ravaged, first America, and then the world, had killed everyone.
Well, almost everyone. Those that survived were minimal and far between. Either way, no
one was taking the time out to sunbathe anymore.
And me, what would I do when I got there? What was my big plan for this?
I’d told Conrad I was a drifter, with nowhere to go and free time to spare. That was at least
partly true. And once he’d seen what I could and would do, he’d accepted that to try and take
me on would result in his own demise... hence his early departure earlier.
So where was I going and what was my intention?
I’d always had what my older brother called – a screw loose. T
hat’s why he’d been the first one to go.
I’d hacked off his head with a carving night while he slept.
He’d been the first real kill.
And the first of many.
I took great delight in bathing in his blood.
Dad always took my brothers side in every argument. Never saw things from my point of view.
And always thought people like me should be seen and not heard. That’s why I chopped off his ears and left him tied to a deck chair in the back yard. Next doors savage little doggy was always real hungry because he was never fed enough. And good old daddy got to watch me staring
as that doggy lapped at the blood that trailed down the side of his face before taking a nice
chunk out of his throat.

Never got to finish off mom though.
That bitch high-tailed it before I could take her apart piece by rotten piece.
She always wanted to cure me. Cure me! As if there was something wrong with me and not the rest of the world. She believed the church could make me right again. Make me whole again. That I didn’t have to be like this. That God would save me… she didn’t care that I didn’t want to be saved. That I liked the blood and the pain and the screams.
Or that maybe, just maybe, I was the holiest one of all.
After all, I was the one being honest and truthful, delivering justice to the sinners.
I didn’t do it behind closed doors, marking where no one would see.
No, I was proud of the pain I inflicted.

But, no mind, I’d find her, if she wasn’t already dead of course. And then I’d let myself turn into
one of the undead where I could really be free to commit every sin that I ever wanted.
A sound behind me made me flinch, and I put my hand to my waist where the knife I carried was.
I turned slowly, seeing the shadows of at least one person in the trees behind me.

“Hello?” I called, innocently. Sweetly.
I had the voice of an angel, daddy used to say.
And a face that could put anyone at ease, mama used to say...
at least until they got to know me, my brother used to say.


Two men stepped out of the shadows and came into view.  They’d been following me for some time, building up their courage to attack. And it was obvious by their ugly sneers exactly what
they wanted from me, unfortunately for them they had no idea who they were dealing with yet.

“Hey there,” the shorter man said, his eyes washing over me from head to toe. “You alone
out here?”

I nodded and smiled. “Yes, thank God you found me. I’m not sure how much longer I would have made it on my own.”

The taller man leered and came closer. “Don’t you worry, we’ll look after you now. What’s your name?”

“Andy. What’s yours,” I replied.

The two men exchanged a look. “Well, look, this is your lucky day, Andy. Martin and I were
hoping to luck upon someone just like you.” He smiled and took another step forwards,
vicious intent written on his face.
I clasped the handle of my blade tighter, ready to draw it out and cut his throat as soon as he
got close enough. I took a step towards him, closing the distance.

“Really? Why’s that?” I asked innocently.

He had a gun at his waist, but I’d bet every ration I had that there were no bullets in it. Another step closer to me and he was close enough to hurt, but I waited, bided my time, enjoying the
rush of adrenalin that flowed through me, the throb of my heavy heartbeat, the desire to kill,
and the silence in my head that always preceded a kill.

“Ever noticed how lonely it gets at the end of the world?” the shorter man asked, his tongue
licking across his lips.

I looked over at him and gave my warmest smile. “Oh yeah, sometimes I get really lonely.”
“Yeah?”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s when I hope to bump in to people like you.”

“People like us?” the taller man chuckled. “Is that so?”

“Yep, people like you are the easiest to kill,” I say, waiting a split second as my words register
and I pull out my knife and slash it across his throat in one swift swipe.

He doesn’t even get chance to scream as his hands reach up to his throat and try to stem the wave of blood that gushes from the wound. I laugh, enjoying the fear that flows from him.

“You bitch!” the shorter man screams at me. “You fucking killed him!”

I shrug. “You were going to kill me,” I say exasperated, “what did you think was going to happen?”
He sneers and charges for me, but unlike them my gun does have bullets and I pull it out and shoot him in the stomach. He stops and groans, his hands going to his stomach to press against the red flower blossoming.

“You shot me!” he gasps.

I laugh again. “Stating the obvious.”

“You bitch, I’m going to kill you!”

I shake my head and walk forwards as I put my gun away. He drops to his knees and groans
again and I let him see my knife as I look down on him.

“No, I’m going to kill you,” I say and then I slam my blade right through his fat ugly mouth.
The blade slices through his tongue and cheeks, getting caught on his teeth until I push harder and it penetrates the back of his throat.

I step back as he claws at it, blood flowing from his mouth and stomach in equal measure.
I take a couple of steps back and sit down on the ground, before pulling my backpack off my shoulders so I can get something to eat out of it.
Killing always makes me hungry.
​I think that's how I know that I'm meant to be one of them... one of the undead.

Today has been a good day, I decide.
I even met some people to keep me company.

The shorter man falls to the side, his gaze still on me as his life drains away. His body twitches every once in a while to let me know he’s not completely dead yet. I enjoy the silence that surrounds us. As if even the forest is afraid of me. I live on the fear.
I finally put away my food and shoulder my backpack again before going over to him to retrieve
my knife.
I crouch down and look at him. There’s the smallest movement in his eyes still and I smile.

“You know people really shouldn’t underestimate women. People have been doing that to me my whole life, and it never fails to surprise me. Women are dangerous. Maybe more so than men, because you never suspect us to do these sorts of things.”
I grab the blade and after a hard tug I get it free from his face. I wipe it off on his jacket
and stand back up.
"Never underestimate a woman," I tut.

When I look back down he’s still watching me and I can’t decide if he’s dead yet or not, but just 
​in case he is, I say;

“By the way, my name is Andy, short for Andrea.”

Copyright Claire C. Riley 2017
​

www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f4d6d07716/?

Thanks so much for joining me on this years blog hop. 

Best

​Claire

Welcome everyone to the October Frights 2017 Blog Hop!
Prepare to be chilled, thrilled and erm... something else that rhymes with those two words
​that's as equally horrific!

​This hop will be six days of horror and paranormal themed posts. From poems, to stories, to meet and greets to graphics, and of course there will also be lots of giveaways too!
​Make sure to visit each author to see what's in store for you!

Here's the full line-up for the month. Make sure to visit each author!
​

So, what am I bringing  to this BLOG HOP? I'm bringing you a story. It's one I've been working on for a while, and I'm hoping to get it out as a novella later this year/early next year... at some point.
​ My calendar is a flaky bitch so don't commit me to any of this.
​But I do love this story. It's dark and kinda really fucked up if I'm being honest. 
​Enjoy!

All Good Things
Part One


The sound of the bullet hitting the zombie in its bloated stomach was quiet, almost non-existent from this distance. Just a soft thwack and then nothing. I looked through my scope, took aim
and shot at it again, watching its body barely react to the damage my bullets were doing to its
soft mush of internal organs. It kept on moving towards its food source; the petite young Asian woman trapped in her car.
She was still unconscious, and my lips curled in a sly grin as I
thought about the nasty surprise she would get when she woke up to teeth ripping her slender body apart.

“You done fuckin’ around, Andy?”

I looked away from the scope long enough to glare at Conrad. My lips pulled back over my
teeth as I smiled at him. But there was nothing nice about my smile. Or me for that matter. He shook his head and sat back down on the ground before letting out an angry breathe.
“You’re fucked in the head, you know that, right?” he muttered.
“Yeah, yeah.” I said, looking back through the scope again.

Conrad and I had been together for a couple of weeks now, and he was okay. A bit of a pussy
at times, no stomach for the sight of blood or gore, which, given the current situation of the world, was hilariously ironic.

The zombie had reached the back of the brown suburban, attracted by the hiss of the car’s
engine that was still wrapped around a lamp post. Conrad and I had been sleeping in an abandoned strip joint just off the main drag off Pacific highway. It was a little town full of self-appreciating assholes that had always thought they were better than me, but it was where I
had grown up, and for some ungodly known reason, I had never left. The funny thing was, all those fuckers were dead now, or at least undead, so I guessed I wasn’t the asshole after all.

The fat zombie with the receding hairline had reached the front of the car now, and my grin
grew as I watched it reach in through the driver’s window, grab a handful of the Asian woman’s hair and begin dragging her back out through the window. Obviously impatient for its mid-afternoon snack, it began chewing on her when she was barely halfway through. My blood
felt alive watching the horror unfold.

She awoke with a start, her hands hazily reaching around to grab hold of the thing that was
now chewing on her collarbone, and as teeth found flesh and the blood began to flow, she
began to scream. Loudly. So loudly she’d likely attract every dead man walking in a half mile radius. The more she screamed, the more it chewed. The more she fought the more it tore
into her. blood spraying out of her like a goddamned blood fountain.

It was like she was damn well serenading me with those screams.

“Do it, man, take her down.” Conrad pleaded next to me. But I ignored him, instead closing my eyes and letting her screams and the scent of blood hanging thickly in the air wash over me like the sickly sweet perfume my mother used to wear. “Do it. Just fucking do it!”

I squeezed my eyes even tighter closed, imagining what the woman down their must taste like,
her stringy flesh trapped between my teeth like dental floss, her blood gushing down my throat. I swallowed, feeling thirsty and desperate, hungry for something that I couldn’t describe.

Conrad placed a hand on my shoulder, shaking me from my reverie, and I opened my eyes
back up, seeing a dozen or so more zombies on their way towards the screaming woman. My smile grew bigger. I had no fucking clue how she was still screaming, all I could see was blood.
It seemed there was more on the outside of her than on the inside. Yet she was still fighting for life, clinging on with desperate fingers for something that was already over.

“Fucking’ kill her already, I can’t stand it. All that blood, man,” Conrad whimpered.

I turned to look at Conrad. He stood up, backing away from me, a look of pure disgust on his
face. I grinned, giving him my best horror film smile. The smile that my mother used to stay
could turn a heart to stone. I smiled and he continued to back away from. Really, I was surprised that he was acting so shocked. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me at my worst before. This? This
was a drop in the ocean of the things I liked, and he knew it.

I turned back to my gun, staring down the scope and lining the woman up in it. She was still
alive, but her eyes held that glazed over expression of someone on the verge of death. The verge of death and the verge of rebirth. I was jealous of her; jealous of the second life she was getting. The things that this dumb bitch would be able to do now, and all in the name of death.

I loved it.
I hated it.
I wanted it.
I was afraid of it.
I was desperate for deaths sweet embrace.
To kill and torture. To tear away skin from bone with my teeth.

I needed what she had so badly it made my pulse race and my mouth go dry. But I was a fucking baby; too scared to do what needed to be done to give me the ultimate freedom in this world,
and the next.
I squeezed the trigger just as her head twitched in the throes of turning, and my gut churned in both jealousy and satisfaction. I killed her for good, letting the horde of death walkers descend
on her body, tearing into it like angry wolves. Stupid bitch didn’t deserve the gift.

“Such a waste,” I heard Conrad mutter to himself.

I stood up, bored with the show now, and I turned to leave, almost stumbling in to him. He held
up his hands in mock defence, almost falling over on to his ass as he stepped to the side. My
gaze slid up him, a sneer on my face.

“This world ain’t all about pussy, man,” I said before walking away.

“Well it ain’t all about killing either!” he argued back.

I turned to face him again, my gun tight in my grip. “You sure about that?”

He shifted uneasily. I made him nervous—good. I made most people nervous. And that was just how I liked it. In a world that was less dog eat dog and more man eat man, I wanted people to be afraid of me.

I craved their fear.
I craved the violence.
I craved the death and destruction.

“I’m just saying that I could have had some fun with her first,” he muttered with a scowl.

I sneered. “You still can. Have at her.” I pointed to the bloody mess of destruction where the woman was and laughed darkly as Conrad shuddered.

“You’re fucked up.”
“As is this world now,” I replied and walked away.

He could keep his judgmental thoughts to himself, I had seen the fucked up things that he
​liked to do.


​copyright Claire C. Riley

Make sure to come back tomorrow for part two!
​Below is a link to a huge Rafflecopter giveaway we're hosting, so make sure to go enter it!

See you tomorrow!

​Claire

Roll up, roll up! It's Day five of this crazy haunted blog hop. By now you should have seen enough and read enough content to give you nightmares for weeks! At least, that's the idea anyway. Let me see if I can make those nightmares stick around for a little while longer...

​

 
​ The night came and went with little talking from either of us. Both of our needs had been
sated, our bellies had food in them and we had somewhere safe to sleep. And sleep, came
very easily.

I awoke to the sound of groans just outside, the moaning of zombies passing through no
doubt. I stood up from the bed I had slept in and stepped over Conrad’s sleeping body, and
moved towards the door. The shack was sturdy, no gaps between the planks in the door or
frame, and so I moved to the boarded up window, trying to find some small gap to look out of.
The zombies didn’t know that we were in here, they had been drawn by the scent of Sarah’s bloody and broken body. I had left her outside, though I wasn’t stupid, and I knew that killing
her, especially the way I had, would attract them. Because there was no way to clean up that
sort of kill unless you had polythene sheets and plenty of bleach.

Of which, I of course, had neither.

And so I planted her body a little way aways from the shack entrance. If they were going to
come, at least they would aim for the body and not for us.
And they did.
I found a small crack between the panels hastily nailed across the small window and
looked out. Three of them were already on their knees, bony fingers digging deep into her
stomach cavity and extracting her innards. I wiped a hand across my mouth, feeling saliva
pool at the corners.
The sight was beautiful.
​
All greens and red, nature mixing with death.

And then the zombies themselves; greying, unnatural corpses, moving and feeding, pulling life from her death. It was amazing.

My heart was pounding, my eyes fixed on the image in front of me with so much awe that
I didn’t hear Conrad stand up behind me and move towards me. His large hands reached out and slammed against my back, pushing me up against the wall of the shack and I grunted out my surprise as his body pressed against mine.
“You think you can kill me? That I need to fear you, Andy? You’re nothin’, you’re less than nothin’, and I don’t answer to you, or anyone,” he growled against my ear.

One of my arms was trapped between my body and the wall, and I felt cool steel against my
ribs and a sharp pinch as he toyed with me, pressing the tip of the knife against me before
pulling it out again.

“Do you have any last words?” he asked.
I hissed in pain as the knife went in a little deeper, my gaze still on the zombies just outside
of the shack. I shook my head no, and he let out a low laugh.

“Thought not,” he replied, his filthy breath hot against the back of my neck.

My body was tense, desperate to inflict pain upon him for even daring to threaten me. I gritted
my teeth, holding my breath as his body weight shifted, ready to take the final plunge into my
side with his shitty piece of steel. But as his body moved, I slammed my head back, feeling his nose connect with the back of my skull.
He yelled out, and I span, covering his mouth with my hand to stifle his cries. He’d dropped the knife, and so now neither of us were armed, and as the low growl of zombies began to increase
in volume, his eyes went wide.

Zombies. His biggest fear.

I grinned and threw my weight against him, sending him backwards. The noise of us falling
and crashing to the wooden shack floor was loud, way too loud, and the groans from outside increased. Conrad scrambled underneath me, his hands frantically trying to find the knife as
he tried to shift me off of him. He was bigger than me, and weighed more, but I was quicker.
My hand clenched around the handle of the knife and I stabbed repeatedly over and over into him.
His chest.
His side.
His stomach.
With every thrust of the blade, he fought me less until he was a puddle beneath me. I stood up
and backed away from him, his eyes still following me across the room as I grabbed Sarah’s backpack and threw it over my shoulders.

“Please,” he coughed up blood, a spray of it landing across his chin and chest. “Please, Andy.”

I grinned again and hocked up a mouthful of saliva and spat it on him. I checked the gap at the window, seeing my opportunity for escape slipping with every second.

“See you on the other side, Conrad.” I mock saluted him and threw open the door, making
sure to leave it hanging wide open as I made my escape into the forest and away from here.

​Copyright Claire C. Riley 2017
​
 Come back for part six tomorrow!

Welcome to day 2 of the blog hop!
​
​Hopefully you've been busy visiting all the other authors involved. Some of my own personal favourites have joined this year and I'm psyched to be working alongside them.
​Don't forget to refer to the main list to link to everyone's websites!
​

Click the link below and enter the rafflecopter!

All Good Things 
Two

“All I’m sayin’ is, cheese would be on my list,” I shook my head and tutted at him but Conrad laughed and continued on, “just hear me out.”

I stopped walking, the train tracks beneath my boots long since used. His idiocy was beginning to grate on my nerves more than usual. “Nah, man, it doesn’t matter what you say; cheese is a
stupid fucking thing to take to a dessert island.”

“No, listen, it’s basically mould anyway, right? And I love cheese. I mean, you can eat it with anything!” he grinned like he was telling me something intelligent. “So basically, it would last
for—” he spread his arms wide, “for fucking ever, right.”

It wasn’t a question, merely a statement.
My fingers twitched around my gun as I stared into his face, equally disgusted by his choice
of items for our fictional dessert island and by his own stupidity. Every time I thought he had
reached the lowest level, he said something new and even more ridiculous. He was the worst partner in this crazy world as ever there could be, and his days were drastically coming to
an end.

“Listen, numbnuts, you can’t eat cheese if it’s mouldy, there are some you can—but not all.
You’ll get the shits eatin’ that stuff, not to mention whatever else that stuff would do to your insides. Besides, what happens when you’ve eaten all your cheese? You’d fuckin’ starve, man.” I turned and continued to walk away, stepping over the debris on the tracks.

We were heading to California, to the beach. It had been Conrad’s idea originally, me, I was a wonderer. Ain’t no home or no place for someone like me in this world, not anymore, and that was okay, that was how I liked it. But Conrad, he wanted roots. He wanted a home, and a sofa and a white picket fence. But most of all he wanted a good woman on his arm. Or at least a woman chained to his bed and ready to do his bidding whenever he damn well pleased. So we were heading to California where all the women looked like Barbie clones and strutted around in bikinis all day. At least, that’s how it had been before the apocalypse.
I was almost certain that those bitches would be the first ones to be killed when it all went down.
It didn’t matter to me, not really.

California.
Barbie.
The apocalypse.

It was all just inconsequential bullshit that filled my day up with its less than monotonous drivel.
In fairness, Conrad had been good company for a couple of weeks, but even that didn’t matter since I had every intention of slitting his throat either before we arrived at our destination, or
when we got there. I was still debating which would be the most horrific for him. To never reach
his dream, or to get within spitting distance before I killed him.

“Alright then, what would your three items be? Since you think you know just about everything.”
He fell into step beside me and I bristled at his close proximity. I did not like to be touched.

I kept my eyes on where I was walking, already knowing what items I would take with me.

“A Hatchet, a litre bottle of vodka and some rope.” I answered.

He snorted on a laugh. “You ain’t got no food. You’re gonna starve, you idiot.” He laughed again, harder this time, the sound filling me with more irritation than nails down a blackboard.

“A gots a hatchet to kill shit, vodka to sterilize the meat or any cuts I might get, and rope to make me a fine damn bed or make hunting traps.” I side-glanced at him.

Or to hang your body from a damn palm tree if I’m unfortunate to have you with me.

Conrad’s mouth downturned a he thought over my argument. Eventually he nodded, his lips pursing. “Alright, you make a valid argument. But my cheese would make whatever you caught and killed taste mighty fine,” he said without looking at me.

I was about to argue with him when the trees to our left rustled and the tell-tale groan of a zombie could be heard. Conrad’s face turned ashen and he glanced at me as we came to a stop.
He hated these things, hated this world like it was. He said this world wasn’t right for people like me and him, but I disagreed. I thought it was perfect for people like me and him. It was our own personal playground of destruction.

The zombie stumbled out of the treeline, its head tilted upwards as it sniffed the air for
anything it could eat. Its head snapped sideways, its cold dead eyes searching us out. Conrad
had probably attracted it right to us with his incessant talking and clumsy footsteps.
I drew out my machete, deciding on a quiet kill for once. I had no satisfaction in killing these things, and I avoided it at all costs, if I could. They were, after all, the evolution of man, and what place did I have to kill something like that? None, that’s what. I had no right and no damn place, but until I made my decision to become one of them—to join their undead ranks, I had to take them out
or be taken out.

My whole life I had been in control, and my death and rebirth would be just as controlled.
I stepped forwards, listening as Conrad let out a relieved breath that I was taking care of this for us—again. The urge to kill his stupid ass was getting harder to resist, and if it were a choice between him and the zombie in front of me, I would gladly choose him. Unfortunately, I needed him for a little longer.

The truth of the matter was, in this new world, you could almost never survive on your own.
I needed Conrad while I remained human.

The zombie had finally found us, and it was slowly making its way forwards, like a lion on the prowl, slowly hunting its prey across the land. It was a beautiful sight, all of its predatory senses heightened as it hungered for flesh, for blood and bone and skin, and death.
It was strong, beyond human strength. With no fear, and no limits.
It was amazing.

It stalked across the tracks towards us, its footing was unsteady because of all the debris
and it stumbled and fell to the tracks, slamming its face into the metal. The crunch of teeth and bone made me grin, especially when it looked up showing me the damage it had done to itself. Black gunk dripped from its mouth and its front teeth were shattered, but it wasn’t fazed, it
didn’t flinch or cry like a little damn baby, it just began to clamber to its feet again.
“Amazing, fuckin’ amazing.” I grinned, before stepping forwards and taking off its head in
one quick slice.

The head flew from its body as my blade separated head from shoulders, and it landed with a
hard crunch to my left, jaws still snapping, eyes still trying to find me. My grin stayed in place as I carried on walking down the tracks and Conrad jogged to catch up to me.
“You not finishing that off?” he asked.
“Hell no.”
“Oh,” he replied, scratching his head and looking confused, but knowing better than to question
me on anything I said or did.
We continued on in silence, just the steady hum of my blood thrumming through my veins
and the crunch of our boots. In the distance I heard the groan of another zombie coming from somewhere, but it seemed far enough away that it wouldn’t bother us if we kept on
walking in silence.
My stomach rumbled in hunger, and I thought about what we would be eating for our dinner
​this evening. It wouldn’t be what I was hankering for, that was for certain, and that made me incredibly sad.
But soon I would make the transition.
Soon I would belong.

​© Copyright Claire C. Riley 2017

See you tomorrow for part three of the story!

​Claire
Purchase links:
​
​amzn.to/2yZuWpX

Day three of the blog and I hope you're all having fun!
​Make sure to head over to my Facebook page, give it a LIKE and leave me a COMMENT for the chance to win a cool swag pack!​

Don't forget to read to the bottom of the post to enter the main giveaway!

He was humming. Loudly. He had been humming for several miles now, the sound started
off quiet, and had gradually gotten louder and louder until it was almost an ear-splitting roar
in my head.
My teeth were grinding together, the crunch of tooth on tooth giving me a splitting headache.
I glanced sideways at him, wishing, not for the first time, that I could shoot lasers from my
eyes and scorch his damn face off. He was looking up to the sky, watching the trees above us swaying in the light breeze, a smile on his face. He must have noticed me staring because he looked down at me, the extra couple of inches that he had over me putting him at around
six foot, compared to my five foot seven.

“It’s not all that bad, not really,” he said, his humming finally ceasing.

I blinked and looked away.

“Come on, you don’t have to be a hard-ass all the time, Andy.” He slapped a hand on my
shoulder and my nostrils flared at him until he removed his meaty paw. “Sorry,” he murmured
and looked away. "I'm just saying that you don't always have to look at things like it's the end of the world."
​I narrowed my eyes at him. "But it IS the end of the world!" I hissed.

He glanced across and smiled. "Or is it just the start?"

​I looked away in disgust. He was a fucking idiot.
We continued on for another mile before the sun began to duck below the horizon and dusk
began to fall. We needed to set up camp for the day, find something to eat and drink, rest,
yada yada. It was a never ending cycle of survival. But I can't say I hated it. My whole life had been built around survival.
Only now the monsters were dead instead of alive.
 Besides, the monotonous constant cycle was something that I clung to. In school they had
said it was merely low level OCD. In college they said it was extreme OCD. By adulthood, everyone that knew me, knew that there was something majorly wrong with me. I loved that it
had taken them so long to draw that conclusion, it had given me time to perfect my skills. And by that point, there was no chance that anyone could stop the journey I had set out on.

“We need to stop for the day,” I said, pulling the map out of my backpack and unfolding it.

“Thank God, I’m beat,” he replied, wiping the sweat from his brow.

I examined the map, seeing that about a quarter of a mile off track there was an old
maintenance shack, and I pointed at it.
“You sure?” Conrad frowned, not looking convinced. I silenced his question with a glare and
folded the map up back up, and we set off.

*

The shack was in surprisingly good condition, considering. Most of these places tended to be almost wrecked beyond their usefulness, and more than once we had had to keep on moving
to find another place to stay for the night. Yet this place still had a door on its hinges and a
roof overhead. Not bad going by all accounts.
Unfortunately there was ten or so zombies surrounding it, which meant two things. One, that
there was at least one person inside, and two, we had to deal with these zombies before we
got to that prize. And this many zombies, meant I had to be traitorous to my kind once more
and kill me some zombies.

One by one they caught hold of our scent, slowly turning with low, guttural growls to face us.
My stomach pinched in anxiousness and self-hatred, knowing that what I was about to do
was not good. It went against every damned instinct in my body to kill these soldiers. But there was no other choice, not with this many.

“Get out your blade,” I growled at Conrad.

“You can’t handle this on your own?” he laughed nervously, trying to goad me into taking
care of this all my own. But I couldn’t, there was just no way I could kill this many in one go
and not go insane with regret.

“Get your blade out, and earn your keep, man.” I stepped forwards, mirroring the zombies
in front of us, and with an ache in my belly that had more to do with remorse than hunger, I
began hacking away at their rotting bodies.

At some point, Conrad joined in, though I wasn’t sure when exactly that happened. As their
black blood rained down on me, and their teeth snapped but never found purchase, I took
them down. I rammed my hatchet into the back of a child zombie’s skull, watching as the bone crumbled beneath the heavy metal, and she fell to her knees forever silent. I swallowed,
squeezing my eyes shut at the sight of her poor dead body, and wishing that I could take it
back. Begging a god that never listened to take back my terrible actions. This kid didn’t
deserve to die, she deserved to be the queen in this messed up world. She was weak,
yet equally strong, dead, yet more alive than me. And I was a goddamned murderer.

Conrad slapped a heavy hand on my back and cheered. “Yeah, we did it! Fuck you
zombies,” he laughed, kicking the head of the poor dead kid at my feet. My hand tightened
around the handle of the hatchet, knowing I couldn’t take another damn minute of his.
He. Had. To. Go.
I took a steadying breath, flexed my shoulders and turned to face him, before raising my
hatchet to shoulder level. His eyes widened as my intentions became clear, and he backed
up a step.

“Come on, Andy, we’ve been friends a long time,” he pleaded, his voice sounding whiny and pathetic, just like him.
I gritted my teeth, my mouth quirking up in a grin. “I don’t have any friends.”

“Hello? Is someone out there?” the soft female voice sang out from the shack, and Conrad’s
gaze drifted over my shoulder.
​
“Err, yeah, we saved you, you can come out now.” He looked back to me, his expression almost desperate. “Come on, one last hoo haa, for the road, huh? How about it?”

​
Copyright Claire C. Riley 2017

Look out for part four tomorrow!
​ 

www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f4d6d07716/

Here's the link to the list of participating blogs! Make sure to go visit them all!
​

​
Welcome to the October Frights Blog Hop!

A cadre of horror and paranormal authors are offering chills and thrills from October 10th-15th.
We have stories, books, giveaways and more! Come along the dark path for all the scares!

1. http://afstewartb...Are You Afraid of the Dark?  
2. girlzombieauthors...GirlZombieAuthors   
3. Jim-Mcdonald.netJames P McDonald    
4. www.debbiechristi...CURIOSITIES - Debbie Christiana 
5. letaphawk.wordpre...Hawk's Happenings   
6. alicedesampaiokal...Alice de Sampaio Kalkuhl   
7. carmillavoiez.wix...Carmilla Voiez Horror Author    
8. stephanieayersaut...Stephanie Ayers   
9. mhablas.blogspot....McCallum J. Morgan  
10. blog.danitaminnis...Danita Minnis 
11. www.solitaryminds...Philip Harris  
12. www.authorcarolin...Caroline A. Gill  
13. frightenme.weebly...Naching T. Kassa  
14. ourwriteside.com OWS Ink  
15. katiemjohn.blogsp...Katie M. John 
16. www.authorsloanem...Sloane Murphy  
17. laviniaurban.blog...Lavinia Urban  

18. www.kellymartinbo...Kelly Martin  
19. depressioncookies...Tia Bach  
20. www.bloodredshado...Barbara Custer  
21. www.nickronomicon...Nicholas Paschall  
22. patricialynne.wee...Patricia Lynne  
23. mreneedramaqueen....M'Renee Allen  
24. ash-krafton.blogs...Ash Krafton  
25. www.clairecriley....Claire C. Riley  
26. kmcooper.ca/my-li...K. M. Cooper  
27. themusingwriter.b...Rebekkah  
28. www.slipperywords...JD Blackrose  
29. hiddenworldsbooks...Hidden Worlds Books  
30. www.meganorussell...Megan O'Russell  
31. greydogtales.comJohn Linwood Grant  
32. themacabreauthor....Anne Hogue-Boucher  
33. forromanceloverso...Hello Romance  
34. missscarlettflame...Scarlett Flame  

You guys, the first book from my alter ego Cee Cee Riley is OUT NOW!!
​If bad-mouthed bikers and romance are your thing, then this is for you!

Love
​
Claire / Cee Cee xox​

Ride or Die #1
A Devil’s Highwaymen MC novel
 
‘We would blow up this world and create something beautiful in its ruins’
Jesse & Laney 1985


 
We were each survivors of our upbringing: lost, unloved and afraid. But like moths to a flame, we couldn’t stay apart.
We loved.
We lost.

We fought.
We cried.
And then we shattered each other’s hearts.
Jesse was a hard man: a biker outlaw for the Devil’s Highwaymen MC. I was Laney: the daughter of a dead mother and a father that didn’t know or want me.
We were doomed right from the start.
But this was our romance.
And this was our disaster.
And hopefully, this would be our second chance.

Purchase links:

amzn.to/2ticBG8
amzn.to/2uunTql
​also available in paperback and Kindle Unlimited!

Book two out September 2017!

Sue “DaVinciKittie” Brown-Moore is a freelance Developmental Editor. Sue is also a veteran romance blogger and the primary review voice for GraveTells.com.

​Sue and GraveTells have won several blogging awards since 2010, and she has been a Featured Blogger for Coastal Magic Convention. She is the co-coordinator for the San Francisco Area RWA chapter’s Heart To Heart competition and has judged the Prism, Passionate Plume, and On the Far Side contests.

Get your romance fix and find your next book boyfriend at GraveTells:
Review blog: http://GraveTells.com
Twitter: @GraveTells
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gravetells
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gravetells
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/gravetells
YouTube: http://youtube.com/davincikittie
Subscribe to GraveTells: http://eepurl.com/bVbSXz

​The GraveTells IndiePendence Celebration is BACK! 2012 and 2013 were great, but 2017 is MASSIVE. Drop in to GraveTells.com (readers) and DaVinciKittie.com (authors) to for AWESOME #GIVEAWAYS, publishing and writing advice from #bestselling #authors, and reading & #blogging insight for #romance #readers
Did we mention #PRIZES! So many! Don’t miss out! Links below! #IndieMonth2017

AUTHORS, join us at http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/
​
#AmazonGC #ebooks #SignedBooks #Giveaway #amwriting #amediting

DaVinciKittie’s 2017 IndiePendence Celebration is the perfect place to find writing and publishing tips & inspiration for new and aspiring authors! They’ve got interviews with #agents, #publicists, #editors, #bestselling authors, & #publishers brimming with advice on launching your career.  And don’t miss the #GIVEAWAYS GALORE!! #AmazonGC, #Ebook, #SignedBooks, & other great #prizes! #amwriting #amediting
Visit #IndieMonth2017 to #GETINSPIRED! http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/

Planning to self-publish? #IndieMonth2017 has resources, pro tips, and actionable insight! #amwriting #amediting http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/

#IndieAuthors, re-energize your craft! Check out the #free resources & #writingtips at #IndieMonth2017 #amwriting http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/

#Authors, get excited about #IndiePublishing! Visit #IndieMonth2017 for tips on #GettingStarted #Networking #craft http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/

Trying to #GetPublished? #MUSTREAD #tips @DaVinciKittie #IndieMonth2017 + #GIVEAWAYS http://davincikittie.com/indie-month-2017/

Join us for a celebration of independent publishing + get inspired! #amwriting 

Different giveaways, tips and posts  will run daily throughout the celebration, So check back daily! 

​#IndieMonth2017 

#Romance readers and budding #bloggers will love the GraveTells 2017 IndiePendence Celebration! Besides TONS OF AWESOME #GIVEAWAYS & #prizes, they’ve got #tips on finding more stories in the romance genres, tropes, kinks, and POVs that you love. AND #insight and #startup #advice for readers who want to start #BookBlogging. DO NOT MISS event! #amreading #amblogging
Visit #IndieMonth2017 to #CELEBRATEROMANCE! http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/
#AmazonGC #ebooks #SignedBooks #Giveaway #loveprizes

Crazy good #giveaways and tips for discovering new favorite #romances at @Gravetells #IndieMonth2017 http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/

Find out why #romance #genres, #tropes, #kinks, and #POV matter, & #discover your faves! #IndieMonth2017 #GIVEAWAYS http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/

So you wanna be a #bookblogger? #Tips on getting started & being awesome! #BloggersMatter #IndieMonth2017 @GIVEAWAYS http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/

Tech MUST-HAVEs for the savvy #reader & #blogger + AWESOME #GIVEAWAYS @GraveTells #IndieMonth2017 http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/

#GIVEAWAYS GALORE! #Romance #Readers don’t miss out! #AmazonGC #ebooks #Prizes @GraveTells #IndieMonth2017 http://gravetells.com/indie-month-2017/

Different giveaways, tips and posts  will run daily throughout the celebration, So check back daily! 

​#IndieMonth2017 ​

​Big love ​Claire / Cee Cee xox

#IndieMonth2017 ​

On route to find their friends, Nina and Michael find so much more.
After almost being killed by The Devil's Highwaymen--a fifty strong motorcycle gang, Nina
and Michael are forced to take refuge at their headquarters until Michael recovers.
​Finding a new purpose in life isn't easy, but Nina is realizing that she's stronger than she thinks and needed more than she knows. At least, that's what Shooter--the brutish blue-eyed
president of the biker gang, keeps telling her.
*
​Meanwhile, Mikey is trapped in the candy store.
​Phil is gone, so is O'Donnell and who knows what's happened to Ricky. All Mikey knows is
that he's in for a whole world of pain unless he can think of a way to escape before Tim and
Clare turn him into their lunch!
*
​With both of their lives hanging in the balance and heading in completely different directions,
Nina dn Mikey drift further apart. And it's not just distance that separates them. Because
when your fates keep pulling you away from one another, maybe it's time to just call it a day
and move on.​

Purchase links:
USA  https://goo.gl/7xt9lr

U.K.  https://goo.gl/ujA1DC​​

Audiobook listeners... Out of the Dark is finally LIVE!!!
My narrator, Hollie Jackson, did a simply phenomenal job of giving voice to my characters and breathing fresh life into their story.
I truly can't wait to hear what you think of it!

​Blurb:

‘Out of the Dark #1’
 
 
We are temporary. Finite.
The choices we’ve made, the people we have loved. Who we used to be no longer matters.
Because now it is all about the ending. And the ending always comes too soon.
There’s fear in the dark. And behind every drop of light, the shadows creep and the darkness comes in the form of clawing, red-eyed monsters. They hunt us—stalk us…they are desperate to destroy us.
But I have a reason to fight the darkness and everything in it. A small glimpse of light that lives within my golden-haired daughter, Lilly. She is my strength. She is my everything.
Every life is an untold story, each scene unfolding until the final act. But our ending has yet to be written, and I will continue to protect us, until I can not.

 Purchase Links:

UK link -http://adbl.co/2romm1c
US link - http://adbl.co/2pHSwrc

Add it to your bookshelves here --> http://bit.ly/1Sd6pE4

I'm SO excited to share with you the cover and blurb for my latest upcoming book

- RIDE OR DIE #1 A DEVIL'S HIGHWAYMEN MC NOVEL -

This is book one in the series coming from my alter
​ ego - Cee Cee Riley.
​Why the pen name, I've been asked.
​Well, this series is nothing like I've written before. It's a pre-apocalypse spin-off series to my bestselling Odium series. In Odium V The Dead Saga readers just met a motorcycle gang which have survived the end of the world. This is their Origin stories.
​No zombies.
No blood and gore.
No apocalypse.
Plenty of hot biker alpha males.
​Plenty of sex and violence.
​And plenty of make-your-toes-curl romance!
​
​This book has been a long time coming, and one that I've looked forward to sharing with you for some time. I hope that you enjoy it. It releases June 27th, so not long to go at all.
​For now though, here's the blurb and cover!

​Ride or Die #1
A Devil’s Highwaymen MC novel
 
'We would blow up this world and create something beautiful in its ruins'
Jesse & Laney 1985

 
We were each survivors of our upbringing: lost, unloved and afraid. But like moths to a flame, we couldn’t stay apart.
We loved.
We lost.
We fought.
We cried.
And then we shattered each other’s hearts.
Jesse was a hard man: a biker outlaw for the Devil’s Highwaymen MC. I was Laney: the daughter of a dead mother and a father that didn’t know or want me.
We were doomed right from the start.
But this was our Romance.
And this was our Disaster.
And hopefully, this would be our Second Chance.

Ride or Die #1
A Devils’ Highwaymen MC Novel
 
1985 - Jesse

We both looked up as the door to the clubhouse opened and Gauge walked in, followed closely
by his daughter, Laney. Casa nudged me almost making me fall over and then he burst into laughter as I almost spilt my beer down myself. God-damn fucking idiot.
“Pussy whipped and you ain’t even got any yet,” he laughed harder.
“Fuck off.”
“Too many offers to fuck bitches to find time to fuck myself, brother,” he snorted.
“Offers from your mama!” I bit out.
Casa stopped laughing and scowled at me. “That shits just disrespectful.”
“That’s what your mama said, you pussy!” I flashed him a grin and strutted over to where Laney was. Pretty sure he called me something, but I drown his voice out in favour of taking in Laney’s beautiful figure. She was wearing something different than her usual denim cut-offs and tee tonight—a lacy, white, figure-hugging dress that skimmed her golden thighs. Course, she still
wore her little black ankle boots. Her hair was up on top of her head in one of those weird knot things that women wore, and I had the urge to reach over and let it down. Not that the look
didn’t suit her, it did, anything would fucking suit her, but there was something about the way her dark hair sashayed over her back that always turned me on.
“Keep an eye on her tonight, Jesse, she’s feelin’ particularly bitchy,” Gauge said, patting me
on the shoulder.
“Go fuck a cow!” Laney snapped back.
“Cunt!”
“Dick!”
Gauge looked between us both and shook his head before walking away, grumbling
something under his breath. Things were not getting any easier between them, if anything, they were getting worse. Little did Gauge know that soon enough Laney wouldn’t be his problem,
but mine. I smiled at the thought.
 “I hate him,” she said, still watching after him.
“Ain’t no secret about that,” I grinned.
Her cheeks flushed pink at the sight of me and I could tell she was restraining herself from
smiling. She brushed her hands down her dress nervously and I watched appreciatively.
God-damn she looked beautiful. Could only imagine what she would feel like wrapped
around me—at least for now.
“You wanna beer?” I asked and she nodded and smiled again. Beautiful. Fucking beautiful.
We headed to the bar and Rose popped open a beer and slid it over as we got close. “Looking
real pretty tonight, Laney.”
Laney blushed and looked down at herself, and this time there was no mistaking that she was trying to hold back a smile. “Thanks, Rose, just something I threw on, nothing special.”
“Really? Well, darlin’ you scrub up good, ain’t that right, Jesse?”
Both women turned to look at me and I had to hold back on my eagerness to reply. “Don’t think I’ve ever seen Laney look anything but good,” I said, looking between the two women.
Rose’s eyes sparked with mischievousness. “Well, that goes without saying,” she replied.
Laney picked up her beer and cleared her throat loudly before taking a swig, and I could barely tear my gaze away from her damp lips wrapped around the end of the bottle. I shifted uncomfortably, needing to rearrange my junk but thinking better of it. Pussy-whipped before I’d even gotten any. Casa’ was fucking right.
I turned to Laney, “You wanna’ go for a walk?”
“Sure,” she replied, tucking a loose piece of hair behind her ears. Christ on a bike, even her ears were beautiful. “See you later, Rose,” Laney said as I placed my hand on the bottom of her
back and started to guide her away.
“You two kids have fun,” Rose called back and I shot her a look.
We headed outside, away from the noise and the crowds, and into the cool September evening air. The sun was setting, casting an orange glow over everything and little insects were buzzing around. I walked us over to the trees to the left of the clubhouse, intending on sitting down at
one of the small picnic tables we’d set up earlier this year, but when we got there Laney reached down and took my hand before leading us further away and out of sight.
Her hand in mine felt like fuckin’ heaven. Her grip both soft yet strong. And god-damn, being this close to her I could smell whatever shampoo she used and I’ll be damned if she didn’t smell
like strawberries. Strawberries and cream, god damn. My jeans grew tighter, and while still
holding my beer, I reached down and rearranged myself.
Laney slowed to a stop and turned back to face me, her tongue darting out to lick her pink lips.
“Thought we could use some privacy,” she said, her voice a soft breath.
I smiled, knowing exactly why she wanted privacy. My girl was trying to seduce me. I must have been the luckiest fucking man in the world, right now, and I’ll be damned if I wasn’t going to
drag this out and then make her scream my name afterwards.
“Yeah?” I said, taking a swig of my beer. “What for?” Her cheeks flushed red, and I wondered if
the rest of her would be as pink as her cheeks. Damn hope so.
She let go of my hand and took a swig of her own beer. “Gauge watches my every move,” she said after a hesitant moment. Thought she was going to bottle it for a minute there.
I grinned. “Man knows what his brothers are like,” I replied.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“And what are they like?” she asked, testing the waters. She took another drink, and I could
​ barely speak for a second when a drop of beer slid down off her bottom lip and she licked it away. My blood rushed away from my brain and to a different part of my body altogether.
I cleared my throat. “Horny motherfuckers, all of them.”
“All of them?” she asked, one eyebrow lifted questioningly, a small smile on her mouth.
“Every. Last. One,” I replied.
 
​© Copyright Claire C. Riley 2017

Add it to your Goodreads shelf here -->  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34845549-ride-or-die?ac=1&from_search=true
Follow my alter ego's Facebook page here --> ​https://www.facebook.com/CeeCeeRileyBooks/?ref=bookmarks

Big love
​Claire / Cee Cee xox