Here is a sneak peek of the "Creature of Creation" sequel's first chapter. I'm still plugging away at it, so by the time I'm ready to upload, it could change, but as it stands now, this is the first chapter. 

If all goes as planned, I will hopefully have a rough draft to upload by the end of October/ beginning of November. 

For those who haven't read CoC, and those planning to read the sequel, beware spoilers lie ahead. 

..................

The forest echoed silence around her like a bad dream. The evening fog rolled in from the nearby Atlantic, bringing with it a vague sort of dampness and the briny scent of decaying sea matter to intermingle with the heady scent of moss and soil.

Underneath it all, something almost nostalgic threatened to conjure a myriad of memories lingering at the fringes of her mind.

Blood.

It was the only remaining evidence of the massacre that had taken place here, caked into the grass of the clearing and seeping into the pores of the cabin's wooden porch. Buzzing flies made way for her as she moved, stepping through swarms. A crow called somewhere in the distance in victory or defiance. It was all the same to her.

It had taken Clay the rest of the night and the next day to walk from Gabriel's farm to his hunting cabin. The sun had begun to set again, casting the forest in layers of darkness.

"Annie!" Clay screamed her name until her already parched throat scratched and failed.

She squeezed her hands into fists and her fingernails scratched at the scar tissue in the center of her palms. A migraine loomed on the horizon, and she clenched her jaw harder. The back of her head where the bullet had entered was splitting. The pain had dulled compared to what it had been when she first woke up last night.

Is waking up the right word? I wasn't exactly sleeping... not entirely dead either.

It occurred to her to search the cabin itself. From the bottom of the porch steps, she stared at what remained of the door as it swung slowly on its last remaining hinge, thudding like a heavy heart against the wall. Memories flickered in clips and images like recalling a movie she had accidentally slept through.

We were playing cards... then banging... static... blood... Annie was falling... didn't she say she would stay inside?

A shiver spiraled up her spine and on impulse, she stepped back as if recoiling from the thin ledge of an abyss.

There's no point. If she were hiding in there, surely she would have come out when she heard me calling.

Clay turned away from the cabin and began to walk closer to the forest edge where she had seen Annie plummet from the sky...

The image came in a flash, like a lightning bolt to the brain. She remembered running for her... the pain in her shoulder flared... her blood tentacles had smashed back into her body and she fell, useless, to the ground. Then he was there, stepping out of the blackened trees... then darkness. Stillness. Silence. Nothing.

Clay pressed the heels of her hands to her temples, gritting her teeth against the internal scream welling up from within the hardened ball of simmering tension inside her chest. Heat surged. Familiar pins and needles prodded her skin like a million tiny brands. The muscles along her spine contracted into a solid mass. Tears stung her eyes but she refused to release them.

Maybe I should let her go... if I had never come back, never called Zach, none of this would have happened. She's better off without me... 

She took a breath. Blinked. Swallowed around the lump in her throat and moved forward.

Annie is all I have left. I have to find her... I have to.