SAILORS' DELIGHT: A Post-Apocalyptic Teaser

Tales from the Ruins will be released on the 25th of February, and the Kindle version is available for pre-order at just 99c instead of $3.99. You'd be mad to miss out on that deal, ebook readers! We've been posting short teasers on social media, particularly on the Facebook event page, but it's time to really plunge you into story...to really tease you! Below are the first few paragraphs of Claire Fitzpatrick's scary contribution to the anthology.

SAILORS' DELIGHT - Teaser!

The sand was littered with the holes of polychaete worms and ghost crabs. The scratchy footprints of the crabs ran to the water’s edge as the worms wove their way in and out of the holes, their thin bodies more like red string than something that lived and breathed. Olive snails with great cylindrical shells ploughed through the sand searching for other small animals to smother and eat. Woven in and around the crab and worm holes were ant-lion tunnels, some of them larger than the others, almost the size of a saucer. Lydia adjusted the straps of her pack and stepped around them, treading lightly so as not to draw them out.

She’d been walking for hours, with no sign of a path leading to the caves or an ending to the beach. She’d followed the crudely drawn map and was sure of her internal navigational skills. But it kept going, on and on, as far as the eye could see. She ran her tongue over her dry and cracked lips and concentrated on sidestepping the sand critters. One foot after the other, she told herself. You’ll make it. You will. You must.

Lydia hadn’t seen anyone else on the trail for several days, ever since she was separated from the group. They’d entered a part of the track where the mist was so thick, and they’d stumbled through it blindly, knowing it was too dangerous to head back the way they’d come. At first, they’d used the climbing ropes from their packs to tie themselves together. But then the mist came, and when it finally thinned, Lydia’s rope was slack, and everyone was gone. They shouldn’t have left so much space between them. They should have done many things. But it was fruitless to dwell on the past.

Lydia kept one eye on the ocean as she walked; the frothy blue-green water stopped as it reached the tide line and slowly rolled back. Clumps of seaweed had washed up on the sand, and she picked some up as she walked, stopping to put them in her pack when her hands grew too full. She’d mix it into her stew later on.

In the beginning, the ten of them had made the decision to stick together as a group. ‘A wolf without its pack is just a wild dog barking at the moon,’ Jodie said. They’d found safety in a community centre, and took turns patrolling the fence at night, Kate often volunteering in case Joel came back. Lydia often wondered what she’d do if he did. Would he be the same wisecracking man as he’d always been, or would he be like them? Some people went mad when their loved ones returned. It didn’t make sense. How could the world do such a thing to them? For the religious, it was worse. How could God allow it to happen? Soon they realised all the tables and chairs they piled against the windows and doors weren’t enough to keep them out, and the group had moved on, searching for somewhere higher to reside...

TO BE CONTINUED HERE!