I'm hosting an excerpt from "The One You Feed" today. That's a young adult horror book by author James Drummond.
Book Excerpt
Toby shined the
flashlight around, making sure they were alone, before settling the beam onto
some cave drawings that covered a large portion of the enclosure’s slick, shiny
limestone. Rachel scanned her eyes over the fading symbols and figures. This
wasn’t the first time she’d seen representations like these. They decorated
many of the old tapestries, drums, and tools in Dyami Askuwheteau’s relic shop,
so she recognized the style as being Umatilla, but that was all she was able to
determine.
When she was
younger, her uncle had attempted to educate her on their tribe’s drawing
techniques. However, like most of her generation, she hadn’t shown much of an
appreciation for her ancestors’ lost practices and traditions. She had as good
a chance of actually understanding these figures as she would if they’d been
done by an African or Egyptian tribe.
Her eyes stopped
on what appeared to be a large animal, drawn completely in black. The chalk, or
whatever had been used to make the illustration, had been scratched furiously
around the beast. Rachel supposed it was meant to represent fur. The way it was
scrawled added to the creature’s size and made it much more menacing. Around it
laid figures drawn mostly in red. Many of them had red lines drawn downward
from their bodies. Blood, Rachel assumed.
“Well, it’s pretty
obvious which one is the werewolf,” she said.
“Any of the rest
of it make sense?”
“To be honest, I
never really learned how to read these,” she confessed. “I’m not even sure
where it starts or ends.”
Rachel ran her
fingers along the drawings, completely befuddled. “What do you see?”
Toby gave no
response. Curious as to why he’d gone silent, Rachel turned to catch him
staring not at the drawings, but at her.
He glanced away
quickly. “Um, yeah…Well, like you said, the werewolf is pretty obvious.”
She couldn’t help
but smile a little. “Anything else?”
Toby’s embarrassed
eyes scanned the cavern wall. “Those guys kind of look like they’re wearing
uniforms.”
Rachel stepped
closer to take a look, brushing up against Toby’s side as she slid in front of
him. “Yeah, I noticed that too.” The figures all wore shirts, or coats, with
double buttons. The way they were drawn in consistent rows made them look like
marching soldiers.
“Wasn’t sure what
to make of them.” Rachel stood mere inches from Toby now. She hesitated for a
moment, then glanced back over her shoulder. “Any other thoughts?”
Toby held her
gaze, a palpable tension between them. He had nice eyes, holly green with a bit
of a sparkle. She’d noticed them the day they’d met, when he’d saved her box of
belongings. With his chest pressed up against her back, she could feel his
heart starting to thump a little faster. Hers was doing the same. Rachel knew
they had more pressing issues to deal with, but she was enjoying their little
moment. He leaned in closer to kiss her. She leaned back into him.
About The Book
Title: The One You Feed
Author: James Drummond
Genre: YA Horror
Like
most kids who grew up in the small Oregon town of Silver Falls, Toby Hoffman
had heard all the scary stories about the monsters living in the neighboring
woods of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. Now a teenager, he knows the stories
are made up to keep the town’s children from wandering where they aren’t
wanted.
Then his best friend, Nate, wakes up covered in blood in the reservation woods, with no recollection of whose blood it is or where it came from. When even more brutal attacks follow, Toby can’t help but wonder if one of the fables he was told as a child might be true. With the help of Rachel, a determined Native American girl who has moved off the reservation and into the house next door, he begins searching for an explanation for the recent carnage. He also develops feelings for his new neighbor, which are put to the test when he and Rachel discover that her uncle may be responsible for the emergence of a legendary monster that does in fact exist.
To make matters worse, there’s evidence that Nate was turned by the beast, and that he has every intention of holding onto his extraordinary new creature capabilities no matter the cost. In order to save Silver Falls from a true scary story, Toby will have to face off against forces he doesn’t fully understand – and his closest friend.
Then his best friend, Nate, wakes up covered in blood in the reservation woods, with no recollection of whose blood it is or where it came from. When even more brutal attacks follow, Toby can’t help but wonder if one of the fables he was told as a child might be true. With the help of Rachel, a determined Native American girl who has moved off the reservation and into the house next door, he begins searching for an explanation for the recent carnage. He also develops feelings for his new neighbor, which are put to the test when he and Rachel discover that her uncle may be responsible for the emergence of a legendary monster that does in fact exist.
To make matters worse, there’s evidence that Nate was turned by the beast, and that he has every intention of holding onto his extraordinary new creature capabilities no matter the cost. In order to save Silver Falls from a true scary story, Toby will have to face off against forces he doesn’t fully understand – and his closest friend.
Author Bio
James is the author of The One You
Feed and Something Wiccan - the first two books of the Out of the Dark series.
He lives in Chicago, Illinois with his girlfriend Angela and two cats named Tim
and Ruby. During the day James is a Senior Instructional Designer for an
e-learning development company, where he writes activities and scenarios to
educate learners on a wide array of topics—from fast food to PTSD therapies. A
Graphics Designer at the company, Wojtek Batko, designs the covers for James'
books.
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