I am happy to be hosting a stop on the blog tour for FLYING MUTANT ZOMBIE RATS by Kat de Falla! I have an excerpt to share with you today check it out and enter to win the giveaway below!
About The Book:
Summer vacation is almost here! And Pea O'Neil is stoked to try out the new local BMX track which is finally open. He and his gang of friends can ride all summer long!
But when Pea tries a back flip, he unwittingly opens a portal to another dimension and hordes of flying mutant zombie rats are unleashed upon the city. With the help of an otherworldly talking cat sent to help prevent the demise of humankind, Pea and his friends must hunt down the hungry mutants and send them back before the portal closes.
But when the zombie rats attack a neighbor man, the boys have to enlist the help of a graveyard looney and the city's stray cats. With time running out, Pea and his gang track the monsters to the city's sewer system. But in the city sewer of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, it’s eat…or get eaten.
Now on to the excerpt!
CHAPTER 2
OPENING DAY
“Wait for me!” Pea called to his gang of seventh grade friends as he
skidded to a sideways stop on his Redline. Dust settled in a brown cloud around
his wheels.
School had flown by and he’d finished his Milwaukee Journal route in
record time. Even so, everyone else was already there—Paco the brute,
Jules the brain, and the sporto twins—Thad and Tad
(their parents weren’t the brightest with names).
“About time you finished delivering papers! Ready to race?” Pea’s best
friend Paco said after taking another bite of a beef stick from his dad’s
store. Pea figured it must be nice not to have to earn your own spending money,
and just walk in and grab a free snack whenever you were hungry.
Pea’s own dad seemed to live on protein shakes and canned salmon on
crackers. His half-brothers were never around, and his mom almost always
stopped for fast food on her way home from work. Sometimes his dad got a
hankering to cook, and then there were feasts. Home-cooked Italian food from
recipes his dad had memorized from his mother and grandmothers. But most days,
Pea felt like a scavenger in his own home, living on scrambled eggs for
breakfast, peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch, and canned chicken and
stars soup he heated up for dinner.
“I’m ready!” Pea pulled into the offset starting gate, which was like
the tail of the letter a, connecting with the track like an on-ramp.
Paco stood by the gate with his sparkling, almost all chrome GT bike.
He had a habit of constantly shoveling food into his mouth, but in spite of
that he was wiry—and someone good to have on your side in a
fight. The kid had honor and was true to his word. Pea liked that.
Their dads had been Force Recon Marines in Vietnam together, and honor
and being a “man of your word,” as his dad always said, was what kept them
alive. They’d drilled those values into their sons. The few times he’d heard
his dad talk about the war, it was with Paco’s dad. They would be out in the
garage, lifting weights and boxing, when Pea came in to put his bike away.
Paco’s dad would sometimes put an arm around Pea’s shoulder and whisper things
like, “Your dad’s a hero, boy. He always had my back.”
Pea and Paco wanted to be like their dads. So they looked out for each
other. And, they were fiercely protective of the underdogs and the bullied.
Once, Paco punched a sophomore in the stomach for pushing a fourth-grader off
his bike and making fun of him. Pea was there in a flash, ready to back him up.
Paco was a “please and thank you” kind of guy who always complained,
“Nobody has manners these days!” Pea wholeheartedly agreed.
“I pulled a pretty cool 360 jump already. You missed it!” Paco said
through bites of beef stick. He flashed two five-dollar bills. “You got five
bucks? Tad and Thad are in. Winner after three laps takes all.”
Pea fished a crumpled five out of his pocket and handed it over.
Pumped with adrenaline from lack of sleep, Pea took a second to study
the track in broad daylight. Even better than last night. The two berms, a few
double jumps, tons of rollers, and that built in half-pipe—ah, the launches,
air tricks, and stunts that lay before him! Spring had passed painfully slowly
as he watched the earth movers roll in and out of here, transforming a mound of
dirt into a BMX paradise. He’d pinned all his
hopes on this track, wishing this would be the best summer of his life, give
him a reason besides a paper route to get out of bed. Maybe he’d even invite
his dad down here when he got some really cool tricks mastered.
The sporto twins, Thad and Tad, pulled into the starting gate next to
Pea on their matching Mongoose bikes. “You losers ready to eat my dust?” Pea
said, hopping up and down to keep his body suspended above his seat.
“Whenever you wimps are ready, let me know.” Paco stood with his foot
poised over the spring release lever. When he pushed his foot down on that, it
would open the plywood doors on hinges that made up the starting gate.
Thad and Tad narrowed their eyes and tried to level identical sneers.
“You guys look constipated.”
Tad broke character and laughed, readjusting his Brewers baseball hat.
“Maybe I’ll go clone myself after I kick both your butts!” Thad said,
then stuck his tongue out at them.
On the sidelines, Jules lifted his head from a notebook he’d been
scribbling in and waved. “Hey, Pea!”
Pea nodded back to the fifth member of his neighborhood BMX gang. “Hey,
brainiac. Want to join us?”
“Maybe next time.” Jules pushed up his glasses and continued writing.
Poor Jules—who names their kid Julian? It’s even worse than Peabody. No hopes of coming out of that one without
getting a girly nickname. At least his professor parents had bought him a cool
Takara Outlaw with sweet blue ACS Z-Rims. Not that he rode it often. Jules was
usually concocting some Einsteinian calculation for ways to jump higher or hold
air longer. The kid was a more mathematical genius and an inventor than a
BMXer. Pea loved picking his brain when he and Paco weren’t pushing down kids
who picked on him.
“Good luck.” Paco tapped knuckles with Pea for luck.
Pea eyed the first berm on the oval-shaped track. He’d have the lead if
he reached it first. I’ve got this, he thought, smiling to himself even though
he felt his heart beating inside his throat.
“Winner after three laps gets the cash. Deal?” Paco reminded them.
Pea wanted that money. That meant a week’s worth of vanilla sports
shakes and raspberry Zingers to him. Nobody else understood.
“Three…two…one…GO!” Paco stepped on the release. The boys broke through the gate.
Pea reached and rounded the berm first and had a clean landing over the
first jump before the pit. Next was the pit or half-pipe. Totally rad. Pea dove
straight down into it at a crazy speed. The other end was ramped and launched
him back out onto the track, but not before he pulled out a clean can-can,
kicking his left foot over the middle of the bike frame before he landed.
Straight into the second berm.
“Awesome!” the twins both yelled from behind.
Pea held the lead. Glancing back, he saw Thad pass his brother in the
rollers, but Tad was close behind.
Lap one.
Pea decided to slow up. He let the twins pass him. He wanted that cool
half-pipe all to himself on the second lap. He felt confident he’d catch them
on the final lap.
Tad reached the half-pipe on lap two first and flew through it, pulling
out a tabletop jump. Thad went full bore after him, trying to outdo his brother
with the same move, but with more style.
“Nice,” Pea shouted, descending again into the pit. On the way out he
nailed a superman, legs extended out behind him. He managed to get the bike
back in control to prevent wiping out through the corner.
Paco and Jules cheered.
Lap two.
Pushing himself to catch the twins, Pea pedaled hard, making his legs
scream.
Last lap! The three of them roared through the pit a third time, banked
hard around the berm, nailed the rounds, and had only the last double to
contend with. Pea snuck inside and beat them both, the twins barreling in
behind him toward the finish.
He’d won!
Skidding in a semicircle to a stop, Pea watched in horror—as if he watched a
video in slo-mo—as Tad pulled right and Thad left on the
last jump. Tad didn’t catch enough height for his
parachute jump and smashed Thad in midair. His front tire landed first, sending
him flying over his handlebars. His body reconnected with earth with a loud
thump and he bounced and skidded to a stop at Pea’s feet.
Tad tossed his bike off the track in midair and landed on his feet,
running. His bike sailed through the air and disappeared into the same bushes
where the cat had appeared last night.
Pea coughed from the haze of kicked-up dirt surrounding them. Laughing,
Tad asked, “Hey guys, where’s my bike?” before he glimpsed his brother, still
at Pea’s feet, and not moving.
About
Kat:
Kat
was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she learned to roller skate,
ride a banana seat bike, and love Shakespeare. She holds a Doctor of Pharmacy
degree and is happily employed as a retail pharmacist. She is married to her
soul mate, composer Lee de Falla and raising four kids together ala the Brady
Bunch. The Seer's Lover was Kat's first book and she is working feverishly on
four different series at the moment!
Register
for her newsletter to learn about her upcoming projects and find out about
deals and giveaways at http://eepurl.com/MFZ55
Kat
is so much an extravert that she has come full circle and enjoys her alone time
as much as her social adventures. Connect with Kat (who does indeed love cats!)
Giveaway
Details:
One
lucky winner will receive a $25Amazon gift card, International.
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
12/17/2018-Twirling Book Princess- Excerpt
12/18/2018- Ogitchida Kwe's Book Blog-
Spotlight
12/19/2018- CoffeeCocktailsandBooks Blog-
Review
12/20/2018- Texan Holly Reads- Review
12/21/2018- BookHounds YA- Review
12/22/2018- What A Nerd Girl Says- Excerpt
Week Two:
12/26/2018- Always Me- Review
12/27/2018- The Pages In-Between- Review
12/28/2018- Novel Novice- Excerpt
Week Three:
12/31/2018- Owl Always Be Reading- Excerpt
1/2/2019- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt
1/3/2019- A Dream Within A Dream-
Excerpt
1/4/2019- Good Choice Reading- Excerpt
Week Four:
1/7/2019- Jaime's World- Excerpt
1/8/2019- Book-Keeping- Review
1/9/2019- Parajunkee - Excerpt
1/10/2019- Two Chicks on Books Facebook-
Spotlight
Thanks for having me, Jaime!
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