August 15, 2017
New Release: The Blood Will Dry
The Blood Will Dry
Kate L. Mary
A Post-apocalyptic Romance Novel
Five years after an alien invasion, the earth is unrecognizable. The human race has been decimated and the sun completely blotted out by dark clouds that bring constant rain. All indigenous plant life has been killed off and replaced by vegetation that has proven to be as deadly as it is invasive, and the aliens that have taken over the planet are seemingly invincible.
Living in a crowded building with other survivors, Diana Foster wants nothing more than to forget what she lost the day the aliens arrived. But an incoming platoon brings a familiar face, one that not only opens old wounds, but also forces her to deal with the painful memories she’s worked hard to forget. Bryan may not be the same cocky kid he was before the invasion, but his sudden appearance still turns Diana’s world upside down in ways she never expected. When he showed up she knew it would mean finally facing her past, but she never thought she’d find a future that was actually worth living.
After years of struggling to find a weakness in the aliens’ defenses, Diana stumbles upon a solution just as a new and more deadly threat surfaces. Faced with an attraction she never expected and a battle that most believe can’t be won, Diana must work through her painful past as the survivors mount a battle that may determine the fate of mankind. If her plan fails it very well could be the end of humanity, but if works it will mean having a real future, and a chance to allow the blood to dry once and for all.
Excerpt
The city was as quiet as it usually was, but for some reason I felt on edge. Everything seemed to be sharper than before too, like I was really seeing all the details for the first time. The dark, nearly black clouds looked puffier than I remembered, and thick. They hung in a suspended state like Michelangelo himself had painted them. The vines that snaked their way across the streets and up the buildings seemed thicker and more threatening, their surfaces even more moist than ever before.
The drizzle Daisy had reported had lightened until it was nothing more than a fine mist. When it was like this it always made me think of amusement parks on a hot day, how they would have a misting station set up to help guests keep cool. I remember going to King’s Island as a kid, back before my dad died and my world had shifted for the first time, how I’d rush to join the crowd already gathered under the mist, fighting for my turn to cool off.
The air was as thick with moisture as it always was right before the clouds really opened up, despite how light the mist was. I could smell the rain on the air too. Not the pleasant odor that used to follow a storm in spring, but a sickly sweet scent that made me shudder. It reminded me of those first few weeks, back when we didn’t know how dangerous this new landscape was. Back when no one realized that some of these flowers were beautiful for a reason; that the bright pinks and purples and oranges were there to draw you in just so the aliens could take more of us down.
We were better prepared now. We knew what not to touch and what we could eat thanks to the rats and mice that had crowded the cities in those early days. We’d trapped them and used them to test out the flowers around us first, and then some of the other plants that had looked like fruit. With most of our native plants gone or dying, it was the only way to survive. Without the sun, nothing else would grow and we knew the processed food wouldn’t last forever.
I pulled the hood up on my poncho as I passed a gnarled old tree. The limbs hung bare and lifeless, like arms reaching up from a grave. It was just one of thousands of dead trees all over the city. Most of those close to our building had been cut down and used for firewood, and I knew this one probably wouldn’t last that much longer. It was a remnant of the past and a constant reminder of what we’d lost.
The rain picked up before I’d reached the end of the block. It changed from a fine mist to a light drizzle and felt unnaturally warm for such a cool day. The sun being so thoroughly blocked out had caused the average temperature to plummet, but the terraforming had been so complete that the atmosphere was now somehow cool and humid at the same time. Your skin could be moist with sweat and yet covered in goose bumps. The air could be cool like it was now, but the rain that fell was warm enough that it felt like the sun had heated it. Maybe it had. Maybe the sun beating down on those clouds was what made the rain so hot. Or maybe it was just how the aliens had engineered it to be.
About the Author
Kate L. Mary is an award-winning author of New Adult and Young Adult fiction, ranging from Post-apocalyptic tales of the undead, to Speculative Fiction and Contemporary Romance. Her YA book, When We Were Human, was the 2015 Children’s Moonbeam Book Awards Silver Medal Winner for Young Adult Fantasy/Sci-Fi Fiction, and the 2016 Readers’ Favorite Gold Medal Winner for Young Adult Science Fiction. Fans of The Walking Dead won’t want to miss out on her Amazon Bestselling Broken World series, and the spin-off series, Twisted World.
