Shadowshift Page 17

  But first he must get home.

  When he reaches the other side of the park, Fred skirts behind a row of parked cars. Crouching low, he peers through the windows of a Chevy Impala. Red and blue lights slice through the darkness, creating a halo around the crash site. Before long, he knows, the police will scour the area around the park.

  As Fred tries to formulate a plan of escape, his head still throbbing, the Impala’s engine starts, and the locking mechanisms in its doors click. He pulls the handle, and the passenger door pops open. He slides inside the car, his heart racing, then clumsily climbs across the divider into the driver’s seat.

  Breathing deeply, he shifts the car into gear, then steers onto the street. He drives slow to avoid suspicion. Everything will be fine, he tells himself, everything—

  Fred jerks back when a blast of static fills the cab, the stereo display pulsing brightly. Acting on instinct, he reaches for the radio’s power button, but halts his hand when, through the din of white noise, a young girl’s voice says: “Don’t come back.”

  “We won’t,” he says. “You have my word…and…and…thank you.”

  As he drives, Fred listens for Hannah’s response, but nothing more is said. Nothing more needs to be said. After all, the young girl has family to tend to, and so does he.

  The static dies and the stereo dims as Fred turns right on Sunshine Avenue, heading toward the highway, homeward bound to rescue his little girl from a grim future.

  EPILOGUE

  They wake every morning and have breakfast together.

  During the day, he goes to work, she writes, and their daughter goes to school.

  In the evenings, they share dinner, then snuggle up with good books and bad TV.

  At night, they make love while their daughter texts friends and plays with her dog.

  When they go to sleep, they know they’ll do it all over again the next day.

  And none of them would have it any other way.

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Between completing When We Fall and starting Shadowshift, more than a year passed, and let me tell you, it was one hell of a year. I got divorced, moved halfway across the country, married the love of my life, and became a proud stepfather to the two most wonderful girls in the world, Siân and Emma. To say that some twisted version of these wondrous events didn’t bleed into this novel would be a lie, but believe me when I inform you that Shadowshift is pure fiction.

  First, a grateful thank-you to Shannon Giglio, who was by my side working on her own book the entire time I wrote this one. She took several breaks and let me read new passages to her, and she was always honest with her feedback.

  I love you, sweetheart.

  To the aforementioned Siân and Emma: you girls have taught me almost everything I know about unconditional love. Thank you! It is my distinct honor to be part of your lives and watch you grow. I always thought authors were full of shit when they gave their adolescent characters intelligent dialogue, but that was because I’d never spent enough time with the right kids. The two of you opened my eyes to the truth, and Hannah’s character benefited immeasurably from my experiences with you.

  The last year has also seen many professional changes for me. I started working a day job and stepped down as the Executive Editor of Evil Jester Press. In my time with EJP, it has been my distinct honor to work with great authors like Joe McKinney, Mark Allan Gunnells, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Jon Michael Kelly, Trent Zelazny, Christopher Conlon, Craig Saunders, David Bernstein, James Newman, and a particular privilege to work with Rick Hautala and Gary Brandner, two wonderful scribes I idolized as a kid, each of whom were taken from this world too soon. Thank you, all. To EJP’s owner, Charles Day, thank you for trusting me with the opportunity to build and edit a line.

  Big thanks to the crew at DarkFuse—Shane Staley, Greg F. Gifune, and Dave Thomas—for believing in my work and giving me such a terrific platform.

  To my parents, Dr. James N. Giglio and Frances Giglio, thank you for your constant support and love.

  And thank you to everyone who buys my books. Your support means the world to me, and it’s my hope you stick around for the long haul, because I’m gonna keep writing these things.

  —Peter Giglio, Savannah, Georgia, August 17, 2014

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  An active member of the International Thriller Writers and the Horror Writers Association, Peter Giglio is the author of six novels, four novellas, and his works of short fiction can be found in a number of notable volumes, including two comprehensive genre anthologies edited by New York Times bestselling author John Skipp. Peter is the author of two previous DarkFuse titles (Lesser Creatures and When We Fall), and he resides on the Georgia coast with his wife and frequent collaborator, Shannon Giglio.

  About the Publisher

  DarkFuse is a leading independent publisher of modern fiction in the horror, suspense and thriller genres. As an independent company, it is focused on bringing to the masses the highest quality dark fiction, published as collectible limited hardcover, paperback and eBook editions.

  To discover more titles published by DarkFuse, please visit its official site at www.darkfuse.com.