by Travis, Todd
- A group of graduate students on a remote Alaskan range seeking Bigfoot find a monster far more deadly than they ever imagined …
- A mysterious little girl somehow “invites” herself along on an abduction …
- An elderly store manager, disturbed by a stranger eyeing the armored truck deliveries, takes matters into his own hands, to shocking results …
- A young beautiful woman hunts men on the streets of Manhattan late at night …
TODD TRAVIS (Creatures of Appetite) has gathered a haunting collection of stories and a short novel that explores the monsters, both living and dead, roaming our world.
The Living And The Dead
A bonus sample from:
CREATURES OF APPETITE
A novel by TODD TRAVIS now available on AMAZON – Creatures of Appetite
REVIEWS:
“You’re used to clever plots, complex characters, twisted cases and brilliant writing. Few things can surprise you, because most times you figure out who the murderer is before the book ends. Well, let me tell you something: ‘Creatures of Appetite’ by Todd Travis is like nothing you’ve read before. Prepare yourself to be hooked from the very first pages, to forget that you need to eat or sleep, and to be taken by surprise by a twisted ending that you could have never guessed.”
—Jo Ammons, NY Books Examiner
“If you start reading this book thinking that you’ll be able to put it down before bedtime, you’re wrong. You’ll only be able to fall asleep after you turn the last page. Usually, readers who read a lot of crime novels gain the ability to guess how everything is going to end, or at least suspect. It’s not going to happen with “Creatures of Appetite”, because the ending will come as a shock.”
—Top Books Worth Reading
“No, as a reader you won’t guess who the murderer is before Jacob Thorne puts two and two together, but that’s not what makes Creatures of Appetite stand out in its genre. What makes it really worth reading is on the very last pages.”
—All Fantasy Worlds
Kelly woke suddenly. She’d heard something. Even though she’d been fast asleep she was certain she’d heard something. It was a creaking noise from somewhere in her house. She poked Bryan, who grunted but didn’t move. Kelly caught her breath and listened hard to what the house had to say for itself. It could be that she dreamt it, the noise. There, she heard it again. It sounded almost like footsteps and that frightened her. Kelly reached over to her husband and shook him.
“Bryan,” Kelly whispered. “Bryan! I hear something.”
“It’s the furnace,” Bryan didn’t even open his eyes. “Go back to sleep.”
“It’s NOT the furnace, listen,” Kelly shook him again. “Wake up and listen!”
“Woman, would you just …” Bryan stopped suddenly. He’d heard something himself. Bryan grabbed his glasses from the nightstand next to the bed and put them on. He held a hand up to his wife to quiet her as he sat up. They listened together again to their house, which now had nothing to say for itself. Now Bryan didn’t care for the silence of his house, it was almost like his home had been whispering and somehow gotten shushed. Bryan swung out of bed, barefoot in sweatpants and a T-shirt.
“Did you check on Wendy before bed?”
“Yes, like always,” Kelly whispered. “She was out like a light, you know she always sleeps hard after swimming. What is it?”
“It’s probably nothing. I’m gonna check on Wendy. You stay here.”
Bryan padded over to their closed bedroom door. He paused before opening it, reached down and grabbed the baseball bat right next to the bedroom closet. With everything going on, he and Kelly had been taking care never to let their daughter Wendy, who was nine, out of their sight at any time outside of their house. They took turns waiting for her after her school functions and she never went anywhere without one of her parents close by.
In addition, he’d started keeping his trusty baseball bat close by the bed when he slept, which made him feel better even though the house was bolted up tight at night. He had a shotgun in the house as well, most folks in Nebraska did, but that was kept locked up downstairs in the cabinet. He couldn’t very well leave a loaded shotgun lying around his bedroom because Wendy was in the habit of walking in her sleep and sometimes he and Kelly would wake up to find her snuggled in bed between them.
They couldn’t take the chance that she might pick the weapon up, even in her sleep. As he listened at the door to the hallway, Bryan thought to himself, just for a brief moment, that maybe it was time to move the whole damn gun cabinet into their bedroom.
He hoped Wendy had another case of the night-walks, gotten up to go to the bathroom for a glass of water or to pee, and that was all it was.
“Bryan!”
“Shhh!”
Bryan slowly cracked the bedroom door open and looked out into the hall. Nothing. He opened it all the way and stepped quietly out into the hall, listening very hard to his house as it slept.
A small night-light cast a bit of illumination around the hall and the rest of the second floor. Bryan tiptoed to the railing of the stairs and looked down into the first floor. Everything was quiet and covered in shadow. Nothing moved or made noise. Bryan walked quietly toward his daughter’s bedroom, hefting his bat to calm his nerves. Bryan slowly opened his daughter’s door and stepped in, bat held high.
Under the blue glow of her Lilo and Stitch night-light, his daughter Wendy slept, curled up blissfully in her bed. Bryan breathed a sigh of relief and lowered his bat. He gently moved an errant blonde hair that had fallen into Wendy’s mouth and adjusted the covers on her bed. Can’t be too careful these days with all the insanity going on in the world, Bryan thought as he watched his daughter sleep.
Bryan returned to his bedroom and his wife a few moments later, shut their bedroom door and tossed his bat back to its spot next to his closet.
“Is she …” Kelly whispered.
“Wendy’s fine, I just checked on her, sleeping like a baby.”
Bryan yawned, put his glasses on the nightstand and crawled back into bed.
“Is everything …”
“Everything’s cool, I went downstairs, checked everything out, house is still locked up, nobody there, nothing to worry about.”
“Then what was it?”
“Just the house, houses make noise as they settle for the winter. Don’t worry, honey-bunny.”
Bryan turned off the lamp next to the bed and settled back under the covers. Kelly snuggled up close to her husband. “My hero.” They cuddled for a few moments. “Bryan. Bryan?”
“What?”
“I’m thirsty.”
“So go get a drink of water.”
“You’re already up. Bryan? Bryyyan. I’ll make it worth your while. Bryan?”
“Damn, Kelly! All right, okay.”
Bryan grabbed his glasses and slid out of bed again, this time without turning the light on. He stomped over to his bedroom door and opened it.
A tall man in black with a dark ski mask pulled over his head stood in the bedroom doorway. The Iceman.
Before Bryan could speak or react, the Iceman quickly touched him on the side of his neck with an electric stun gun, which sparked upon contact with Bryan’s skin.
Bryan collapsed to the floor without a sound, unconscious.
Kelly turned toward the door at the sound of the Taser and squinted into the darkness of the bedroom before her.
Without a word, the Iceman stepped into the dark bedroom toward the fallen man’s wife.
“Bryan?” Kelly whispered.
A novel by TODD TRAVIS
CREATURES OF APPETITE
They call it The Heartland Child Murders. Everyone else calls it a nightmare. Locked doors don’t stop him. He leaves no trace behind. He only takes little girls.
His nickname… The Iceman.
A deranged serial killer roams wintry rural Nebraska with a demented purpose no one can fathom. Special Agent EMMA KANE, a form
er DC cop and damaged goods now with the FBI, is assigned to babysit burnt-out profiler JACOB THORNE, once the best in the business but now said to have lost his edge, as they both fly to Nebraska to catch this maniac.
Thorne is erratic, abrasive and unpredictably brilliant, but what he and Kane find in the heartland is much more than anyone bargained for, especially when the Iceman challenges them personally. The clock is ticking and a little girl’s life is on the line.
And maybe even more with that, once they find out what he’s really up to.
Now available on AMAZON and in paperback: Creatures Of Appetite
Todd Travis’s interests include conspiracy theories, the poetry of Michael O’Donoghue and pop music and movies of the 80s. He is single and moves around a lot. His current whereabouts are at this time unknown. He dislikes cable news, views cell phones with suspicion and don’t even get him started on email. He also believes poker is not a sport and therefore should never be allowed on ESPN.
He previously authored the psychological thriller Creatures of Appetite and the horror collection The Living And The Dead. More horror stories and Thorne / Kane thrillers are on the way. There is a Facebook fan page started by one of his very few friends. Check there for updates or messages:
Novelist Todd Travis
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
About Sex, Marry, Kill
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
Chapter Seventy-Two
Chapter Seventy-Three
Chapter Seventy-Four
Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter Seventy-Six
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Chapter Seventy-Nine
Chapter Eighty
Chapter Eighty-One
Chapter Eighty-Two
Chapter Eighty-Three
Chapter Eighty-Four
Also from Todd Travis
About the Author