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    Velveteen
    Velveteen
    Velveteen
    Ebook85 pages1 hour

    Velveteen

    By Saul Tanpepper

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Everyone was sick in those days, sick and dying. Even me.

    Especially me.

    Long Island is in the first throes of a deadly outbreak, but for six-year-old Cassie Stemple, the sum and focus of her entire world is her family, which has been recently shattered by the tragic loss of her baby brother. As her parents struggle to protect Cassie from the terrifying disease swiftly overtaking them, they fail to recognize the infection already killing them from within. After Cassie’s beloved pet rabbit suddenly dies and her health begins to fail, her parents make one last desperate attempt to escape the island. But Cassie refuses to leave her rabbit behind. She knows she can still save him; she just needs more time. A long, long time. Because that’s how nursery magic works.

    A part of the dystopic world of S.W. Tanpepper’s GAMELAND series, Velveteen is nonetheless a standalone novelette. Approximately 14,000 words (total work count ~17,500 words, including excerpts from past and upcoming titles). For readers age 14 and older.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSaul Tanpepper
    Release dateJun 13, 2013
    ISBN9781497738812
    Velveteen
    Author

    Saul Tanpepper

    Subscribe for new releases & exclusive deals/giveaways: www.tanpepperwrites.com Saul Tanpepper is the specfic pen name of author Ken J. Howe, a PhD molecular biologist and former Army medic and trauma specialist.  Titles include: The best-selling epic post-apocalyptic zombie series ZPOCALYPTO - A WORLD OF GAMELAND SERIES The best-selling post-apocalyptic horror series BUNKER 12 The international technothriller series THE FLENSE (a BUNKER 12 companion series) The climate disaster survival series SCORCHED EARTH - A CLIMATE COLLAPSE SERIES Short story collections: Shorting the Undead & Other Horrors Insomnia: Paranormal Tales, Science Fiction, and Horror Visit him at www.tanpepperwrites.com

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      Book preview

      Velveteen - Saul Tanpepper

      cover5.100

      C •O •N •T •E •N •T •S

      VELVETEEN

      Author’s Note

      Excerpts

      Care to share?

      Copyright & License Notices

      Acknowledgments

      About the Author

      Tanpepper Tidings Newsletter

      (subscribe for updates and offers)

      Craving more Tanpepper?

      tmp_3bb27f5be8e782dcca525ddb4d914311_sK4qA0_html_m5fafc9f8.png

      VELVETEEN

      by Saul Tanpepper

      ©2013

      All rights reserved

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      authorsaultanpepper@gmail.com

      Subscribe for updates on new releases,

      special (& exclusive) pricing events,

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      https://tinyletter.com/SWTanpepper

      tmp_3bb27f5be8e782dcca525ddb4d914311_sK4qA0_html_50f0a42d.jpgtmp_3bb27f5be8e782dcca525ddb4d914311_sK4qA0_html_m5fafc9f8.png

      tmp_3bb27f5be8e782dcca525ddb4d914311_sK4qA0_html_81a3f23.png VERYONE WAS SICK in those days, after my baby brother died— Mama and Daddy. Miss Ronica.

      Even me.

      Especially me.

      We were all sick, and we were dying.

      They didn’t know it, but I did, though not till right near the very end. But long before that, I could smell it something terrible.

      I remember, during one of those clear moments, right before it happened, when the fever wasn’t so thick in my head that I couldn’t think straight, I remember looking out my bedroom window onto the street and seeing it everywhere. Smelling it, the sickness.

      Everyone was running, trying to escape. The neighbors, Mister Sam, who left his champion laying chickens to starve in their coops after he’d made such a fuss over them. Most people were running. Mama and Daddy, too.

      But you can’t escape from what’s inside of you, no matter how fast you are or how long you run.

      Later, looking out the car window on the day we tried to leave but couldn’t, you could tell they were getting tired by then. You could see it in everyone’s eyes, not wanting to give up.

      All they had to do was stop. If they’d just stop, they’d get the cure. But they didn’t know that then, or didn’t want to believe it. Nobody did, and by the time I’d figured it out for them, it was too late.

      there is no cure

      Adults only believe what they want to believe and nothing else. That’s just the plain old truth of it.

      I already knew about death, even before all of this happened. I knew because, like I said, it had happened to my little baby brother.

      I don’t like thinking about it much, but I have to so I don’t forget.

      The animals were first, days and weeks before the people. Even before the bat, I’m sure. I saw them being sick, though maybe I didn’t realize just exactly what it was yet. The signs were all around.

      Mama and Daddy didn’t see them, or they pretended they didn’t. They were too busy fighting with each other to care anything about the animals. But I saw.

      I saw.

      sweet dreams, baby

      I didn’t understand it at first. I was too scared like everyone else, right up until after Ben Nicholas died, which is when I finally knew it wasn’t just the people in my house or on my street or even just

      a thing that happens

      on this whole long island where we used to live.

      Where did they all go afterward, the ones who got cured?

      It’s been so quiet here for so long that I can hardly remember what my Mama’s voice sounds like anymore.

      Only Daddy’s: Stay here, sweetheart. We’ll come back for you, I promise.

      And the terrible sad sound of Mama’s crying when the door closed for the last time, just like after my little baby brother.

      sweet dreams

      After Ben Nicholas died, I . . . .

      I couldn’t save him like I did me. It was too late, by then. But it doesn’t mean he’s gone forever. That’s what I realized. So I’ve been waiting

      a long, long time

      to make him Real.

      I remember being afraid before I was better again. Afterward, walking to the cemetery to see my brother for the last time. No Mama or Daddy that time, just me. I wasn’t afraid no more. I wasn’t afraid because I knew how to fix things.

      It’s strange. I remember being afraid, but I don’t remember the feeling of it, like watching a movie of myself with the sound turned all the way down. I remember thinking: Mama and Daddy are sick, and I’m sick. They’ll be better if they just stop running. But not me. If I stop, I’ll die. I was already too deep inside of myself by then and couldn’t speak on the outside no more, not even with my inside voice, because my tongue wouldn’t work. I couldn’t tell them what I was so afraid of.

      Before Ben Nicholas died, I honestly didn’t want to live no more. But afterward . . . .

      Well, everything changed afterward, didn’t it?

      Mama and Daddy will come back for me, now that they know, too. After they get the cure.

      I couldn’t just leave him like that.

      So I fixed it. Fixed myself.

      I’m not scared anymore. I’m not anything. Don’t feel anything, don’t remember what anything feels like. Being comforted or being frightened, for example. Just the memory of those things filling me. That’s part of what happens when you get better. It hollows you out. But I’m not sorry about it.

      Still, sometimes, I just wish I could feel a little. Just a little tiny bit.

      Hot or cold, happiness, loneliness. Even fear.

      Anything.

      Sometimes I even miss the

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