Evenin’, folks. Just wrapping up a busy day with a quick little writing session. Darcy’s encountering some pretty ick-tastic goners in these last few scenes I’ve written for Deadly Perception (if you don’t know what a ‘goner’ is, this post will catch you up to speed). In tonight’s excerpt, Darcy finds herself seated next to the only soon-to-be-dead person on the bus. Is she a sorority-girl-turned-future-drowning-victim? Or Ariel the Zombie Mermaid? Read on to find out.

And don’t forget-friends don’t let friends get bad spray tans.

Twenty minutes later I was grumbling to myself about my latest karmic bitch slap as I stalked down Pryor Street on foot. My ticket to ride the Squad Car Express downtown had been one way only. The two cops that brought me in couldn’t give me a lift home—though I doubt they would have, anyway. They were currently busy getting reamed in the Captain’s office thanks to me. Although I’d gotten my phone back, I couldn’t call anyone for a ride, either. I’d forgotten to charge it when I fell asleep the night before and now the battery was dead. Go figure.

I hopped onto the first bus that came along, but I only made it about five stops before I had to get off or risk blowing chunks all over the aisle. The only open seat was next to a girl in a Delta Nu sorority shirt that was going to drown sometime the next week. She had long red hair that was soaking wet and matted to her head. Her skin was a sickly white streaked with orange that I can only assume was the remnants of a spray tan session gone horribly wrong. Though her frame was small, her body was grotesquely bloated, and water with bits of seaweed dribbled down her chin as she chattered away on her phone about next week’s Spring Break in Cabo.

When a chunk of something black and filmy flung from The Little Undead Mermaid’s lips and landed by my shoe, I decided I was better off walking after all. “You might wanna rethink Cabo,” I said as I stood up at the next stop. “And skip the spray tan.” I left her staring after me in annoyed confusion as I hurried down the bus steps and back onto the sidewalk.

Stay tuned for more details about Deadly Perception, coming soon to an e-reader near you!