Part of Series
After the blind Apache girl, Star, predicts the aliens will wipe out humanity by flooding the earth, the inhabitants of Zion Village seal themselves in the Matheson Caverns—fighting their way through an army led by Paco, who tries to steal their hiding place. Even though food stores are low, once Paco is defeated and left for dead, they start to hope they will survive … but their real battle for survival has only begun. When people start disappearing, the survivors realize that other creatures have sought refuge in the caverns too – cougars and wolves stalk stragglers from the group. Worse, they don’t know that Paco is still alive, using his gift of mind control to turn the villagers against each other so he can seize control. When Paco’s mind breaks down, the people he controls become mindless killing machines. Then there is the worst danger of all: four aliens have been sealed inside the caves too. While the villagers hunt wild animals and defend themselves from Paco’s berserkers, Star and Noah must lead a daring suicide mission to lure the aliens into the old mine and blow it up. Can these young heroes save the last remnants of humanity without burying everyone alive … or drowning them by allowing the waters above to fill the caverns?
Authors
I was born in Socorro, New Mexico, sometime shortly after the earth cooled off. It’s clear that from the outset my parents never intended for me to amount to anything. How could I? With a name like “Ninie?” Please. Fame and fortune do not come to people named Ninie Bovell (My maiden name.) Gabriella Bovary? You could work with that. Even something as pedestrian as Madeline Bovell or Rebecca Bovell or (though you’d lose points here for lack of originality) Elizabeth Bovell. But Ninie? I never had a chance. If I sound a mite hostile, bear in mind that in one decisive stroke my parents sentenced their precious newborn daughter to a lifetime of explanations that began my first day at Muleshoe Elementary School. (Yeah, Muleshoe. The hits just keep on coming.) After a painful week, I had a rap down that I still use today: “No, it’s not Ninnie like skinny and penny. It’s Ninie—rhymes with tiny and shiny. 9e…get it? And no, it doesn’t mean anything, it isn’t short for anything, long for anything, or a substitute for anything. It just is. (Pause here for the inevitable ‘Why?’) You got me, pal, I couldn’t tell you.” I grew up in Texas, got a BA in English and theatre from Texas Tech University and snagged a job as a newspaper reporter. Didn't know a thing about journalism, but my editor said if I could write he could teach me the rest of it and if I couldn't write the rest of it didn't matter. I hung in there for a 25-year career as a journalist. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world, but as soon as I figured out that making up the facts was a whole lot more fun than reporting them, I never looked back. Now, I write suspense—every flavor except pistachio: psychological suspense, inspirational suspense, suspense thrillers, paranormal suspense, suspense mysteries. In every book I write I try to keep this promise to Loyal Reader: I will tell you a story in a distinctive voice you'll always recognize, about people as ordinary as you are—people who have been slammed by something they didn’t sign on for, and now they must fight for their lives. Then smack in the middle of their everyday worlds, those people encounter the unexplainable—and it's always the game-changer."
Avery Blake is obsessed with all things sci-fi. She writes stories about the things that fascinate and occasionally terrify her and the potential futures humanity might have. She expresses her hopes and fears through gripping tales where everyday people face extraordinary enemies, opportunities, and decisions. Her stories suck the reader into worlds where strange alien races have taken over, tech designed to make our world better gets out of hand, and robots make us question what it means to be human. You’ll be hard pressed to find Avery, as she’s always on the move, staying one step ahead of the tracking bots (that are coming soon, if not already here).
