Dead to Writes (April Almighty #1) Read Online Free Page A

several of them. I got their addresses right here.”
         Marty took the sheet and looked them over. There were five names and addresses on the list, two of them were right there in Texas. The others were further away. He’d deal with them, but it would have to be later.
         “Come on Clete. Let’s get the truck and your gear,” Marty said.
         “For what?”
         “For a road trip!”
         “Man, I don’t wanna go on no road trip,” Cletus said.
         “Come on. We gotta go to Austin and San Antonio and get these folks. They can’t get away with this. The whole world will see them reviews. Besides, you know Stephen King don’t never put up with shit like that.”
         “How do you know?”
         “Because man. He wrote ‘It’ and ‘The Stand’. He has like a deal with the devil. He just has to say he wants them dead and the devil gets ‘em.”
         “Really?” Cletus asked.
         Marty really had no idea, but he was sure he’d read that somewhere.
         “Serious. This is about honor. Mama would agree.”
         “Well, all right I guess. Lemme go get my stuff.”

Chapter 6
     
         April sat in her apartment trying to work on her novel, but she had drawn a blank. Writer’s block wasn’t something she had regularly experienced, but it occasionally reared its ugly head. In the past, she’d just put it aside for a few weeks and get back to it. She didn’t want to do that now, though. She’d been on a good streak and finally had some time.
         It was late, so she got up and grabbed an energy drink from the fridge and chugged about half of it. They tasted awful, but it kept her up so whatever worked. As she sipped the rest of the energy drink, she looked out the window. The street was fairly quiet, but it was a weeknight after all. There were a few cars passing by and not much else happening. She walked over and sat back down. It wasn’t long before she was startled by a knock on the door, causing her to bump her drink. She managed to catch the can before it spilled all over her laptop.
         “Holy shit!” she said as she jumped up and grabbed the can. Looking at the clock, it was just past twelve thirty. Her roommate was working late, and she wouldn’t have knocked. April walked to the door and looked through the peep hole but there was no one there. Turning away, the knock came again.
         “What the fuck? Who is it?” she called out.
         “Building maintenance ma’am. We got a report of leaky plumbing,” the man said. She noticed his thick Texas accent, thicker than most living in or around Austin.
         “Nothing is wrong with the plumbing.”
         “You have stuff leaking ma’am. They called from downstairs.”
         “It’s the middle of the night. Nothing is leaking and I’m busy!”
         “It will only take a minute ma’am. I do apologize.”
         “Fuck. Only a minute?”
         “Yes ma’am. I’ll be in and out before you even knew I was here.”
         She considered it. It was late, but this asshole would keep bugging her until she let him look at the fucking pipes.
         “Ok. Just hurry please?” she said as she walked over and undid the deadbolt and opened the door. The man who stepped inside was huge. He was wearing all black and had on a rubber clown mask.
         “What the fuck?” she said as the man in the clown mask punched her in the nose. The blow knocked her backward and into the wall. The punch stunned her, as water filled her eyes. Another man stepped inside; this one was much shorter and was wearing an Obama mask.
         “Did you kill her?” Obama asked the clown.
         “No, look, she’s movin’ around. I just knocked her out. Let’s get her to the truck.”
         “Gotta pack her up first,” Obama said.
         While the two argued, April’s alertness began to come back. She slid a few feet back and slowly