Extract: Utrecht Rain by Jonathan Wilkins

I was provided with an extract from Utrecht Rain to post for the Damp Pebbles Blog Tour!

Utrecht Rain

Maandag

Chapter I

Dom Toren, Nacht

She realised quite quickly what it must feel like to be a football as the boot thudded into her stomach and almost lifted her off the ground. She bit back the cry that was on her lips, but this was ridiculous. How did the football survive unscathed, especially with all the wind kicked out of it?

She and her brother were under attack. The boots were raining in on Freddie as he wrapped himself up in a ball under the Dom Toren. He was trying desperately to get to his feet to try to find his sister, but trying to avoid the boots at the same time. There were loads of them, kicking, and stamping. She was doing no better. She had found herself backed against a gateway to the tower and they were beating her with sticks and fists. She could not fall down; she had to stay on her feet. If she fell she knew she could be done for. Her face hurt so much, she couldn’t seem to protect it, the fists were hammering her and she tasted her own blood. She felt her nose break and almost cried out, but stupidly felt she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of showing that they’d hurt her.

Boots and something rock hard rained down on her. She couldn’t close her eyes, she just saw the boots. She got a huge whack in the back that seemed to cut her in two. She finally hit the floor, but rolled into a ball, covering her head. The smell of the rain covered cobbles seeped into her mind, followed by the metallic stink and taste of her blood that was soon overpowering her senses. Was it only a few moments since she was savouring the coffee scent from Coffee Company around the corner? She felt so scared, but there was no pain until something hit her left arm and the red hot burning sensation seared through her body. She wanted to scream at them to stop, but all she could do was taste blood and no words would come.

Through a mist she saw her brother getting to his feet and lashing out at people. She

 heard grunts of pain, were they hit or the attackers, but no words sounded as he thrashed out

and hit flesh. He was in a frenzy hitting out at anything manically, she tried to reach her hand out to him for him to help her up, but she was too far away and the boots kept kicking her, Sights started to go blurry and she felt herself starting to cry. She suddenly heard him roar at them and they looked up. They ran. She saw their faces dissolve into black and the burning stopped. She was lying there in the street. She couldn’t see him, but knew he was there as she felt his big hand feel for the pulse on her neck.

“Did you catch them?” she mumbled.

“They got away. I wasn’t going to leave you…”

“No, don’t suppose you were…” and she passed out.

Utrecht Rain is the sequal to Utrecth Snow, by Jonathan Wilkins. You can buy both books from Amazon UK or US:

Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/2VnE1Xk
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3g0pKYz

Utrecht Snow published by lulu.com in paperback format on 6^th March 2020. Utrecht Rain published by lulu.com in paperback format on 17^th March 2020.