Title: Venom
Age category and
Genre: Adult
Thriller/Eco-thriller
Word count: 108, 000
Query:
While at a symposium in
Key West, herpetologist Kylie Marx is thrown into the investigation to solve
the slaughter of rare endangered skinks. And if that's not enough, an
infestation of snakes, scorpions, and a variety of creepy crawlers invades the
small island. With a looming anti-venom shortage, Kylie and her fellow
scientists scours the town to milk venomous reptiles and amphibians to make
anti-venom. Kylie fears she won’t have enough for everyone. She explores the
option of creating synthetic anti-venom. Until things take a serpentine turn
for the worse. She deduces that the man responsible for the outbreak is the
same person who left her for dead in the Everglades twelve years ago. Now
Vaughan St. Croix breeds dangerous hybrid snakes and sells his poached kills on
the black market. His evil presence is no coincidence. It coincides with the
National Zoological Symposium for Endangered Species.
St. Croix threatens Kylie
and her new friends with an ultimatum: produce a vial of synthetic anti-venom
for his deathly ill sister by midnight. Or watch those around her succumb
to fatal venom.
First 250 words
Chapter 1
Kylie studied the Solomon
Islands dark green skinks climbing the glass walls of its tank in slow motion.
Such a rare species to exhibit, she examined the long slender male consuming a
diet of fruits and vegetables. On a quiet morning at the reptiles section of
the Naples Zoo, she waited for the female to emerge and be courted. Before she
could check the Key West Mole Skinks in the second tank, her older sister
bolted into her office.
Penny breathed heavily as
she came to a halt. “Kylie! Did you check your texts?”
“No. What’s up?”
“All your hard work
finally paid off. You got the grant!”
“You’re kidding. How do
you know?”
While Penny explained the
details of her financial endowment for research, Kylie’s heart wanted to
explode with joy. This was a big opportunity for her to shine!
Giddy with excitement,
Kylie hugged her sister. “I kept wondering when I would hear. I thought I
wasn’t going to get it.” With no word on their end, she feared they turned down
her proposal for her research.
“I know it’s last minute.
But the National Zoological Symposium is worth it.” She paused. “But we’re
going to look into the delay, while you get your ass to the airport.”
Both Kylie and Penny
worked at the Naples Zoo in Caribbean Gardens, a nonprofit organization
cooperating in conversation, both inside and outside the wild for endangered
species.
“When’s the flight?” Kylie
asked.
“It leaves in two and a
half hours.”
*****
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