Rise of the Death Walkers (The Circle of Heritage Saga) by Lawrence Nason Jr. Page A

morning Jason, how do you like it?" Her breath was sweet on my face. "I got it for myself for my birthday. She was celebrating her birthday today, one day after the birthday of our nation. She was now seventeen and was like a demon from my own personal underworld when she made attempts like this.
    I broke out in a cold sweat at the sight of her. "You father is really itching to use that shotgun he keeps under his bed, you know." I gulped as she leaned forward.
    She giggled at me and then shot back out the door in a fleet graceful movement. She was as graceful and agile as I was lumbering with my two left feet. A moment later she was back wearing her robes and she sat down and smile at me.
    "Ok I will be good." She fluttered her eyelashes at me. "You know what day this is?"
    I rolled my eyes ate her and snorted. "It's kind of hard to miss what day this is. You have been taping flyers to the inside window of the car every day for a week now." I was still using the van because the coordination of my two left feet was still a bit out of sync. I would want to move my left foot and my right foot would react. The doctors claimed this was not uncommon for people who had suffered the type of injury I had.
    She giggled again and bounced on the bed. “What did you get me?" She was like an excited five year old on Christmas morning. I sighed and reached out for the sports bag I had brought with me. Again I had worked in the stillness of my new room getting only the basic materials I had needed from the craft store and the precious gems from a jeweler on the reservation who specialized in handmade jewelry. I had fashioned a pair of earrings that would match her promise ring. I held out the wrapped box to her and she eyed it for a short moment before she took the box. "What is it?" she asked
    Laughing I shook my head and said, "To find that out my love you are actually going to have to open it."
    She opened the box slowly and when she lifted the top her eyes glowed for a moment. "Oh Jason, these are so beautiful."
    "Not half as beautiful as the person opening them," I admitted honestly. "Happy seventeenth birthday you old woman." I flashed a grin and ducked under the slap she delivered.
    "You are getting pretty good at avoiding her swings son." I heard her father's voice from the open doorway of my room.
    "Daddy, What are you doing up at this hour?" Katie asked in surprise.
    "Trying to figure out if I need to go get my shotgun or not." He said eyeing the front of her partially opened robe.
    She clutched the robe closed and said mournfully. "No Daddy, Jason is too much of a gentleman to take advantage of me, unfortunately."
    Her father smiled at me and nodded his head. "I see one of you is keeping the promise made to me." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder and said. "Out, young lady. I wish to speak to my future son-in-law in private."
    "Oh Daddy, you are always ruining things." She said with a pout on her lip before she ran out of the room.
    Dr. Grant came over to my bedside and said. "Legs." I knew what he wanted so I flipped the cover back. He had taken a personal interest in my recovery and had done all of the examinations after I had been released from the hospital. His warm fingers felt the various muscle groups in each leg and nodded in satisfaction.
    "Very good muscle development son. Are you still having problem with coordination?"
    I nodded to him and said, "Some days are better than others but I can still trip over a rug if I am not careful."
    "That's to be expected Jason. Keep using the canes I lent you until you have better control." he flipped back the covers and sat down on the edge of the bed.
    "Your grandfather wants us to hold Katie's birthday celebration on the reservation and Eleanor and I have agreed."
    "I hadn't realized that my grandfather was aware that Katie had a birthday today." I said
    "Well, I guess you can't put some things over on Sam. He seems to catch things quicker than others and has the uncanny knack