All the Rage

by Wilson, F. Paul

• ISBN13: 9780812566543
• ISBN10: 0812566548
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-14
• Publisher: Tor Books

Summary

Can you imagine a new chemical compound, a non-addictive designer drug that heightens your assertiveness, opens the door to your primal self, giving you an edge wherever you compete? Whether on the street or the football field, in a classroom or a boardroom. Wouldn't you be tempted to try it . . . just once? What happens if it releases uncontrollable rage and makes you a killer?

Author Biography

F. Paul Wilson, a New York Times bestselling author of horror, adventure, medical thrillers, science fiction, and virtually everything in between, is a practicing physician who resides in Wall, New Jersey.

Table of Contents

All the Rage

WEDNESDAY--APRIL 26

"This is crazy," Macintosh said. "What are we doing here?"

Dr. Luc Monnet watched the unkempt younger man breathe into his grimy hands and rub them together as he paced back and forth on the wet grass. It had rained most of the day, but now the skies had cleared.

"You should have brought a jacket, Tom."

"You didn't tell me we'd be standing around in a field at goddamn three in the morning!"

A moonless sky vaulted above them. Nearby, the glowing ribbon of Route 290 lay still and largely empty; beyond it the lights of downtown Chicago lit the horizon with false dawn. Hulking masses of hotels or office buildings rose here and there across the flat land like desert buttes.

"You're the one who wanted to know the source of the molecule," Luc said.

Demanded was more like it, but that was such a loaded term. Luc wanted to keep everything on an even keel for the moment.

"I still do. But what are we doing hanging around a circus?"

"It's not a circus." Luc gestured to the loomingshadow of the large oblong tent behind them. "As the sign says, it's an 'Oddity Emporium.'"

Macintosh snorted. "Euphemism for freak show. That still doesn't explain what we're doing here."

"This is the source of the molecule."

"Ok, fine. But why are we standing outside cooling our heels? And I do mean cooling."

Luc grinned in the darkness. If Macintosh saw him, he'd probably think it a response to his feeble attempt at humor. But Luc found nothing funny about Macintosh. Nothing likable about him either. Especially his looks. They were such a mismatched pair. Luc's close-cropped, styled brown hair, trim five-nine frame, and tailor-made slacks and sweater next to Macintosh's tall, ungainly torso, his wrinkled shirt, worn jeans, shaggy hair, and wispy goatee.

Truth was, he was glad Macintosh was uncomfortable in the cold. He wished he'd freeze to death right here and now. The swine didn't have much longer to live anyway, and that would spare Luc the ordeal of having him killed.

Killed, he thought, shuddering at the concept. I'm going to cause another human being's death tonight. What would have been unthinkable two weeks ago had become something he had to do. He felt nothing for Macintosh, only a crawling anxiety to have done with it.

"And was all the subterfuge necessary?" Macintosh whined. "Separate flights, separate hotels, you picking me up on the street in the wee hours of the morning to haul me out here to the middle of nowhere. Like some bad movie."

Luc bit back a sharp retort. Didn't the damn fool ever shut up?

"Think about that, Tom," he said, keeping his voiceeven. It wouldn't do to betray his loathing for this piece of human garbage. Yet. "Just think about it."

Macintosh was blessedly quiet for a moment. Thinking, perhaps? That was something he should have done before he demanded to know the secrets of the molecule.

Macintosh--what had he been thinking when he'd hired this slovenly creature? A brilliant researcher with gaping holes in his intellect. Perfect example: if he'd possessed a lick of common sense he never would have come here.

"Yeah," Macintosh said finally. "I see what you mean. But how much longer?"

Luc lifted his wrist and pressed the illumination button on the rim of his watch. The face lit, revealing 4:11:08. That was Eastern Standard Time. He hadn't bothered resetting it.

"A few more minutes," he said.

In truth, the moment he'd been waiting for had passed. Ten minutes and fifty-four seconds after four had been the mark, but he always liked to give himself a cushion. Just in case.

Canvas rustled behind them and a deep voice said, "We're ready."

Luc turned and saw a tall figure holding back a tent flap.

"Finally!" Macintosh cried as Luc led him toward the faintly lit opening.

"Good evening, Mr. Prather," Luc said to the tall, oddly shaped man holding the flap. The owner of the show had arrived.

"Good evening, Dr. Monnet," Prather said in his deep voice that seemed to echo around him. He pronounced Luc's surname properly, but with an odd cadence.

Ozymandias Prather. An odd-looking duck--nearlysix and a half feet tall, with narrow shoulders, a barrel chest, and wide hips. His long, narrow head completed the conical layout of his body.

"This is Dr. Macintosh. I told you that he'd be coming."

"You did indeed," Prather said.

No one offered to shake hands.

The air within was thicker and warmer but only marginally brighter than the starlight outside.

"Didn't they pay their electric bill?" Macintosh muttered as they followed Prather down the midway toward a better-lit area at the far end of the tent. "And what's that stink?"

Luc clenched his teeth. "That's the source."

At the end of the midway, in a pool of wan light, sat a cage. Above the iron bars a chipped wooden sign heralded THE AMAZING SHARKMAN! in faded red letters. Two roustabouts crouched before the cage, struggling with something between them--something long and dark that ended in three taloned fingers.

"My God!" Macintosh said, stopping and gaping at the sight. "What is that?"

"That ... is the source."

He knew what was going through Macintosh's mind: Sharkman? That arm cannot belong to a man of any sort. It has to be a fake, a muscle-bound performer in a rubber suit with a clawed glove.

That was what Luc himself had thought when he'd first seen the creature that crouched behind the bars. But it had proved to be the real thing. That dark reptilian skin bled when punctured; the talons on the ends of those thick fingers were sharp and deadly.

But Luc was dismayed that tonight it took only two of Prather's roustabouts to steady the creature's arm. These identical, vaguely canine fellows looked evenodder than Prather--muscular, neckless hulks with close-cropped hair, big square teeth, tiny ears, and dark, deep-set eyes. When Luc had begun taking samples last year, five of them had had difficulty restraining the thrashing Sharkman.

He squinted past them into the shadows of the cage but could make out only a darker blot within. He didn't need to see the creature to know it was failing. At first he hadn't been sure, but now with each visit it was more and more apparent that it was fading away. Another month, perhaps--certainly no more than two--and it would be dead. The wellspring of the molecule would be gone.

And then what would he do?

The precipitous drop in cash flow would be the least of Luc's problems.

He did his best to shake off the sick feeling crawling through the pit of his stomach and withdrew the venipuncture kit from his coat pocket.

Macintosh said, "This is some sort of joke, right?"

Feeling very tired all of a sudden, Luc shook his head. "No, Tom. No joke."

He unwrapped and inserted the short end of an eighteen-gauge double-pointed phlebotomy needle into the plastic sheath; with two serum separation tubes ready, he approached the arm.

"W-what are you going to do?" Macintosh said.

"What does it look like? I'm going to draw some blood."

The rank smell of the creature mixed with the wet-dog stink of the roustabouts, making him a little queasy. Holding his breath, Luc didn't prep the dark skin, simply trapped a ropy vein between two fingers and worked the needle point through the gritty epidermis--like stabbing through layers of sandpaper. As soon as hewas into the vein he snapped the vacuum tube home and watched it fill with dark fluid, much darker than human blood.

When the second tube was full--always an extra, just in case--he backed away and the roustabouts released the thing's arm. The creature snatched it back through the bars, then rolled over onto its side, facing away from them.

Luc held the tube up to the light.

"That's blood?" Macintosh said, leaning over his shoulder. "Looks more like tar."

Although as black, the fluid was nowhere near as thick as tar. In fact, this sample was noticeably thinner than the last. When Luc had started drawing the creature's blood, the tubes would fill slowly despite the eighteen-gauge needle. Tonight a twenty-two-gauge would have been sufficient. Another depressing sign that the source was failing.

Macintosh straightened and stepped closer--but not too close--to the cage. He peered into the shadowy interior.

"What is it?" he said, his voice hushed.

"No one knows," Luc said, returning the tubes to their padded transport case. "And it's a pity that you don't either."

Macintosh turned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that if you knew something about it, anything at all, you'd be useful. I'd have a reason for letting you live."

"Heh," Macintosh managed through a wobbly smile.

Luc said nothing; he simply stared at him.

Macintosh licked his lips. "That's not funny, Doc."

Luc took profound pleasure in watching the smile fade and the eyes widen as the traitor came to realize he wasn't joking.

Macintosh glanced quickly around, then made a move toward the midway. But the two roustabouts blocked his way. He tried the other direction, but three more identical roustabouts appeared.

"Oh, God!" Macintosh wailed. "You can't be serious!"

"What did you expect?" Luc shouted. Finally he could vent his fury. "You've tried to blackmail me! Did you think I would stand for that?"

"No! Not blackmail! I--"

"'Give me a piece of the action or I go to the police'. That's what you said, wasn't it."

"No, really! I didn't--"

"If you'd simply gone straight to the police, I would have been angry, but at least I could have seen you as a well-meaning citizen. But after I'd hired you, provided you with cutting-edge research technology, and trusted you with my records, you try to dip your filthy hands into what is mine, what I discovered and developed. That's despicable--intolerable."

"Please!" Macintosh dropped to his knees, held up his hands, palms pressed together as if in prayer. "Please, I'm sorry!"

Luc stoked his rage. Without it he might not muster the courage to give Oz the signal to remove Macintosh and dispose of him.

"Or if you'd accomplished what I hired you to do, I would have found a way to cut you in. But you've failed me, Tom--as a researcher ... and as a man."

Macintosh sobbed. "Oh, Jesus!"

Luc glanced at Prather and nodded. Prather cocked his head toward Macintosh. In a single fluid motion, one of the roustabouts stepped up behind the kneeling man, raised a balled fist, and slammed it into the back of his neck.

Luc staggered back as he heard bones crunch like peanut shells and saw Macintosh's eyes bulge in their sockets as if his brain were pushing them from behind. Luc had never dreamed Prather's men would kill the man right in front of him. A surge of bile burned the back of his throat as he watched Macintosh pitch forward, his face landing in the dirt. His hands and feet twitched in time to the tune of his choked gurgling; then he lay still.

Luc swallowed and stared at the roustabouts. The killer had stepped back to rejoin his brothers, and Luc couldn't tell now which one had struck Macintosh, but the power behind that single blow had been ... inhuman.

He felt weak in his knees. He'd wanted Macintosh gone, but not to watch him die.

A dismissive flick of Prather's wrist set the roustabouts into motion. They grabbed Macintosh's body by its feet and dragged him out like a piece of tarpaulin.

Luc struggled to pull himself together. His life seemed to have been drifting into the Abyss these past months, but with this act he felt he'd accelerated into free fall. And yet, despite his growing despair, he could not deny his relief at no longer having Macintosh's threats hanging over him.

"We'll bury him deep," Prather said. "The ground here will be pocked and scarred when we leave Sunday. No one will notice."

Still speechless, Luc removed a thick envelope from his breast pocket and handed it to him. An oily lock of the big man's lank dark hair fell over his forehead as he opened the envelope and fanned through the wad of bills. The wan light made his pale skin look cadaverish.

"It's all there," Luc said, finding his voice.

"Yes, it appears to be." He stared down at Luc withhis icy blue eyes. "Why didn't you have Mr. Dragovic take care of this for you?"

Luc stiffened. "Dragovic? What do you mean?"

Prather smiled--thin, thin lips drawing back over yellow teeth. Not a pleasant sight "Come now, Doctor. I've done a little research myself. Didn't you think I'd be curious as to why you're so interested in my mystery pet's blood?"

Luc sagged. He could smell another shakedown coming.

"Not to worry," Prather said. "I've no taste for blackmail. Extortion is so sordid. But I can't help wonder why you didn't have your best customer remove this threat to both of you." His smile broadened. "Unless of course you didn't want Mr. Dragovic to know you'd left yourself so vulnerable."

Luc shrugged to mask the bunching of the muscles in his neck and shoulders. Prather had scored a bull's-eye. The last thing Luc needed was for Milos Dragovic to learn that this pig Macintosh had almost blown the whole business. Dragovic must never even imagine that Luc did not have absolute control of his end.

"Just as well," Prather said. "The extra money for removing him will help us meet payroll."

"Business off?" Luc said, trying to steer away from the subject of Milos Dragovic.

Prather nodded. "Bad weather sends people to movies but not to freak shows. And truthfully, some of our attractions become rather ... ripe in wet weather."

In wet weather? Luc thought. How about any weather?

"I'll take the next sample on May twenty-fifth," Luc said, paving his way toward the exit. "Where will your troupe be then?"

Prather smiled again. "Virtually in your backyard,Dr. Monnet. We'll be in a little Long Island town that is one of our favorite annual stops. We'll be quite nearly neighbors for a while. Won't that be special."

Luc shivered at the thought of living anywhere near Ozymandias Prather and his freaks. "Well, it will be nice to simply hop into a car rather than fight through the airports."

"See you then, Dr. Monnet."

Relieved to be leaving, Luc turned and hurried along the dark midway toward the exit.

Copyright © 2000 by F. Paul Wilson

Excerpts

I
 
 
“What did you think?” Gia said.
“Well…” Jack glanced around as he gathered his thoughts, not quite sure what to say.
He, Gia, and Vicky had just exited the Metropolitan Museum of Art and now stood atop the high granite steps. The sun had been low when they’d entered and was well gone now. A tiny sliver of moon, a glowing fingernail clipping, hung in the sky. Below them, singles, couples, and groups lounged on the steps, smoking, eating, cuddling, hanging out. Water splashed in the oblong fountains left and right. And beyond the steps and crowded sidewalk, Fifth Avenue traffic crawled along despite the fact that rush hour was long gone. Exhaust fumes wafted up on the evening breeze that billowed the huge dark blue banner suspended above them, trumpeting the Cézanne exhibit.
Jack ran a quick apparel check, comparing his clothing to what the other museum goers were wearing. He’d gone for a slightly more upscale look tonight—light blue oxford shirt, tan slacks, brown loafers—and was pleased to see that he blended pretty well. In a bow to the current trend, he’d had his brown hair trimmed a little shorter than he preferred. He could pass tonight for a teacher or an accountant out for an evening with his wife and daughter. No one worth noticing. And that was perfect.
Jack watched Vicky doing her own scan, but hers concentrated on the sidewalk. Her dark brown hair had been unwound from her customary braids into a single long ponytail for her trip to the museum. He could read her eight-year-old mind: Where’s the ice-cream man? Where’s the pretzel guy? For a girl who couldn’t weigh more than sixty pounds fully clothed, she could eat like a long-haul trucker.
He turned to Gia and found her pale blue eyes staring up at him as a small smile played about her lips. The breeze ruffled her short blond hair. She looked dazzling in a snug blue silk sweater set and black slacks.
”‘Well’ what?” Gia said.
Jack scratched his head. “Well, to tell you the truth, I don’t get it.”
“Get what?”
“Cézanne. Why he’s so famous. Why he’s got his own show at the Met.”
“Because he’s considered the father of modern art.”
Jack shrugged. “So they say in the brochure, and that’s all fine and good, but some of those paintings don’t even look finished.”
“That’s because they aren’t, you ninny. He abandoned a number of his canvases because they weren’t going the way he wanted.”
“Yeah, well, finished or not, his stuff doesn’t do anything for me. How do they put it? It doesn’t speak to me.”
Gia rolled her eyes. “Oh, God. Why do I bother?”
Jack threw an arm around her shoulders, drew her close, and kissed her blond waves. “Hey, don’t go getting all huffy now just because I don’t like this guy. I liked Monet, didn’t I?” He still remembered colors of sunlight so vibrant he’d felt the warmth radiating from the canvases.
“Monet’s easy to like.”
“You mean a painting’s got to be hard to like to be good?”
“Not at all, but—”
“Mommy, look at those men!” Vicky said, pointing down to Fifth Avenue. “They’re gonna get hurt!”
Jack turned and saw a couple of middle-aged men in jackets and ties strutting through the slow-moving traffic, seeming to dare the cars to hit them. More than a couple. Jack spotted more—a dozen, maybe two dozen, all well dressed, all in their forties, all swaggering like street toughs.
A car honked and one of the jaywalkers gave the driver the finger as he kicked a dent in his fender. When the driver got out he was jumped by two of the men and pummeled until he ducked back into the car and locked the door. They high-fived each other and continued toward the museum.
On the sidewalk to the right, one of the men snatched a pretzel from a cart as he passed. As the vendor went after him, he was grabbed by three of the well-dressed goons and knocked to the ground. They kicked him a few times and moved on, laughing.
“Jack?” Gia said, and he could hear the unease in her voice. “What’s going on?”
“Not sure,” Jack said.
He didn’t like the looks of this. Unless they were a gang of middle-aged Gypsy Kings on a rampage after knocking over a Barney’s—and Jack wasn’t buying that—these guys were acting way out of character. For himself he wasn’t worried, but he had Gia and Vicky with him.
“Whatever it is, let’s stay clear of it.”
One of the troublemakers pointed toward the entrance to the museum and shouted back to his buddies. Jack didn’t catch what he said, but the others must have thought it was a great idea because they started streaming up the steps after him.
“Let’s move over to the side,” Jack said, ushering Gia and Vicky away from the center door and closer to the column supports at the downtown end. “Soon as they’re in the museum, we’re out of here.”
But the well-dressed goons were easily distracted. Instead of making a beeline for the door, a number of them stopped to harass people along the way. Fights broke out. Within minutes the formerly peaceful steps of the Metropolitan Museum degenerated into one large multicentric brawl.
“Oh, Jack,” Gia said, pointing directly below them. “Help her.”
Jack followed her point, saw a paunchy guy in a blue blazer with some sort of gold crest on the breast pocket. He was trying to nuzzle a young woman who’d been sitting alone on one of the landings, smoking a cigarette. The more she pushed him away, the more aggressive he became.
Jack glanced around. “I don’t like leaving you two alone.”
“Just chase him off before he does something awful,” Gia said. “It won’t take you a minute.”
“All right,” Jack said, heading down. “Maybe you could point out something more interesting to my little friend—like the fountains, say—while I see what I can do.”
Jack figured he might have to do something quick and nasty to Mr. Paunch if he wouldn’t cooperate. Didn’t want Vicky watching.
As Jack trotted down the steps, the slim brunette had risen to her feet and was struggling with the older man who had at least a hundred-pound advantage. The expensive clothes, the good haircut, and the shiny, manicured nails didn’t go with the feral lust in his eyes.
Jack was within a dozen feet of them when she shouted, “I told you to get lost!”
“Now, now, sweetie pie,” he said through clenched teeth as he pulled her closer. “You don’t really mean that.”
“Wanna bet?”
She stabbed her lit cigarette at his eye. He jerked back and turned just enough to save his eye, but the burning end caught him solidly on one of his jowls. As he cried out in pain and raised his hands to his face, the young woman landed a forty-yard punt between his legs. The guy’s face went fish-belly white as he dropped to his knees, holding his crotch. She kicked him again, in the chest this time, and he pitched sideways and rolled down a few steps.
The woman whirled on Jack, snarling. “You want some of the same?”
Jack stopped and held his hands before him, palms out. “Peace, lady. Just coming to help.” He nodded to the battered man, prone on the steps, holding his crotch and groaning. “But you seem to have things under control.”
She gave him a quick smile. “Thanks for the thought.” She looked around at the melee. “What’s gotten into these creeps?”
“Damned if I know. Best if you just—”
“Jack!”
The fright in Gia’s voice spun him around and he was taking the steps up two at a time before it fully registered that she was struggling with two of the middle-aged yuppies.
“Hey!” he shouted as fire scorched through him.
Vicky batted at one of the men’s legs, screaming, “Leave my mommy alone!”
The man, whose round face and pushed-up nose reminded Jack of Porky Pig, turned and shoved Vicky away. “Get lost, kid!”
“No!” Vicky cried, and kicked him in the shin.
His face distorted with rage, the guy grabbed Vicky and lifted her off her feet. “You little bitch!”
Jack’s anger turned to panic as the man carried the screaming Vicky toward the end of the top landing. Jack veered away from Gia and poured every ounce of strength into his legs.
“I’ll teach you to kick me!” Porky shouted, raising her higher as he neared the edge.
Vicky’s terrified wail rose in pitch as she saw the stone steps sloping away before her. Jack reached them just as the man was flexing to fling her. He hooked Porky’s elbow, yanked him back and around, turning the guy and Vicky toward him. Jack swung his left arm around Vicky’s waist and smashed his right elbow into Porky’s startled face.
As the guy staggered back, Jack put Vicky down and advanced on him. With Vicky safe now, Jack’s rage had room to bloom. He let the darkness boil out of its cell and take over.
If Porky had had an ounce of sense he would have run. Instead he charged. Jack sidestepped at the last second, drove his fist into the flabby belly—a solid solar plexus shot—doubling him over. And still Porky wouldn’t quit. Even bent almost in half, he tried to grapple Jack’s waist. Jack didn’t have time to dance; he had to get to Gia. He clubbed the guy on the ear, grabbed him by the back of his coat collar and the back of his belt, and gave him the bum’s rush toward the end of the landing. At the last second, Jack lifted him and sent him sailing in the flight he’d intended for Vicky. Screaming and kicking and windmilling his arms, Porky hit the granite hard and kept going, rolling and tumbling the rest of the way down.
Jack didn’t wait to see him land. Turned and ran back to Gia and her attacker.
“C’mon, babe,” this guy was saying as he pawed Gia. “Stop fighting it. You know you want it.”
As Jack arrived he spotted a similar crest on this one’s blazer. That was about all he had time to notice before the guy slapped Gia across the face.
Something detonated within Jack then and things got fuzzy. Vision constricted to a short, narrow tunnel, sound warped to a muddled roar, and he was grabbing the guy by his blow-dried hair, ripping him off Gia, and slamming his face into the base of the stone columns. Once, twice, and more, until the meaty crunches became wet slaps. Then he threw him against the museum’s front wall. As he repeatedly body slammed the man into the granite blocks, Jack became aware of a voice…Gia’s…shouting his name. He released the guy and turned toward the sound.
Gia stood below, on the next landing, clutching her hysterical daughter in her arms. Saying something about getting out of here.
Jack shut his eyes, forced a deep slow breath. Sounds filtered back, rising in volume. Gia’s voice, loud and clear.
“Jack, please! Let’s go!”
Sirens rose in the distance. Yes…definitely time to go.
But as Jack stepped toward Gia and Vicky, he saw alarm widen their eyes. That prepared him for the slam against his back and the arms wrapping around his throat in a stranglehold. The impact knocked him off the top step. Locked together, he and his attacker were pitching forward toward a granite-hard landing. Jack twisted in the air, wrenching the heavier weight of his attacker around to position the other beneath him. The hoarse voice raging incoherently in his ear cut off abruptly when they hit the steps. The other guy had taken the full impact on his back, cushioning Jack.
Jack rolled off and was shocked to see that it was the same guy he’d pulled off Gia and battered against the wall. His face was a bloody mess and he shouldn’t have been able to stand, let alone attack. Wasn’t standing now—lay sprawled on his back, gasping for air. Had to have at least half a dozen broken ribs. But then he groaned, tried to roll over, and for one incredulous second Jack thought he was going to get up and come at him again. But then he slumped and lay still. Guy was a hell of a lot tougher than he looked, but not that tough.
Looked around at the chaos. People shouting, screaming, punching, kicking, falling, bleeding. The Odessa Steps from Potemkin in real life. Thankfully no baby carriages in sight.
What was wrong with these guys? Who were they and why were they acting like a Mongol horde? None of them seemed to know when to quit. But what disturbed Jack more was their willingness to hurt. You don’t see that in the average person. Most people have a natural reluctance to do damage to a fellow human being. Jack had had that once. Took him years to overcome it, to clear an area within so he’d have a space where that reluctance didn’t exist, a place he could step into, a mode he could enter when necessary and find a willingness, an enthusiasm almost, to inflict damage before it could be inflicted, and do so without hesitation. Hesitate and you’re lost. Maybe dead. Better to give than receive. Always.
These guys showed none of that natural hesitation. Good thing most of them were doughy and didn’t know how to fight; otherwise this would have been a truly scary scene.
Jack took Gia’s arm and led her and Vicky to the side and then down. He glanced back to his right and saw Porky at the base of the steps, near the fountain; he was screaming curses as he crawled toward the sidewalk, dragging one leg behind him. Jack wanted to go down there and break a few more of this particular jerk’s bones, but no way he was leaving Gia and Vicky alone in the middle of this riot.
When they reached the sidewalk he took the sobbing Vicky from Gia and hustled them downtown. He noticed an adrenaline tremor in his hand as he raised it to hail a cab.
How had such a nice evening turned so ugly?
 
Copyright © 2000 by F. Paul Wilson

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Excerpted from All the Rage by F. Paul Wilson
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.