Before Dawn: The Lobo Cliff Incident

By Rod Martinez

Fourth grader Alex Davidson was used to being in trouble. If it wasn’t at home it was at school, but a chance discovery in the woods next to his home made his usual troubles seem like nothing. He saw something, and no one will believe him. This is a case of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ taken to the extreme. At the same time his best friend is dying of a mysterious disease and the only cure can be found... in the woods, in the dead of night. Employing the help of a couple of school mates, he struggles to come to grips with his discovery and hopes his family, his friends, his town and his best friend - can survive the mystery at Lobo Cliff.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rod Martinez
• Release date: Jan 4, 2012
• ISBN: 9781465701237

Rod Martinez

Rod was born and raised in Tampa, Florida and was attracted to words at an early age. He wrote his first book "The Boy Who Liked To Read" (about himself) with construction paper and pencil in the grade school on his own – wasn't a class assignment. His teacher then decided to keep the masterpiece and show other students in class what they could do if they "applied" themselves. Later in life, Rod discovered comic books and was determined to work for Stan Lee once he was old enough. As a student in school he was taken to reading, writing and drawing and by high-school had completed several comic books of his own creation. It was his English teacher in high school that pulled him aside and told him "You should delve into short story writing, give the comic books a rest." He listened. Rod got into writing prose and fiction, but only as a part-time hobby, wasn't till his later adult years that he started to take it seriously, having written a middle-grade fiction adventure titled "The Juniors" (it was a challenge from his son) that was picked up by a publisher. He quickly decided that he wanted to do this for the rest of his life.

Book preview

BOOK ONE OF THE LOBO CLIFF TRILOGY

Fourth grader Alex Davidson was used to being in trouble. If it wasn’t at home it was at school, but a chance discovery in the woods next to his home made his usual troubles seem like nothing. He saw something, and no one will believe him. This is a case of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’ taken to the extreme. At the same time his best friend is dying of a mysterious disease and the only cure can be found… in the woods. Employing the help of a couple of school mates, he struggles to come to grips with his discovery and hopes his family, his friends and town and his best friend - can survive.

BEFORE DAWN: THE LOBO CLIFF INCIDENT

BOOK ONE OF THE LOBO CLIFF TRILOGY

Copyright 2012 Rod Martinez

Smashwords Edition

Cover art by: Andrew Pearce

(his website is at http://www.krop.com/andrewpearce )

All Rights Reserved

This story is dedicated to early friendships. Do you remember your first best friend?

By: Rod Martinez

BOOK 1:

CHAPTER 1:

It all started in third grade. They say I look for trouble, but I think trouble looks for me. The first day of school I got in trouble for making fun of Mrs. Budie’s name, ha, and after that, me and the principal were on a first name basis by the second week. I don’t mean to get in trouble, honest. Just some things seem funny to me and I, I just can’t control my mouth, I have to say something.

Alex Davidson, fourth grader, sat in the small office explaining himself to the new school counselor. The counselor sat in her seat, staring at him while he fidgeted with his pencil. He ended up snapping it in half from nervousness.

Alex, your Dad says you get in trouble a lot at home too. You want to explain that?

It’s my stupid sister’s fault, you know how teenagers are.

She got up, walked toward the door.

Alex, I want you to promise me something. We’re going to do an experiment, ok? So from now on, before you act, before you say something… I want you to promise me you’ll think about it first.

She opened the door, he grabbed his book bag.

Huh?

He held the pencil in his hand and looked at the garbage can and started to aim, like he was going to throw the pencil.

STOP! she screamed.

He jumped.

Huh?

See? Right there, before you attempt to toss that broken pencil across the room into the garbage, think about it. Really slow down and think about this. Does that pencil need to be thrown away? Can the half with the eraser still be sharpened and used? If I throw it, will I miss the garbage can and mark the wall? Understand?

Oh, uh… yeah. But I don’t normally think about it, I just do it…

Exactly, and I want to see if you can train your brain to think about it first. Ok?

Well, if it will keep me out of the principal’s office this year, then… ok.

She opened the door and Alex walked out. Alex was the baby in the family who seemed to always be the one whose name got called when trouble happened. He walked back to class, sat at his desk.

So, how’d it go? Marcie whispered across the aisle.

He turned to his best friend; her wide eyed look made him half chuckle.

Usual, it’s going to be an interesting year in the forth grade. Hey, Dorian didn’t come to school?

No, his mom told me he had the flu or something.

Oh, man that kid is sick more than my grandma used to be.

Alex, do you have something you want to share with the class?

He stopped, turned and looked up at the teacher, who was staring at him, rapping her ruler