Connecting will change everything: The Space Between Us by Doug Johnstone #blogtour #extract #TheSpaceBetweenUs #RandomThingsTours

Hi and welcome to FromBelgiumWithBookLove where it is my absolute pleasure to share with you an extract from The Space Between Us! I am a huge fan of this author and I honestly can’t wait to read this!

Many thanks to Anne Cater for having me on the tour, and to Orenda Books for the excerpt.

Let’s have a quick look at the blurb first:

Lennox is a troubled teenager with no family. Ava is eight months pregnant and fleeing her abusive husband. Heather is a grieving mother and cancer sufferer. They don’t know each other, but when a meteor streaks over Edinburgh, all three suffer instant, catastrophic strokes…
…only to wake up the following day in hospital, miraculously recovered.
When news reaches them of an octopus-like creature washed up on the shore near where the meteor came to earth, Lennox senses that some extra-terrestrial force is at play. With the help of Ava, Heather and a journalist, Ewan, he rescues the creature they call ‘Sandy’ and goes on the run.
But they aren’t the only ones with an interest in the alien … close behind are Ava’s husband, the police and a government unit who wants to capture the creature, at all costs. And Sandy’s arrival may have implications beyond anything anyone could imagine…

Ready when you are! Here we go!

LENNOX

He dreamed he was underwater but he could breathe. He felt at home in the cold darkness, fish and other creatures swimming around him. He opened his eyes. Throbbing strip light over his bed, scratchy sheets against his skin. He was in a small hospital ward, watery light seeping through the window, four beds with papery curtains pulled back. Televisions hung on robot arms to the side of each bed, playing local news with the sound off. He peeled his tongue from the roof of his mouth, spotted a plastic cup and took a sip of water. He moved his head, it didn’t hurt. He remembered blinding pain, sickness, the rest of them collapsing around him at the Figgate. 

He cleared his throat and sat up. In the bed across from him was a middle-aged woman, straggly blonde hair, washed-out complexion, eyes closed. To his left was a younger woman, redhead bob, pregnant belly obvious under the bedsheet. He recognised her, a maths teacher from school, Mrs Cross. She was pretty but sad too, ghostly bags under her eyes. She seemed to be sleeping. 

He looked at the final bed and his throat closed when he recognised Blair from the park. He got out of bed and walked over. There was a machine on a stand next to Blair’s bed, a digital display linked to an air bag, from which a tube ran into Blair’s throat, stuck with tape to his cheek. 

‘Blair?’ 

He opened his eyes and coughed, gargling like he was choking. He turned and Lennox saw that the right side of his face had collapsed, muscles drooping his eye and mouth. Dribble had formed a wet patch on his bedsheet. 

‘What happened?’ 

Blair tried to lift his hand but his arm flopped to the side. The effort made him sink back into his pillow and close his eyes. 

‘Ah, the dead have arisen.’ 

Lennox turned at the voice. 

A thin guy in a pink striped shirt with a big collar had come in. ‘And you are?’ he said. 

Lennox spotted a nametag, Dr Ormadale. ‘What?’ 

Ormadale waved a hand. ‘You had no ID when they brought you in last night.’ 

‘Where am I?’ ‘

RIE, of course. Stroke ward.’ 

‘Stroke?’ 

Ormadale looked impatient, pointed at the bed. ‘Perhaps sit?’ 

Lennox stared at him then went to the bed. He sat on the edge and noticed that the two women in the other beds were awake now, thanks to Ormadale’s foghorn voice. 

Ormadale opened a folder, took out some scans, held them up to the dirty window. ‘You suffered a severe stroke. A huge haemorrhage in your cerebellum. Very rare, only two percent of strokes are cerebellar haemorrhage. Usually.’ He paused and looked around the room. ‘Except all four patients in this room had the exact same stroke. Which is impossible.’ 

‘Right.’ 

He was addressing all of them now. He waved around the room like an actor on stage. 

‘All four of you suffered exactly the same very rare and serious stroke at the same time in the middle of the night. How do you explain that?’ 

Dying to know more? I know I am! The Space Between Us is available now in paperback and digital formats. Get it directly from Orenda Books here.