Konrath, J.A. - DRACULAS (A Novel of Terror)

The frisson of malaise and apprehension faded. Must have been another nightmare flashback.

Soon the aroma of baking cake filled the house. Right after the show he’d snag himself a piece.

Yes, life was good.

THE END

DRACULAS Deleted and Alternate Scenes

During the writing of Draculas we wrote a few scenes that we ended up changing or omitting. We thought it would be fun, for people who liked the book, to see what ended up on the cutting room floor, and hear why.

Alternate Shanna Shooting Scene

Joe says:In our very first email volleys, Paul had intended Shanna to embrace Clay’s gun-loving ways, and wrote this to be the scene where she becomes enamored with them. I liked it and thought it was realistic—lots of people, when they shoot for the first time, instantly fall in love with firearms. Paul thought it was too over-the-top and changed it to her having a negative reaction.

Shanna

SHE stared down at the dead creature. “That fella” wasn’t a fella. It was wearing a bloodstained maroon pantsuit. She stepped closer and saw the nametag: Marge McGuire .

Shanna felt sick. “That’s Marge from admitting! I had a long sit-down with her when Mortimer was admitted for that possible overdose. She had pictures of her kids on her desk. She…” A sob broke free. “What have I done?”

“It was her or you, Shanna.”

“I killed Marge!”

Clay knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “That wasn’t Marge from admissions anymore. Marge was already gone. You killed something else, something that had taken her over.”

“But her kids—”

“Had already lost their mama. You just kept this thing from fouling her memory by killing you and who knows how many others, and turning them into foul things like her. You did Marge a favor.”

Clay seemed to understand and was making sense, neither of which she’d expected from him. He helped her to her feet.

“Us or them,” Shanna he added. “Who do you want to walk out of here?”

“Us, of course.”

“And who are the attackers here?”

“Them.”

“So we’re going to walk out of here, and along the way we’re going to leave them alone. But if they try to kill us, we need to do what we have to do to protect ourselves—and that means kill them first.”

Yeah…they did.

She looked at the thing that had been Marge. If she hadn’t fired this big heavy thing in her hands, she ’d be dead on the floor. And worse—soon she’d be one of them.

He pointed to the Taurus. “I’m sorry it knocked you down.”

“It’s okay, Clay.”

“No, it’s not. That gun’s too powerful for you.” He reached for it. “I’ll find you—”

She snatched her Taurus away and clutched it between her breasts. Yes, suddenly it was her Taurus Raging Bull. She loved it. She thought of that bumper sticker she’d always laughed at: You can have my gun when you take it from my cold dead hands . Or something like that.

“You touch my gun and I’ll kick you in the fucking balls.”

Clay looked flummoxed. “Shanna, you said ‘fucking.’ And ‘balls.’“

“Damn right, I did. For the first time since that first monster broke in here, I feel we’ve got a chance to get out alive, and I’m not giving that up.”

And then the lights went out.

Alternate Stacie Death Scene

Joe says:This deletion is my fault. Blake wrote this lovely scene, but unbeknownst to him, I’d written practically the exact same Psalm 23 scene in another one of my books, with an author I collaborated with. I explained it to Blake, and when he read the scene I’d mentioned, he was shocked at how similar they were. This isn’t the first time Blake and I have written similar scenes independently of each other. It’s eerie, really. Blake was kind enough to switch it with the other scene, which I believe was also lovely.

Stacie

IT was like someone dimming the lights from inside her head.

No pain, but so dizzy.

She could still sense her daughter lying asleep in the crook of her arm, though she couldn’t feel a thing.

There was noise all around her, but Adam—sweet, wonderful Adam—his voice cut through, lips pressed against her ear.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.”

Thinking, I cannot be dying. This is not happening. I’m a mother now.

“He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

Please God, undo this.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

There’s so much I want to experience.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.”

Nothing to do but latch onto his voice as the darkness flooded in and unconsciousness loomed like both the heartbreaking end and the answer to so many questions.

“Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I love you Stacie.”

His voice fading.

“I love you Stacie.”

She could feel herself slipping, and she didn’t fight it anymore.

“Always, Stacie.”

Deleted Private Rogers Scene

Joe says:Blake and I intended to put this scene at the end, right between Clay getting blown out the window by the autoclave and Shanna meeting Dr. Cook. The point was to drive home the “reverse Night of the Living Dead” ending, when the military saves the bad guy (in the classic zombie movie, the military kills the hero). Blake and I really wanted this in, and we all liked the scene, but we voted to exclude it because it really wasn’t necessary, and it ruined the pacing. As with all of these alternate and deleted scenes, our motivation for cutting them is exhaustively discussed in the Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Making of Draculas.

Private Rogers

“After that building comes down,” the radio crackled, “you shoot anything that tries to crawl out, I don’t give a good goddamn if it’s your mother, mow that bitch down.”

Private Rogers stared at the hospital from behind the wheel of the Humvee. He couldn’t believe this shit was happening on US soil.

“Do I need to fucking repeat myself, private?” Col. Halford barked.

Rogers hit the mike on the walkie-talking. “No sir, I—”

A whitehot flash lit the surrounding trees and cars as bright as day, the heat like an open oven, and when Rogers could see again, the hospital was simply not there anymore.

Holy shit. Those autoclaves were badass mothafuckers. What the hell was Halford thinking? Nothing could have survived that—

Wait. What in the hell is that thing?

Rogers moved out of the driver’s seat, climbed up the back of the vehicle, and stood up in the hummer behind an M2 Browning .50 cal., studying the smoking rubble as he fingered the 100-round belt and checked the swivel-range once more. He knew some of his unit had been killed, had heard the firefight going on all around him, but Halford had insisted that nothing be described on the radio. The TV folks were nearby, and the order from on high was don’t let them see or hear shit.

Rogers understood that. Ain’t good for nobody, killing people on camera. Didn’t want Ma or Aunt Sally to hear about their son’s death on the ten o’clock news, neither. But it infuriated Rogers that he didn’t know which of his buddies had been wasted. Made his so damn angry he wanted to pump lead into anything that moved.