Tony Cross was an average boy, who wanted nothing more than to be a great chef like his father.  He then met Annie Roberson the most beautiful girl he has ever laid his eyes on the fell in love. A tragic event changed their lives when a tornado took Tony’s family away from him.  Afraid of going to a foster home or an orphanage, two places he would rather not be, he decided to run.  A second tragic event took Tony away from Annie and he was presumed dead. But Tony had amnesia, not knowing who he was, or where he came from.  The only thing he remembered was his martial arts fighting skills and his ability to cook.  The Browns, a kind family, took him in and became his family. Tony Cross was reborn as Troy Witt.  He found he was falling in love with Jackie Brown.  Will he ever remember who he is, and if e does, will he stay with Jackie, or go back to Annie.

PROLOG

“LOOK!  A ZOMBIE!”

As the tornado ripped through the town of Pine Lake, it destroyed everything in its path.  A young couple was running, trying to stay ahead of it.  The boy had a grip on the girl’s hand…knowing that if he lost her, he would not be able to handle it.  The couple was Tony Cross and Annie Roberson.  Annie was having trouble keeping up with Tony.  Debris was flying all around them and the sound of the wind was deafening.  Suddenly Tony realized that he was no longer holding Annie’s hand and turned just in time to see her being sucked into the tornado.

Tony was 11 years old.  He had been sleeping, but sat up suddenly, sweaty and breathing hard.  The dream had shaken him to his core.  Tony was finally able to bring himself to look at the time and couldn’t believe how long he had been sleeping, “Shit, I’m late.  She’s going to kill me.”  He managed to get his right foot into the pants leg of his jeans and tried to balance himself while getting the other leg into his pants.  It didn’t work.  He jumped up, zipped up the jeans, and slipped on his running shoes.  Next was his T-shirt…it was a hot summer night and he had a long run to make to the other side of town.  He would have to make his trek to the old abandoned power station, just north of town, in record time or there would be hell to pay.

He managed to climb out the window and he ran like the wind.  Pine Lake was a small southern town of 900 people, give or take.  Nothing really happened there and everyone knew everyone else.  Just sneeze and it would make the front page news.  The biggest event since the union troops and ridden into town was when they got their first traffic light…the one and only traffic light.

Tony was out of breath by the time he reached the old power station, which was a large complex with several building that had been long forgotten when a new, and bigger, station had been built further north.  It had been taken over by a group of homeless kids that had made themselves into a kind of ‘family’, and the station was their home.

One day, when Tony had been playing in the park, he met a lovely girl by the name of Ashley Moore.  They had just happened to run into each other and at first, it seemed like they were going to become very good friends.  Tony had never had a girlfriend before…she was his first.  He found the whole thing very interesting, and boy did she smell good.  She was older than him..by two years, with medium-length long black hair.  Tony had realized that the world around him was changing and somehow he found that he was looking at girls differently.

Tony enjoyed the time talking with Ashley.  She was funny and her smile…let’s just say her smile did something to him…it confused him.  She had started telling him stories about her father who was an Air Force combat pilot.  Tony was fascinated.  She had told him to meet her at the power station, and she would tell him more stories.

The only problem with Ashley Moore was that she belonged to the leader of the gang.  They had become almost like a mother and father to all the kids, so Tony was definitely taking a chance coming to this place but he was excited…taking chances gave him a little spice in life.  It was better than sitting at home all the time.

Tony had managed to get near the center of the main building by keeping in the darkness and not being spotted.  He was standing just outside the main club room where everyone was asleep.  The room was lit by fires in old oil drums.  The sun was just breaking the horizon when Tony jumped as a hand touched him from behind, or should one say that he almost wet his pants.  He tried to calm himself.  “You scared the crap out of me, Ashley,” he said as she snickered at him.  She grabbed him by the hand and led him away from the room.

 On the second floor, the two found what looked like it might have been an office at one time.  The room was a wreck with trash on the floor, broken furniture and a balcony that might have been glass enclosed at some time.  The sun was just coming up and was providing the light in the room.  They found a little corner and sat on the floor together.  Ashley continued her stories from where she had left off the other day.  Then, with only one thought on her mind, and not giving him any sign or warning, she kissed Tony.  He pushed her away from him and jumped to his feet.  “What are you doing?”  He asked.

“It’s called a kiss, Tony.  There is nothing wrong with a kiss.”  She sat there, looking up at him.

“I thought we were friends…I thought you understood me.” 

Ashley knew by the tone of his voice that he was upset and stood up to face him.  “It was just a kiss…that’s all.”  She couldn’t understand his reaction to what had happened.

“I don’t think I should see you anymore.”  Right on cue, on his last word, Glenn and an army of kids completely loyal to him, charged into the room and surrounded Tony.  This is what Tony had worried would happen.

Glenn marched up to Ashley and slapped her, enraging Tony.  He wanted nothing more than to beat the crap out of Glen, but he was being held in place by some of the kids.  Glenn went to face Tony.  He looked him over and didn’t like what he saw.  “And who are you?” Glenn asked.

“Fuck you,” was all Tony said in response.

“You think you’re really something, don’t you.  Sneaking in here and making out with my girl.”

“Glenn, nothing happened,” Ashley countered.

Glenn snapped his head around to look at her.  “Shut up, Woman.  You’re in enough trouble as it is,” he said with a voice that sent a chill up her spine.

And then Tony shouted out, “A ZOMBIE…”  Yes, it was the oldest trick in the book, and they knew it, but had to look anyway.  Ashley had to laugh at Tony for having the guts to pull it off and make his escape.  He was climbing down the fire escape as Glenn yelled for his boys to go get him.  The group scurried out of the room, using the same fire escape.

Tony was fast on his feet.  There weren’t many kids that could keep up with him when he was running the way he was down Main Street.  As he ran past the old buildings, he looked behind him to see where his pursuers were.  Most of the kids had stopped but Glenn and two others were beginning to close in on him.  Suddenly, Tony ran into a woman coming from one of the shops, and knocked her to the sidewalk.  He helped the woman to her feet, apologizing to her.  It was probably a good thing to do, but not the best idea, since it allowed Glenn and his friends to shorten the gap. 

Tony left Main Street and headed for a line of trees that lined the lake.  A short time later he emerged from the trees and continued running down the shoreline, his feet pounding hard into the sand. 

Annie Roberson was one of four Roberson children and she was the youngest of the bunch.  She was 10 years old, with fair skin, grass green eyes and long blond hair that was blowing from the breeze from the lake.  With her fair skin, she sunburned very easily.  She always wondered why her mother always put a sun block on her that had a rating power enough to withstand a burst of radiation and let the wearer live to tell about it.  She was spending the morning at the beach with her mother and while her mother was sunbathing, Annie was building a sandcastle.  She loved building sandcastles and then taking pictures of them before the tide washed them away.  The castle she was building was her best one yet.  It had towers, a moat and windows…even brickwork.  She could just imagine everyone’s reaction when she showed them the pictures.  It was obvious where Annie got her beauty, she was almost a carbon copy of her mother.  Nancy started to gather the things around her.  “Annie, it’s time to go!”  Annie was kneeling beside her castle…she was almost finished. 

“Please, Mother…just a few more seconds…I’m almost done.”

“All right, Sweetie.  But when I get back we will have to go.”

“All right, Mother…thank you.”  She went back to work…just a couple more things to do before time to take the pictures.

Tony was running by a couple of women sunning themselves.  He couldn’t take his eyes off them.  Yes, they were older, but soooo pretty.  He just couldn’t understand his sudden fascination with the female of the species.  It was really confusing him, and he had been embarrassed to talk to his parents about it.  Still eyeing the women, he wasn’t watching where he was going and plowed right into the sandcastle that Annie was getting ready to photograph.  Tony found himself lying on his back looking up at a 10-year old female that looked like an evil dragon ready to devour him for lunch…he could have sworn he saw fire coming from her nose.