Immolation

One of the most popular and notorious phantoms walks along a dark stretch of road in a small Massachusetts town. For more than three decades a redheaded "man" has been seen walking down Route 44 waiting to be picked up. Several people have died along this same stretch of road including a "man" matching this phantom's description, but no one can say for sure who the "man" is or when the haunting started.
A daunting epidemic. A mutating virus. A dark secret from beyond the grave. Doug and Karen King, along with their daughter Amy, are the typical all-American family with a cuddly and loving pet cat, Ponce De Leon, until a chance encounter with a hitchhiker transforms the family fur baby into a murderous evil beast spreading a lethal virus that can't be contained!After his wife, friends, and neighbors are brutalized and slain, Doug is forced to take matters into his own hands to destroy and contain this horrific plague...
Sammy Atkins is a hot (yes, and she knows it!) brilliant young vet. She wasn't looking for love, never mind an instant family. It just found her...2019 Readers' Favorite Bronze Medal For Horror Fiction