Book picks similar to
300 Miles to Galveston (Book One of the Displacement) by Rick Wiedeman
science-fiction
sci-fi
zombies
apocalyptic
The Outbreak
Glen Johnson - 2013
Within three weeks everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed. The police are non-existent, and the army concentrates on the cities. Gangs of yobs rule the streets. It becomes everyone for themselves.The story follows three different people, and their journeys of self-discovery through the changing world.Noah Morgan is just an average twenty-one-year-old. He has no aspirations in life, no girlfriend, few friends, and a dead-end job. Red is a nineteen-year-old female runaway, with a sad past and a disturbing secret. Together they leave behind everything they have ever known, looking for a safe haven.Doctor Melanie Lazaro is working around the clock, under military supervision, in Exeter University’s Biomedical Sciences Department, trying to create a cure for the new pandemic that is turning humans back to their primordial roots, creating mindless killing machines with only one purpose − to eat.
The Most Uncommon Cold I: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse
Jeffrey Littorno - 2013
Her neck was still bent awkwardly to the left. I was struggling to make sense of what I was seeing when she spoke. “Wha…what…hap… happened t…to me?” She stuttered and slurred, but her words could be understood. Her eyes were still glassy as she slowly turned her head to look at me. I took me a few seconds to respond. Replying to someone who was just a moment earlier to all appearances dead has a way of taking your breath away. Eventually, I managed to say, “Well, I don’t really know, I...uh...came in and there was a man in...airport coveralls named James and...” “I f-feel cold,” she muttered slowly as if she had not heard me. Sluggishly and with difficulty, she raised herself at the waist. She looked down at her bloody body surveying the damage. Until this point, I had not noticed that her right shoulder looked as if a bite had torn away a chunk of the flesh and her left cheek had four parallel deep scratches as if fingernails had ripped down the side of her face. I couldn’t see other wounds, but blood covered most of her light green uniform making it look black. “You shouldn’t move!” I yelled. “Don’t move! I’ll go find a doctor!” I was standing a few feet from her, but somehow she managed to twist around a reach my leg. I felt her hand grab hard into the skin of my calf. “No, s-s-stay here,” she hissed as I yanked my leg free and backed away. “You need a doctor!” I cried out as I spun around to leave. When I reached the doorway, I looked back at her. She was still struggling to stand even as she slid her body toward me. A trail of smeared blood stayed on the white tile floor behind her. “Stay,” she hissed again, but I was already out the door.Kevin Turner is having a very bad day. People around him aredying... but they are not staying dead. Even in a world that seems to have gone crazy, the reporter is determined make sense of it all. Now he just has to stay alive long enough to get the facts.
GAMELAND: Season One
Saul W. Tanpepper - 2012
Connected to their Infected Players via neural implants (government-mandated in the event of an outbreak), Operators pit the Undead against one another using remote gaming controllers in a high stakes game of money, violence, and power. For the poor, the televised action on state-controlled Media streams is horrifying yet powerfully addictive. Volunteering to become an Undead Player is strictly forbidden, but fame and money lure some to The Game.On a whim, a small group of computer hackers and gamers decides to sneak onto the island, hoping to catch a glimpse of the uncontrolled Infecteds, unimplanted victims of an outbreak that took place there over a decade earlier. But while breaking in turns out to be a lot easier than any of them could have ever imagined, getting back out is one a hell of a killer. As they soon discover, when you play, you play to win. Because, if you die, you become part of The Game. The series consists of eight episodes publishing monthly through December 2012. Also available in paperback.EPISODE 1: Deep Into the GameZpocalypto gamer Jessica Daniels and her gang of code jackers decide to break into Long Island's Gameland hoping to catch a glimpse of some of the Infected Undead, risking arrest and an extension to their Life Service Commitment (a civil or military obligation fulfilled after death). But getting past the EM field, the wall surrounding the island, the mined waters, requires the addition of a stranger to their fold. Tensions within the group rise. So do the risks. After a near-fatal accident during preparation nearly takes the life of one of their members, emotions run dangerously high. They press on and find an abandoned wasteland like nothing they ever expected. Excitement quickly turns to dread as the dangers become all too clear.Approximately 50,000 words (~185 pages)EPISODE 2: FailsafeJessie and Kelly clash after one of their group gets stranded among the Infected Undead, forcing Kelly to make a rash decision which will ultimately deliver them into the hands of those who would turn them all into mindless players in The Game.Approximately 50,000 words (~185 pages)EPISODE 3: Deadman's SwitchUnable to escape from Long Island because of the failsafe device implanted inside their brains, the group digs in until they can devise a way to neutralize it. Jessie is anointed as their leader despite Jake's claims that she is unfit. A final desperate attempt is made to leave, setting into motion a sequence of events that will result in one of them dead, another infected, and all of them running for their lives.Approximately 52,000 words (~192 pages)EPISODE 4: Sunder the Hollow OnesA mutiny in the group splits the members, leaving Jessie out in the cold. As she continues to struggle to fulfill her promise to bring everyone safely home, a chance encounter with one of Gameland's residents dredges up deeply buried memories, leaving her feeling haunted and doubtful about her future.Approximately 44,000 words (~160 pages)EPISODE 5: Prometheus WeptAfter one member of their group is infected, Jessie makes a decision to hand over another to a mysterious group of Undead sympathizers in exchange for a promised antidote. But will she be able to collect the medicine and return before it's too late? Will the medicine work? And will she be able to get them all back home again?Approximately 41,000 words (~150 pages)EPISODE 6: Kingdom of PlayersArmed with a potential antiserum to the reanimation virus, Jessica races back to Gameland to save her infected friend. Waylaid along the way, she must fight for her life to save another. Will she make it back in time? Or will her friend die and return as one of the Undead?Approximately 41,000 words (~150 pages)EPISODE 7: Tag, You're DeadTorn between rescuing Ashley from the homicidal Ben and staying with Jake, who's been infected, Jessie, Kelly and Reggie must carefully plan their next move. But Reggie falls ill and the Undead break into their stronghold. Soon they're fighting for their lives in a battle that will lead all of the group to their darkest hour.Approximately 47,000 words (~170 pages)EPISODE 8: Jacker's CodeThe shocking conclusion to the high-tech horror thriller, GAMELAND. Jessie and the remaining gamers and hackers struggle against all odds to escape Gameland and Long Island, even though some of them have been infected with the zombie virus. Determined to do whatever is necessary to get home, they will have to face some of the most difficult decisions of their lives. But even if they're successful, will they ever be able to go back to the lives they so recklessly left behind?The world is suddenly a very different place from the one they left behind, and not all monsters live behind walls.Approximately 54,000 words (~196 pages)
Infection
Bryan James - 2010
At least until the zombies showed up. From his cell in the asylum, he is suddenly thrust into a nightmare of unbelievable proportions when the dead rise, and rapidly become a horrific plague on the world of the living. From Long Island to the burbs to the country, Mike fights to stay alive, to recover his memories, and to retrieve a cure for the most threatening disease the world has ever known.
Apocalypticon
Clayton Smith - 2014
Unfortunately, that "normal" includes collapsing skyscrapers, bands of bloodthirsty maniacs, and a dwindling cache of survival supplies. After watching his family, friends, and most of the non-sadistic elements of society crumble around him, Patrick decides it's time to cross one last item off his bucket list. He’s going to Disney World. This hilarious, heartfelt, gut-wrenching odyssey through post-apocalyptic America is a pilgrimage peppered with peril, as fellow survivors Patrick and Ben encounter a slew of odd characters, from zombie politicians and deranged survivalists to a milky-eyed oracle who doesn't have a lot of good news. Plus, it looks like Patrick may be hiding the real reason for their mission to the Magic Kingdom...
After
D.R. Johnson - 2012
It has been inherited by the diseased.The red mist spread, and humanity was infected. There was no stopping the curse once it started, and the world's population was reduced to mindless beasts. Creatures that hungered and raged for the death of the pure, the uninfected.Few of those remain.Ali is not one of them.
This Plague of Days, Season Three
Robert Chazz Chute - 2014
Season One of This Plague of Days was The Siege. Season Two was The Journey. Season Three is The War. Strap in for the zombie saga finale you won't regret and can't forget.Three plagues spread around the earth. The Apocalypse killed billions as new, deadly species were born. Jaimie Spencer, a strange boy from Kansas City, Missouri, is our unlikely champion. Strap in for the most unusual zombie apocalypse you'll ever read.The Walking Dead+ The Stand+ Stranger in a Strange Land= This Plague of DaysA huge adventure packed with humor, twists and suspense, Chute takes us on strange journeys, from humans versus each other and humans versus infected cannibals to exploring the nature of existence amid a war like you've never seen.˃˃˃ A Note to Readers of Seasons One and TwoThis Plague of Days was originally written as a television serial. Seasons One and Two were made available as novels, but also as episodes. Season Three is one big book, less expensive to purchase (and simpler to download) than buying each episode individually week by week. You asked for it, you got it!This Plague of Days, The Omnibus Edition by Robert Chazz Chute, is also available as an ebook.
American Apocalypse IV: Rescue
Nova - 2011
After finding the boy, they end up in a Federal Zone where everything seems almost normal again. The roads are open, food is available, and the electricity is on. Is the crisis over?
London
Frank Tayell - 2013
Within days the infection had spread to every corner of the world. Nowhere is safe from the undead...Bill watched from his window as London was evacuated. His leg broken, he is unable to join the exodus. Turning to his friends in the government, he waits and hopes for rescue. As the days turn into weeks, realising inaction will lead only to starvation and death, his thoughts turn to escape.Forced to leave the safety of his home he ventures out into the undead wasteland that once was England, where he will discover a horrific secret.This is the first volume of his journal.
Dead Earth: The Green Dawn
Mark Justice - 2007
Rumors fly about plagues and secret government experiments. And the President isn't talking.In Serenity, New Mexico, Deputy Sheriff Jubal Slate has his hands full. It seems that half the town, including his mother and his boss, are sick from an unusual malady.Even more worrisome is the oddly-colored dawn sky.Then a stranger crashes through town, a woman with a nightmarish story about what really happened in the Nevada desert.Soon, the townspeople of Serenity start dying.And they won't stay dead.
The Mountain and The City, Part I
Brian Martinez - 2011
A solitary survivor hides in a mountain above the city, living in a trailer with the door and windows duct-taped shut. Outside, the air is poisoned with a virulent disease that has killed off most humans. Those who lived have become something else. Something that hunts and kills. Survival in this new world comes down to two, simple rules: stay quiet and protect the air. It's an obsessive and regimented life, but one day a visitor comes up the mountain that threatens everything.Part I of a serialized novel. Continued in Part II: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
Year 50
Geoff Bluske - 2011
Wildlife grows without restraint, erasing the metal and concrete structures left behind. Even where industrialization was most prominent, trees and grassland are aggressively reclaiming their land; Earth is pulling away the scab of human civilization. A young woman named Calypso leads a team of Scavengers beyond the walls of Brighton, the last major human colony. Her goal is to find medical supplies, necessary to preserve humanity’s future. It is an adventure few have the training, ability, or psychological threshold to carry out. Year 50 explores what humans are made of and what they can accomplish when pushed to the limit. Love, romance, and altruism thrive in this time of brutal survival. "On the fringe of extinction, it will take bravery to persevere.
The Bane
Keary Taylor - 2011
It had the ability to grow new organs and limbs, to heal the world. Until it evolved out of control and spread like the common cold. The machine took over, the soul vanished, and the Bane were born. The Bane won't stop until every last person has been infected. With less than two percent of the human population left, mankind is on the brink of extinction.Eve knows the stories of the Evolution, the time before she wandered into the colony of Eden, unable to recall anything but her name. But she doesn't need memories to know this world is her reality. This is a world that is quickly losing its humanity, one Bane at a time.Fighting to keep one of the last remaining human colonies alive, Eve finds herself torn between her dedication to the colony, and the discovery of love. There is Avian and West – one a soldier, one a keeper of secrets. And in the end, Eve will make a choice that will change the future of mankind.The Bane is The Terminator meets The Walking Dead with a heart-twisting romance.Previously published as Eden, due to reader demand it has been revamped and rereleased as The Bane: book one in The Eden Trilogy.
Redaction
Linda Andrews - 2011
But Pestilence Free Day is short-lived. For an unseen enemy has just been unleashed.Five people. Seven days.A brilliant scientist with an apocalyptic forecastA soldier that needs an enemy to fightA college student venturing into a changed worldAn insurance salesman who exploits every opportunityA juvenile delinquent desperate to leave his past behindRedaction: Humanity is about to be erased from the Book of Life