“Turn left, here!” Jared says.
I pull a sharp left turn onto a dirt road that leads into the orchard.
“Give me more of a warning next time,” I snap.
“Sorry! It’s been a while since I’ve been this way.”
“What next?” I tersely ask.
“It’s a straight drive to the orchard. Once we get there we’ll park the car behind the barn and then go into the trees, so we can ambush the people following us.”
“I have an idea on where we can get some additional food sources,” Jared says. He’s been worrying today about our food situation, because the simple reality is we can’t go to the grocery store much longer before the food there will go bad.
What’s your idea?” I ask.
“I think we should visit the aquarium. I know we don’t want to do anymore road trips, but the simple fact is we need to additional sources of food that we can take care of, and also use.”
I’ve been soaking my achy body in a hot bath for the last half hour. Jared had it ready for me when I finally got out of the car, which makes me feel guilty for snapping at him, but also grateful that he was so thoughtful. I hear a soft knock on the door.
“Come in, Jared.”
Jared opens the door of the bathroom.
“Hey Sue. I hope you’re feeling better.”
We’re driving back from our adventure to the gun store and I’m looking forward to getting home, getting the ammo unpacked and then hopefully taking a hot bath. All this fighting of zombies makes for achy muscles.
“Sue?” Jared urgently says.
“What?” I absently minded ask.
“Look over there, to your left.”
“I think we should go into town today!” Jared announces.
“Do you think there’s a town left?” I ask.
He gets an irritated look on his face. He hates when I question him like this.
“Of course, there’s still a town left. Why wouldn’t there be a town left?”
“Sue, do you think any of our neighbors are still alive?” Jared asks me when we wake up on the third day of the zombie apocalypse.
“I figure a few might be, but you know none of them were preppers like we are.”
Jared grunts in acknowledgement and then says, “Even so, it might not be a bad idea to see if any of them are still alive and if they’re willing to work with us to defend the area from zombies. With it just being us, it’ll get harder to protect ourselves, but if we have more people, we can set up watches and better defenses.”
The day the zombie apocalypse happened, Jared and I were working on our farm. He was running the tractor over the fields, to make them fallow, while I was going through the seed inventory to figure out what we needed to order. Neither of us were much for watching the news, but I had the radio turned on and was listening to some classical music when the music was interrupted.
“This is NOT a hoax. I repeat, this is not a hoax. Listeners of KRPB are advised to stay indoors and lock their doors and get whatever available weapons are on hand. Be ready to repel zombies. There are zombies in the streets here, and not the mindless, shuffling zombies you usually think of. These zombies are fast, rapid, and if they bite you and you don’t die, you’ll become infected by them. I repeat, this is NOT a hoax.”
Alisha is on a mission to save her brother Sam from himself.
Sam has fully embraced his zombie powers and is on the loose with the CEO of Zombii Co., but Alisha isn’t willing to give up on him or his humanity.
To save Sam, Alisha will have to leave her team behind and take to the road on her own. But trying to save your brother during a zombie apocalypse is no easy matter, especially when you have to survive both the zombies and the marauding survivalists that are on the road.
If Alisha can’t save Sam from himself, it’s not just his humanity that’s on the line…
It’s the entire world.
Can Alisha save Sam and stop the zombie apocalypse?
Find out in the thrilling conclusion to the zombie apocalypse call center series.
Book Review: Divided We Fell by B. D. Lutz (Affiliate link)
This is a hilarious exploration of a zombie apocalypse in a divided America, where the conservatives and liberals of the U.S. have split the country in half. It’s also a potent reminder of what happens when we let our differences define us to the point that we can no longer find common ground. The characters are funny and the author does a good job of bringing all of them to life, with their faults and foibles, but also their virtues. The action is intense and the description is gory enough to please any horror fans. Overall it is a satirical commentary on the politics of our time, while also being an excellent zombie apocalypse novel.
Book Review: Of Patriots and Tyrants by B. D. Lutz (Affiliate link)
Of Patriots and Tyrants builds off the action of Divided We Fell and keeps you wanting to read more. Like in the previous book, the author continues to explore a zombie apocalypse that happens in a divided America, showing what happens when the politicians’ lust for power helps create the zombie apocalypse the main characters deal with. I like how the author further explores the characters and shows what they have to do to survive. The action is tight. I’m looking forward to the next book!
Book Review: Rites and Desires by Amanda Cherry (Affiliate link)
This is a page turner of a book with compelling characters. The main character Ruby is a villain you can sympathize with, on her quest to get her power back. The Blights are fun minions and the hero of the story is an excellent foil for Ruby. This novel had the right amount of action, along with character development, to keep you reading and wondering what would happen next, and how Ruby would react to it, in order to get what she wanted.
Author’s note: This is a short story excerpt set in the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center Universe. Each week I’ll write another part of the story on here. You can read part 1, part 2 and part 3 here. If you enjoy, check out the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series which shares more zombie apocalypse fun.
After what seems like forever the phone clicks again.
“Angela, you there?” Sam asks.
“I am. You have that information for me yet?” I tersely ask.
“I do. What road are you on?”
I check where I am on the map app I’m using.
“I’m currently on highway 43. I’ll be turning right in half a mile, to my street, Vermont. Then I need to drive a few blocks to get to my house.”
I didn’t realize how close I am to home, which makes feel a bit relieved, but you know how it goes in horror movies. It’s when you let your guard that the zombies strike.
“It looks like there’s been a couple zombies near your location,” Sam says distractedly.
“Shit! What do I do?” I don’t know why I’m asking him that question. I know what to do, but I think it’s the adrenaline in me.
“If you see any zombies, don’t try to hit them with your car, because where you see one there’s usually more, so hitting one will just draw them like flies going to compost. I recommend trying to avoid them as best as possible.”
No shit, Sherlock, I think to myself.
“Ok and then what? I need more helpful advice than avoid hitting them with my car!” I snap.
“Well, if you can help it, don’t stop your car. But drive safely too.”
Oh this idiot is full of wisdom.
“Duh. None of this is exactly helping me, Sam. Look I need to know what to do if I actually get stopped by zombies.”
I hear him take a deep breath.
“Ok, Angela. You told me you only have a .45 on you, correct?”
“Yeah,” I skeptically say.
“How much ammo do you have?”
“I’ve got one extra clip, plus what’s in the gun already.”
“If you get stopped by zombies, you gotta shoot them in the head. Your natural inclination might be to shoot them in the torso, which is the largest target, but torso shots won’t necessarily kill them. When you shoot, expect a little kick back and try not to panic. You’ll waste ammo that way and draw more zombies to you.”
“Now THAT’s helpful advice. What do I do when I get home?” I ask. I pretty much know what I’m going to do, but I want to see what he says and if there’s anything different.
“As far as I can tell you don’t have a lot of zombies in your area yet, but I recommend keeping your lights off and your door locked. Also, don’t plan to stay at your house too long if more zombies show up. Get whatever gear and supplies you need to help you survive together, and then find a place to hole up in with other people people you trust. You’ll want to work together to fend off zombie attacks.”
“Actually my place is the designated Zombie Defense Base, but that’s advice I’ll pass on to my friends. Now I need to focus on my driving. Thanks for the advice.”
“Thanks for calling Zombii Co. Have a good day,” Sam says.
I hang up and shake my head. If I’d know that was the level of support I was getting, I’d have never signed up for, or gotten a different package. The only good thing about the support plan is all the guns and ammo waiting for me at home.
Author’s note: This is a short story excerpt set in the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center Universe. Each week I’ll write another part of the story on here. If you enjoy, check out the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series and my free story, The Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store
You can read part 1 , part 2, part 3, part 4 and part 5 of the story here.
The man shrieks and tries to get Dan off of him, but Dan keeps him pinned down and bites him a couple more times.
“Ambulance 2901 what is going on?” the dispatcher impatiently asks.
“I found my partner and he is for certain infected. He’s just bitten a citizen and I believe the infection is passed that way. I’m going to try and restrain my partner and find the original patient, as well as get the new one to the hospital. I could use some help out here.”
“Negative ambulance 2901. We’re getting overwhelmed with calls. Get those people back here, so we can get you out there to other spots.”
Shit, what is going on? I go to open the driver side down door, when suddenly I’m grabbed from behind.
“Unnnggrrryyy,” Jenny moans at me.
She tries to pull me back at her, so she can bite me, but I lunge for the door and open it, tumbling out of her grip to the ground.
Dan looks up from his victim and growls at me. He’s become a total animal. I don’t recognize anything about him anymore.
“Unnngrrry!” Jenny shrieks.
I scramble away from the ambulance. What am I going to do? If she or Dan bites me I’ll get infected and end up like them. I don’t want that.
Jenny surges out of the ambulance and stalks toward me. Dan gets up from his victim and joins her, the two of them hunting me like I’m in Jurassic Park.
The people in the cars around me are locking their doors and trying to drive away from the scene before they get attacked. There’s no one who’s going to be a hero today. Dan shrieks at the moving cars and turns away to run after one, but Jenny isn’t distracted. She sees her next meal right in front of her.
I push myself up so I’m standing and right then Jenny runs at me. I wait for her and when she gets close, I kick her in the belly. She grunts, but then comes at me again. A normal person would be wheezing from where I hit her, but that kick only got her to pause.
She grabs one of my arms and pulls it toward her, I let her pull me, and then loosen my arm muscles and slip my arm out of her grip, while bringing my elbow from my other arm around to smack her on her shoulder. She spits some mucus in response, which I manage to dance away from. At this point I’m assuming any fluid she ejects is going to potentially infect me with whatever she’s got.
I’ve got to restrain her somehow, but I don’t know if I can. The sedatives didn’t work that well. It’s like her adrenaline is supercharged. If I can’t find a way to restrain I’m either going to have to run for it, or take her down. It’s not what I want to do, but I’ve got to do something.
Jenny rushes at me again and tries to grab me. There’s no strategy to her attack. She’s just trying to bite me. I duck out of her way and look around. There’s nothing nearby I can use to restrain her. She’s going to keep coming at me and at some point she’s going to wear me down and then bite me, unless I do stop her now.
Jenny whips around and runs at me and this time, when she comes close, I avoid her grasping hands, and I punch her in the throat, as hard as I can. Her eyes widen with and pain and she sinks to her knees, clutching at her throat and gasping for breath. I feel a surge of shame at what I’ve done. I’m supposed to preserve life, not destroy it, but here I am standing over the gasping, dying infected person.
She weakly tries to grab me, but I easily evade and watch as she sputters and gasps. After a few moments she stops moving. I gingerly step toward her and nudge her with my foot, but there’s no response. I shudder for a moment and then grab myself. I don’t have time to breakdown. I’ve got stop Dan and check on the man he bit.
I step away from Jenny’s corpse and go to check on the man. He’s still on the ground, motionless and I see why. Dan ripped his throat with his teeth. I don’t know whether to feel horrified or relieved that the man is dead. At least he’s not infected, but he’s dead and there’s nothing I can do for him.
I look around for Dan and find him on top of car, smashing his way through the front glass to try and reach a terrified family. They can’t move their car, because it’s wedged between the other cars and we’ve now got a huge accident, because people panicked and drove through the intersection and slammed into each other, and the original accident while trying to escape Dan.
“Dan, what the fuck are you doing?” I yell.
I don’t expect my yell to stop him, but he hears me and immediately bounds off the car toward me. His face and hands are bloody and he looks deranged, his hair going all over the place.
“Huuunnggggrrry!”
“Yeah I get that, but you’ve already had your human snack for the day. It’s time to stop. If there’s any part of you that recognizes me, you’ve got to stop so I can get you help,” I plead.
For a moment, Dan pauses and just looks at me. Is there some part of him still in there?
Then his eyes narrow and whatever was there is gone. All that’s left is an infected cannibal that wants to eat me alive. Dan shrieks and rushes at me. I stand my ground, trying to keep calm, but knowing if I get bit I’ll either be dead or turn into something like him.
His hands grab at me. I manage to grab his right hand in my left hand, but his left hand grabs my hair and yanks hard. I gasp in surprise and pain and then punch him hard in the belly. The punch doesn’t phase him. I try to pull away from him and feel my hair ripped from head. I cry out in pain and Dan lunges at me again, trying to pull me toward him for that fatal embrace.
I fall backwards to the ground and pull Dan toward me, and then use my legs to launch him up and over my body. I then bring my legs back and do a quick flip so I’m back on my feet. I quickly turn around and see him getting up from the ground. I touch my head where it aches and I don’t feel as much hair.
“Bitch, you’re going down,” I mutter.
I run toward Dan, who comes at me with arms flailing. I duck under his arms and sweep kick him, which causes me to fall flat on his face. I quickly pivot and him to ground with my knee on the middle of his back. He tries to push up, but my weight keeps him down.
“I’m sorry partner for what I’m about to do,” I say.
I chop my hand on the back of his neck, once, twice, and then three times, until I hear the crack of his vertebrae. Dan suddenly stops moving, except for his head. I’ve paralyzed him and now I can take him to the hospital.
I get up off of Dan and wearily walk over to the ambulance. I pull out the stretcher and wheel it toward him.
“I hated paralyzing you, but it was that or kill you,” I pant. “We got to figure out what’s going on and Jenny and the man you bit are dead, so I guess you’re it. And I hope if there’s a cure, you’ll forgive me, but it was either me or you, partner.”
“Hunnnggrrrry,” Dan moans.
I flip him around and get him on the stretcher and restrain him just in case. He can still bite and the last thing I want is to become like him. I wheel him back to the ambulance and up the ramp and then I haul myself into the driver side door. For a moment, I debate getting Jenny and the man and putting them in the ambulance, but they’re both dead now.
“Ambulance 2901 to dispatch. I need to you send out a biohazard team to the intersection of Watley and Fourth. Over,” I say into the com.
“Ambulance 2901 get back here immediately. We need you and your partner on the ground,” The dispatcher tersely says.
“Coming in dispatch, but please make sure to call in a biohazard team. There are two dead infected people here and we need to contain this situation.”
“Understood. We’ll send a team out immediately Get back here, quick. There’s more hot spots happening. We may be experiencing a pandemic.”
“Excuse me. What did you say dispatch?” I ask incredulously.
“We may have a pandemic and we need you and your partner. Get back here ASAP!”
“Will do, over.” I say.
I put the ambulance into drive and then navigate around the other vehicles. I hope this isn’t the beginning of a pandemic, but if it is I’ll do my part to help contain it.
I discuss the moral dilemma of zombies and what happens when you have a character confront that dilemma face on in their own struggle to survive.
Get the Zombie Apocalpyse Convenience Store: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y9dt88zj2c
I share why I didn't just opt for the usual zombie in the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series and share the types of zombies that are in the series.
Read the Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y9dt88zj2c
Rebels of the zombie apocalypse call center is now available.
Sam’s got a lead on the cure for the zombie virus.
But to get the cure, Sam has to do something that doesn’t come easily to him. He’s got to follow orders from Garret, a no-nonsense, by the book commander who isn’t impressed with Sam’s customer support skills or his lack of discipline. But can Sam and Garret work together, when Sam does anything but follow the rules?
To find the cure, Garret and Sam need to infiltrate a Zombii Co. factory, but the factory contains more secrets than just the cure. It contains Zombii Co’s other experiments with zombies and an insane manager willing to do anything it takes to keep those secrets where they belong, including infecting everyone in the factory with the zombie virus.
When Sam’s mission goes sideways, he has to fight his way through acid spitting zombies and super zombies while working with Garret to keep his unit alive, and keeping all of them uninfected.
If Sam doesn’t get his act together, he could lose his friends.
Worse…
He could lose the cure that can save the world from the zombie apocalypse
I talk about the zombie apocalypse and why I take a humorous angle with it.
Get my free story The Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/y9dt88zj2c
Pre-order Rebels of the Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store: https://books2read.com/u/barz5x
Sam’s got a lead on the cure for the zombie virus.
But to get the cure, Sam has to do something that doesn’t come easily to him. He’s got to follow orders from Garret, a no-nonsense, by the book commander who isn’t impressed with Sam’s customer support skills or his lack of discipline. But can Sam and Garret work together, when Sam does anything but follow the rules?
To find the cure, Garret and Sam need to infiltrate a Zombii Co. factory, but the factory contains more secrets than just the cure. It contains Zombii Co’s other experiments with zombies and an insane manager willing to do anything it takes to keep those secrets where they belong, including infecting everyone in the factory with the zombie virus.
When Sam’s mission goes sideways, he has to fight his way through acid spitting zombies and super zombies while working with Garret to keep his unit alive, and keeping all of them uninfected.
If Sam doesn’t get his act together, he could lose his friends.
Worse…
He could lose the cure that can save the world from the zombie apocalypse
The week I was releasing Secret Missions of the Zombie Apocalypse was the week where it really began to hit home in the states that the corona virus wasn’t something that could be kept at arm’s length. It was a reality that was going to hit all of us. The very next week I was allowed to work from home, by my job. I’m grateful for that, because not everyone has that luxury right now.
After work, each day, I’ve started walking in my neighborhood, since at this time we’re allowed to walk around. I keep my proper social distance from other people out and about in the neighborhood. One benefit is that I’m actually seeing more of my neighborhood than I previously had. There are some beautiful landscapes in my neighborhood and I’m enjoying walking through them.
Yet as I walk through them I can’t help but feel that I’m living in a bizarre parody of my own writing. I wrote the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series to poke fun at my job as a call center rep, but also to poke fun at the zombie fiction genre. Yet here I am in the Corona apocalypse walking nearly empty streets. It’s kind of like I’m living my own story, without the zombies (as yet).
Nonetheless it hasn’t stopped me from writing. I’m already working on Rebels of the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center, which is the sequel to Secret Missions. I’m having fun writing it and trying to even incorporate some of the recent events into the story. Writing the sequel is keeping me busy and focused on a fun story, which is helping during this period of time.
What are you doing during the corona apocalypse to take care of yourself and keep focused?
Michelle has a secret.
She’s a spy for the U.S. military and she’s been assigned the mission of shutting down Zombii Co.
To complete her mission, Michelle has infiltrated Monica’s inner circle at the zombie apocalypse call center.
But now she’s running secret missions for Monica, helping her uncover the secrets of Zombii Co: the Zombii Spray and the other zombie technology that Dmitri Eslinger is unleashing on the world with his zombie apocalypse.
What’s Monica’s real agenda?
Is she truly trying to stop the zombie apocalypse?
or is she just eager to sell the secrets of Zombii Co. to another competitor?
And then there’s Ember, Sam’s ex-girlfriend. Will she help Michelle on her mission to stop Zombii Co., or try and get revenge on her for stealing her boyfriend?
Michelle must work with a misfit team of people she doesn’t trust in order to discover the truth behind Zombii Co., all while surviving hordes of zombies.
If Michelle doesn’t uncover the truth behind the zombie apocalypse, it may never end…
WHO ARE YOU GOING TO CALL, TO HELP YOU SURVIVE THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE?
Sam thinks his job at the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center is a joke.
Zombies aren’t real and the customers who call in for support about their guns and conspiracy theories are crazy!
Sam knows the Zombie Apocalypse will never happen.
Until one day the Zombie Apocalypse does happen…
Now Sam and his fellow analysts have to figure out how the zombie apocalypse started and how to cure the zombies, while also keeping the customers alive and well-stocked with ammo.
On top of that Sam is juggling potential romances with two of his co-workers, Michelle and Ember. His manager Ben is micro-managing him about his call stats and customer happiness, and he has to defend the call center from invading zombies.
Will Sam discover the cause of the zombies?
Will he get his manager off his back?
Will he find love?
Will he survive the zombie apocalypse?
You’ll be kept in suspense by the dystopic action and adventure of the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center.
Get it now.
Photo by Nathan Wright on Unsplash
I love reading and watching dystopic fiction. One of my favorite shows is the 100, because of the dystopic future and how the characters try to survive against the odds, and recently I finished reading a trilogy of books set in a futuristic Earth that has become an ice world.
I also enjoy writing dystopic fiction. The book I’m currently writing is The Zombie Apocalypse Call Center and its set in a world where a zombie apocalypse is happening, and there’s a call support center that is supposed to help customers survive the zombie apocalypse. It’s a fun novel to write and I look forward to sharing it with you.
But as much I enjoy dystopic fiction I wouldn’t want to live in a dystopic future (or present for that matter). We take for granted our own living situation, especially if we live in the first world where we have access to running water, electricity, and all the other things that give us the lifestyle we have. But I sometimes wonder how long we would survive if something changed.
In one of my favorite series, the Emberverse, by S. M. Stirling, the world suddenly loses access to electricity and within a short time the world population significantly decreases, because without the technology, the means of sustaining the lifestyle that many people have is impossible without the technology.
Then there’s the survival skills you need to know. You need to know how to hunt, how to farm, and how to do a variety of other skills that many of us probably don’t think about because in our modern world, its taken for granted how food gets onto our tables or how any number of other things are done.
We’ve got it pretty easy…and while its fun to imagine a dystopic world and write about it, I wouldn’t want to live in one.
If you enjoy dystopic fiction, check out my free novella, the Zombie Apocalyse Convenience Store.
