“You’re currently in foster care. Is that right, Alfie?” The doctor continues. “In the care of a Philip and Wendy Egan?”
“Yeah. So? What’s it got to do with you?” Jesus Christ, Wendy probably thinks I’m dead! “Does she know I’m alive?”
“Don’t worry,” she replies. “They know you’re safe.”
“I want to see her,” I say, frustration building as I keep pulling on the handcuffs. “Where is she?”
“You’ll be able to see her soon enough. But I need to ask you a few questions about your biological parents.”
“Well that’s easy: I know fuck all about them! Now let me go, you stupid bitch!”
“You need to calm down, Alfie,” the Cleaner says as he marches over to the bed, his hand by his gun again. “Doctor Hughes is here to help you.”
“Help me?” I snap. “All my friends are dead! I watched you blow up a stadium full of innocent people! And now I’m a prisoner, stuck in a room with a trigger-happy prick. So thanks. Thanks for the fucking help. Much appreciated.”
“Alfie, I’m sorry about your friends,” the doctor says. “But they had no choice. They had to destroy the stadium. There was just too much risk of the infection spreading to the city.”
“But there was no risk,” I say. “The Necs were calm.”
“What are you talking about?” Andrew asks, a deep grimace across his forehead. “Necs are a lot of things, Alfie. Calm is definitely not one of them.”
“Well how do you think I got out in one piece?” I ask. “They let me pass.”
The doctor just stares blankly at me for a moment, as if deep in thought. Does she think I’m lying? What the fuck is her problem?
“I don’t want to alarm you, Alfie,” she says, “but we found Necro-Morbus in your blood.”
My stomach roils when I hear the words. What the hell is she talking about? How can I be infected? “That’s impossible. I’ve never been exposed in my life.”
“We believe,” the doctor replies, “that there is a strong possibility you were born with the virus.”
“What the hell are you talking about? I’m completely fine.”
“Yes, you are fine,” the doctor replies, a hint of excitement in her tone. “But that’s what makes you so special. And valuable. We believe that your immunity is the key to creating an antiviral or a vaccine. Maybe even a cure one day.”
“This is bullshit!” I blurt out. “Run the tests again!”
“It’s true, Alfie. I promise you. We’ve run the test several times, and we get the same results.”
“I don’t give a shit what some stupid tests say! I ain’t no fucking Nec!”
“We know you’re not,” the doctor says. “You’re still you. And seeing as you’re seventeen years old, there’s no reason to think that anything will change.”
I start to thrash again, the noise of the scraping metal echoes around the room. “Then let me out of these handcuffs!”
“Hey, come on now, boy,” Andrew says, sternly. “Just relax.”
“Don’t tell me to relax!” I scream. “You’re not the one with a fucking zombie virus.”
“But you’re immune,” the doctor points out. “You could potentially save millions of lives. This is a good thing, Alfie. A really good thing.”
I keep tugging at the chain, trying to block out the room, her words. This is just a dream. No, it’s a nightmare. I feel sick. It’s not true. It can’t be.
Please, God. Don’t let it be true!
The room falls silent as I process the news. I feel like I’ve just been told that I have terminal cancer, and I only have a week to live. But this is worse than cancer. Worse than dying.
After about a minute, I finally start to calm down, the rage in my stomach settling. My head is pounding, blocking out the ache in my wrist. It’s all too much to take in. I start to see images of Ginge being attacked, and Natalie having to see her brother as one of those creatures. Is that what I am? Am I one of those stinking monsters? I glance down at a bulging vein in my left arm. The thought of Necro-Morbus coursing through my blood makes me want to claw at my vein, tear it wide open, and drain every last drop all over this mattress.
They should have just let me burn with the others.
“Is that why they didn’t attack me?” I ask, my voice low.
Doctor Philips nods. “Most likely.”
Her bleak words spark off a vision of Ted, how he suddenly stopped eating Adriana the moment she turned. It’s all beginning to make sense now.
Necs don’t eat one of their own.
But wait! There were lots of times when the Necs attacked me. On the concourse. Didn’t they? And in the corridor, when Ginge got killed. I’m sure they were chasing me too.
Doubt starts to force its way into my head, invading my memories.
But Adriana! She definitely went for me. I remember.
No, she didn’t. She went for Jonny.
So what! Those are just coincidences. That’s all.
They must be.
I suddenly feel lightheaded, queasy. I lie back, trying to process everything, thoughts of the stadium swirling around my head.
I turn to the doctor, my insides twisted with dread. “Why am I tied to the bed?” I ask, my voice weak, calm, as if finally accepting my fate.
The doctor looks down at me, her eyes swimming with pity. How can this get any worse? “Because there is a strong risk,” she says, struggling to look me square in the eyes, “that you’re still a carrier.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I ask. But I know exactly what it means.
Andrew leans over the bed, his hand still floating by the gun. “It means that you could be highly contagious.”
I want to scream at him, at her and tell them that it’s all bullshit, some government scam. But I don’t. Instead, I just close my eyes tightly and try to clear my mind of everything. The senseless death, the explosion, this hospital room. But most importantly, The Farmers Arms yesterday, and the fight I had with that Cardiff wanker. He deserved everything he got. At least I didn’t stab him. I could have. Maybe I should have. He was trying to choke me. It was self-defence.
Nothing more.
It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever done.
All I did was bite him on the hand.
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Blue Skin: Book One
What will you do when they come for your children?
The world has turned inward, away from the sun, in the wake of a mysterious disease that has altered the human race. No longer able to bear human children, our mothers and daughters have brought vampire-like hybrids into the world, and with it a new order. Now that reproduction has been banned, those left with young children face a terrible and devastating decision - turn your babies over to the government or pay the price. For young Freya, keeping her brother hidden is the only real option.
Enemies of the state, Freya must stand between her family and the forces of a fearful world. Although her brother may not be human, there is little else separating her and those of the blue skin.
Choices will be made. Lines will be drawn. The battle for humanity has only just begun.
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You can’t run forever.
In a crumbling society, danger is everywhere, enemies come in many forms - and not all monsters have blue skin.
Fugitives from the government, Freya and Ben find themselves living in a decrepit flat, in a dying town infested with lowlifes and vigilantes.
But in the shadows, a light shines.
The enigmatic Maggie, protector of vampires and leader of a fortified community, provides respite and salvation.
The fences may be high; the watchtowers heavily
armed. But how long before the darkness finds them again?
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How far would you go to protect your child?
Vampires are real - hidden among us, concealing their lust for human blood. But monsters come in many forms. Teenage boys, drug addiction, underage sex - single mother Sarah battles to keep these demons from her daughters.
As the long nights of worry start to feed Sarah’s paranoia, she must take desperate measures to save her family.
Although sometimes, the only way to kill a monster…
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Teenage life. Miles from home. And a taste for human blood.
Struggling to control her newfound bloodlust, Thea is taken to a secluded farmhouse by Kate, an experienced vampire with a dark past.
In the shadows, far from watchful eyes, a young life will begin to transform and leave behind the little girl she once knew.
For now, Thea is safe with Kate: her teacher, her friend, her protector.
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Burn The Dead: Quarantine
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It’s a dirty job - but someone’s got to do it.
Robert Stephenson burns zombies for a living.
It’s an occupation that pays the bills and plays tricks on the mind. Still, his life is routine until his four-year-old son becomes stranded in a quarantined zone, teeming with flesh-eating rotters.
Does Rob have what it takes to fight the undead and put his broken family back together?
Or will he also end up in the incinerator…
…Burning with the rest of the dead?
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Burn The Dead: Purge
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There are those who run, while others hide.
And then, there are the Cleaners.
The living dead have staggered straight out of hell, and all that keeps humanity from crumbling is a small team of men who catch the rotters, before cleaning up the mess left behind.
Catherine Woods might not be a man, but no sexist, out-dated nonsense is going to stop her from following her dreams and joining the war against the undead.
The only problem is—even the best dreams can become nightmares in an instant.
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A sold-out stadium.
A virus unleashed.
For 17-year-old Alfie Button, today was always going to be a memorable day.
The cheers of excited fans soon become desperate, bloodcurdling cries for help as a legion of the undead overwhelms the stadium. Panic erupts as 21,000 people rush for the exits, only to find them sealed.
With nowhere to run, suffocating in a torrent of blood and chaos, all Alfie and his friends can do is fight for survival—and pray that help will come.
But in every game, in every stadium…
There has to be a loser.
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Eyes On You: A Ghost Story
“She’s always watching.”
Having found the perfect flat, Matthew and Aimee settle into their new home with all the hopes of a young couple in love.
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Before long, curious incidents turn violent, and it becomes increasingly difficult for the sceptic Matthew to deny that an unholy ghost has descended upon his happy home.
Tormented by the wrath of this angry spirit, Matthew and Aimee’s relationship begins to crumble under the weight of their terror, and have no choice but to flee into the night, leaving their beloved flat behind.
But you can never run from your past…because dark secrets have a way of hunting you down.
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Under: A Short Horror Story
There’s a dead body under Hayley’s bed.
She can smell it. Touch it.
Her husband can’t see it. He thinks she’s having a nightmare. Her therapist believes it’s the trauma of the car accident. And Hayley doesn’t believe in ghosts.
But with every day that passes, the vile stench of death gets worse.
Who is this rotting woman?
Why is she under Hayley’s bed?
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Fourteen Days
Workaholic developer Richard Gardener is laid up at home for two week’s mandatory leave—doctor’s orders. No stress. No computers. Just fourteen days of complete rest.
Bliss for most, but hell for Richard… in more ways than one. There’s a darkness that lives inside Richard’s home; a presence he never knew existed because he was seldom there alone.
Did he just imagine those footsteps? The smoke alarm shrieking?
The woman in his kitchen?
His wife thinks that he’s just suffering from work withdrawal, but as the days crawl by in his solitary confinement, the terror seeping through the walls continues to escalate—threatening his health, his sanity, and his marriage.
When the inconceivable no longer seems quite so impossible, Richard struggles to come to terms with what is happening and find a way to banish the darkness—before he becomes an exile in his own home.
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Spine:
A Collection of Twisted Tales
Listen closely. A creak, almost too light to be heard…was it the shifting of an old house, or footsteps down the hallway? Breathe softly, and strain to hear through the silence. That breeze against your neck might be a draught, or an open window.
Slip into the pages of SPINE and you’ll be persuaded to leave the lights on and door firmly bolted. From Steven Jenkins, bestselling author of Fourteen Days and Burn the Dead, this horror collection of eight stories go beyond the realm of terror to an entirely different kind of creepiness. Beneath innocent appearances lurk twisted minds and scary monsters, from soft scratches behind the wall, to the paranoia of walking through a crowd and knowing that every single eye is locked on you. In this world, voices lure lost souls to the cliff’s edge and illicit drugs offer glimpses of things few should see. Scientists tamper with the afterlife, and the strange happenings at a nursing home are not what they first seem.
So don’t let that groan from the closet fool you—the monster is hiding right where you least expect it.
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Rotten Bodies:
A Zombie Short Story Collection
We all fear death’s dark spectre, but in a zombie apocalypse, dying is a privilege reserved for the lucky few. There are worse things than a bullet to the brain—much worse.
Meet Dave, a husband and father with a dirty secret, who quickly discovers that lies aren’t only dangerous…they’re deadly. Athlete Sarah once ran for glory, but when she finds herself alone on a country road with an injured knee, second place is as good as last. Howard, shovelling coal in the darkness of a Welsh coal mine, knows something’s amiss when his colleagues begin to disappear. But it’s when the lights come on that things get truly scary.
Five zombie short stories, from the grotesque to the downright terrifying. But reader beware: as the groans get louder and the twitching starts, you’ll be dying to reach the final page.
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About the Author
Steven Jenkins was born in the small Welsh town of Llanelli, where he began writing stories at the age of eight, inspired by ’80s horror mo
vies and novels by Richard Matheson.
During Steven’s teenage years, he became a great lover of writing dark and twisted poems—six of which gained him publications with Poetry Now, Brownstone Books, and Strong Words.
Over the next few years, as well as becoming a husband and father, Steven spent his free time writing short stories, achieving further publication with Dark Moon Digest. And in 2014 his debut novel, Fourteen Days was published by Barking Rain Press.
For More information
www.steven-jenkins.com
[email protected]
BURN THE DEAD
(The Complete Zombie Series)
Copyright © 2018 by Steven Jenkins
All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental. All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
The right of Steven Jenkins to be identified as the author of the Work has been asserted to him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Published in Great Britain in 2018 by Different Cloud Publishing.
Burn The Dead Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 43