The Colony: Velocity (The Colony, Vol. 4)
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Copyright © 2014 by Michaelbrent Collings
All rights reserved.
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NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the internet or via any other means without the permission of the author is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.
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PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF
MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS
CRIME SEEN
"[Crime Seen] will keep you guessing until the end…. 5/5. " – Horror Novel Reviews
"It's rare to find an ending to a novel that is clever, thought-provoking and surprising, yet here Collings nails all three…." – Ravenous Reads
"Crime Seen by Michaelbrent Collings is one of those rare books that deserves more than five stars." – Top of the Heap Reviews
"With an ending that, again, will keep you guessing until the last chapter, I would definitely recommend this book to others." – Horror Drive-In
THE COLONY: GENESIS (The Colony, Vol. 1)
"5 out of 5 stars.... I couldn't put it down." – Media Mikes
"I barely had time to buckle my mental seatbelt before the pedal hit the metal...." – The Horror Fiction Review
"What a refreshing read. This is the first of a series and if this is any indication of what's to come, count me in! .... If I could, I would gladly give this novel a 10 star rating." – Horror Novel Reviews
STRANGERS
"Collings is so proficient at what he does, he crooks his finger to get you inside his world and before you know it, you are along for the ride. You don't even see it coming; he is that good." – Only Five Star Book Reviews
"Move over Stephen King... Clive Barker.... Michaelbrent Collings is taking over as the new king of the horror book genre." – Media Mikes
"STRANGERS is another white-knuckled journey that demands to be read in one sitting." – The Horror Fiction Review
"Michaelbrent spins a tale that keeps you enthralled from page to page…. Overall I give this novel an A." – The Horror Drive-In
DARKBOUND
"Really good, highly recommended, make sure you have time to read a lot at one sitting since you may have a hard time putting it down." – The Horror Fiction Review
"In Darkbound you will find the intensity of Misery and a journey reminiscent of the train ride in The Talisman…. A proficient and pedagogical author, Collings’ works should be studied to see what makes his writing resonate with such vividness of detail…. You will not be disappointed in this dark tale." – Hellnotes
"A spell-binding conclusion comes from out of nowhere that is hauntingly reminiscent of M. Night Shyamalan or Alfred Hitchcock. A certifiable bone chiller…." – horrornews.net
"Darkbound travels along at a screaming pace with action the whole way through, and twists to keep you guessing throughout.... With an ending that I didn't see coming from a mile away, and easily one of the best I've had the enjoyment of reading in a long time...." – Horror Drive-In
THE HAUNTED
"The Haunted is a terrific read with some great scares and a shock of an ending!" – Rick Hautala, international bestselling author; Bram Stoker Award® for Lifetime Achievement winner
"[G]ritty, compelling and will leave you on the edge of your seat.... The Haunted is a tremendous read for fans of ghoulishly good terror." – horrornews.net
"The Haunted is just about perfect.... This is a haunted house story that will scare even the most jaded horror hounds. I loved it!" – Joe McKinney, Bram Stoker Award®-winning author of Flesh Eaters and The Savage Dead
APPARITION
"Apparition is not just a 'recommended' novel, it is easily one of the most entertaining and satisfying horror novels this reviewer has read within the past few years. I cannot imagine that any prospective reader looking for a new read in the horror genre won't be similarly blown away by the novel." – Hellnotes
"[Apparition is] a gripping, pulse hammering journey that refuses to relent until the very final act. The conclusion that unfolds may cause you to sleep with the lights on for a spell.... Yet be forewarned perhaps it is best reserved for day time reading." – horrornews.net
"Apparition is a hard core supernatural horror novel that is going to scare the hell out of you.... This book has everything that you would want in a horror novel.... it is a roller coaster ride right up to a shocking ending." – horroraddicts.net
"[Apparition is] Riveting. Captivating. Mesmerizing.... [A]n effective, emotional, nerve-twisting read, another amazingly well-written one from a top-notch writer." – The Horror Fiction Review
THE LOON
"It's always so nice to find one where hardcore asylum-crazy is done RIGHT.... THE LOON is, hands down, an excellent book." – The Horror Fiction Review
"Highly recommended for horror and thriller lovers. It's fast-moving, as it has to be, and bloody and violent, but not disgustingly gory.... Collings knows how to write thrillers, and I'm looking forward to reading more from him." – Hellnotes
MR. GRAY (aka THE MERIDIANS)
"... an outstanding read.... This story is layered with mystery, questions from every corner and no answers fully coming forth until the final conclusion.... What a ride.... This is one you will not be able to put down and one you will remember for a long time to come. Very highly recommended." – Midwest Book Review
RUN
"[A] tense and intense scary sci-fi chiller/thriller.... RUN is a winner, as fast-paced as it should be, cinematic and gripping, lots of fun but with moments of poignancy and disturbing paranoia." – The Horror Fiction Review
HOOKED: A TRUE FAERIE TALE
"Hooked is a story with depth.... Emotional, sad, horrific, and thought provoking, this one was difficult to put down and now, one of my favourite tales." – Only Five Star Book Reviews
"[A]n interesting and compelling read.... Collings has a way with words that pulls you into every moment of the story, absorbing every scene with all of your senses." – Clean Romance Reviews
"Collings has found a way to craft an entirely new modern vampire mythology – and one strikingly different from everything I've seen before.... Recommended for adult and teen fans of horror and paranormal romance...." – Hellnotes
RISING FEARS
"The writing is superb. The characters are believable and sympathetic... the theme of a parent who's lost a child figures strongly; it's powerful stuff, and written from the perspective of experience that no one should ever have to suffer." – Th
e Horror Fiction Review
Dedication
To...
D’Aun, Laura, Victoria, and Miguel,
for letting me be the creepy guy in the corner,
and to Laura, FTAAE.
Contents
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1
Since it first acquired the ability to think, humanity has obsessed over a single question:
What happens next?
What happens after?
What happens when we die?
Ken stared at the answer. And, staring, wanted to scream. Not in victory, not in joy. He felt none of the ecstasy reported by seers and prophets through the ages, only a black madness that threatened to break over him like a tidal wave. To carry him off into depths so profound that he drown in them. And, drowning, would suffer forever. Because this wave brought death. And death had ceased to be a cipher and transformed to terror.
Ken stared at his dead son.
His dead son stared back. And growled.
No. It’s not him. It’s not Derek.
But it was. Even bent and broken from his hundred-foot fall off the side of a construction crane, even with one eye covered by scabrous growths, there was no denying that it was his boy. His brave, beautiful boy who had sacrificed himself so that his mother – and perhaps all of them – might live.
Derek –
(not Derek, not really, this is once-Derek, false-Derek, a Derek-of-lies, not my boy, oh, please, God, NOT MY BOY)
– snarled. The sound had weight. It hit Ken like a fist. Not the give up give in of the snarls he had heard thus far, the low psychic vibration that had accompanied the cries of the zombies.
This was a shriek in his mind. Not give up give in but GIVE UP GIVE IN.
And he wanted to. Dear God, he wanted to.
GIVE UP GIVE IN.
GIVE UP GIVE IN.
(daddy no)
Ken realized he had stepped out of the storm drain access tunnel. Into the too-bright sunlight, into the clutches of the fifty or so zombies waiting there.
Why aren’t they attacking us? he wondered.
He also realized that the other zombies, the tiny child-monsters that had pushed themselves through even tinier holes to get to them, had halted. They were swaying and snarling, but their cries were muted. Lower than they had been. He could hear them –
give up.
give in.
– but the sound wasn’t as forceful. It was almost… worshipful. Like they were in the presence of deity.
Beside Derek stood a six-foot-plus monster. A zombie with perfectly white skin on one side of its body, utterly unblemished. Its left side. Its right side was charred and blackened by a trip through flame. It was an injury that would have killed a normal human, but the monster didn’t register pain, didn’t seem to notice it at all.
It stepped toward the group.
Ken realized that no one else was moving. His wife was screaming in terror, Maggie’s cries almost as loud as those of his no-longer-son. Aaron and Christopher stood mute, though whether from shock or terror or some other emotion Ken could not say.
Buck held Ken’s little girl. Hope was crying out, ecstatic screams that rose and fell in counterpoint to those of Liz, Ken’s baby who hung naked from a baby sling strapped to Maggie’s stomach. The screams fell into low moans at times, and Ken shuddered. They sounded nearly sexual, and were nothing he wanted to hear from his little girls.
Sally…. Ken glanced around. The snow leopard that had saved them from a zombie attack was standing still. The cat’s fur spiked to attention, even its tail held erect. It looked like it was fighting something.
GIVE UP.
GIVE IN.
Derek stopped snarling.
GIVE U –
(run, daddy)
derek stepped forward. So did the half-burnt monster beside him, the unholy retainer at the right hand of a slight-figured god-child. At Derek’s left, Dorcas – good and kind Dorcas, Dorcas whose eyes had shone with selflessness and bravery and whose gaze now flared with hunger and need – stepped forward as well. Like an unholy godhead, a trinity that served darkness instead of light.
(daddy, please run, plea –)
It was only when the tiny voice in his mind cut off that Ken realized it had ever been there. And with the realization he was forced to question its appearance. A thing defined not by itself but by the shadows that surrounded it.
Had the voice been there?
Was it real?
Or did he merely wish it to be so? Did he simply hope Derek was still in there?
Derek opened his mouth wide. Dark ichor welled out. His legs crackled, shifting as he stood.
The once-boy – once-child, once-bright star of their little family – shrieked, and the sound drove spikes into Ken’s mind.
GIVE UP.
GIVE IN.
DIE!
The other zombies ran forward as one. Inside the drain tunnel Ken heard the tiny scratches of child-things scrabbling forward.
Nowhere to run.
DIE!
2
They were all screaming.
Maggie, shouting in terror. Making noises he hadn’t even heard on the days and nights she gave birth to their children – two of those times completely without anesthetic.
Christopher, his cries waxing and waning so they sounded almost like laughter. But chilling. Terrifying.
Even Aaron screamed. Just a staccato yell, a pair of pistol pops to Christopher’s machine-gun cry. Still, it was more of an admission of fear than the cowboy-cum-rodeo-clown-cum-whatever-Aaron-actually-was usually made.
Buck screamed as well. Big man, high voice. He had sounded whiny when Ken first met him, but the sound he was making carried no trace of begging, no hint of complaint. It was pure terror, the kind that laced its way up your guts and then pulled tight and forced you to open your mouth and let it out because to keep it in would be to die.
The girls….
Hope and little Liz….
Hope was looking up. Staring at the sky. Mouth open. Breathing in time with…
… Liz. The toddler strapped to her mother’s chest. Her arms splayed out, fingers wide as though experiencing her first rain, her first snow. She was smiling.
Then laughing.
The laugh made Ken’s legs wobble. There was nothing of Liz in the laugh. Nothing of the little girl who ran to him and buried her face in the space between neck and shoulder and kissed him and giggled at the feel of his whispers. Nothing of Sesame Street and apple juice in sippies and mornings going in to little eyes staring over the top rail of the crib, eyes that lit up when you walked in because it was day and DADDY WAS HERE!
Liz was gone. Only –
(give up)
– hunger remained. Only hunger and –
(give in)
– hatred and –