“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.
COMING SOON
FROM STEVEN JENKINS
THEA
A Vampire Story
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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 movies 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.
You can find out more about Steven Jenkins at his website:
www.steven-jenkins.com
www.facebook.com/stevenjenkinsauthor
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OTHER TITLES
BY STEVEN JENKINS
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.
"Gripping, tense, and bloody scary. The author has taken the classic ghost story, and blended it faultlessly with Hitchcock's Rear Window."
COLIN DAVIES
DIRECTOR OF BBC’S BAFTA WINNING: THE COALHOUSE
"Fourteen Days is the most purely enjoyable novel I've read in a very long time."
RICHARD BLANDFORD
THE WRITER’S WORKSHOP & AUTHOR OF HOUND DOG
Available at:
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and all other book retailers.
BURN THE DEAD: QUARANTINE
(BOOK ONE)
Robert Stephenson makes his living burning zombies—a job that pays the bills and plays tricks on the mind. Still, his life is routine until one day his infected wife, Anna, shows up in line for the incinerator, and Rob must cremate the love of his life.
In a race against the clock, he must find his four-year-old son Sammy, who is stranded in a newly quarantined zone, teeming with the walking dead, and crawling with the Necro-Morbus virus.
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?
“If you’re looking for a fast-paced zombie read, I highly recommend Burn the Dead by Steven Jenkins (5-STARS)”
K.C. FINN
READERS’ FAVORITE
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and all other book retailers.
BURN THE DEAD: PURGE
(BOOK TWO)
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.
“Filled with the perfect mix of crazy, jaw-snapping zombies, heart-stopping horror, Burn the Dead: Purge is a 5-star read for any zombie fan who is looking for something that isn't your typical rotter story.”
A.J. LEAVENS – Author of Death’s Twilight
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SPINE
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.
“If you love scary campfire stories of ghosts, demonology, and all things that go bump in the night, then you’ll love this horror collection by author Steven Jenkins.”
COLIN DAVIES
DIRECTOR OF BBC’S BAFTA WINNING: THE COALHOUSE
Available at:
www.steven-jenkins.com,
Amazon UK, Amazon US,
and all other book retailers.
ROTTEN BODIES
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.
The dead are walking, and they’re hungry. Steven Jenkins, bestselling author of Fourteen Days and Burn The Dead, shares six zombie tales that are rotten for all the right reasons.
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. Working in a cremation facility, Rob likes to peek secretly at the faces of his inventory before they’re turned to ash. When it comes to workplace health and sanity, however, some rules are better left unbroken. 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.
Six different takes on the undead, 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.
“Utterly hair-raising, in all its gory glory!”
CATE HOGAN
AUTHOR OF ONE SUMMER
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and all other book retailers.
Table of Contents
Free Book!
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Epilogue
Coming Soon From Steven Jenkins
About the Author
Other Titles by Steven Jenkins
Fourteen Days
Burn the Dead: Quarantine (Book One)
Burn the Dead: Purge (Book Two)
Spine
Rotten Bodies
The Zombie Saga (Book 3): Burn The Dead: Riot Page 12