The Common Cold (Book 2): A Zombie Chronicle-Cabin Fever
Page 23
He turned to his commanding officer. “What sh…” he began before the words caught in his throat. Stacey was staring at him through nacreous pupils; small rivulets of blood ran from the corners of his eyes, giving his face a sad, yet somehow malevolent appearance. His face was hard to recognise at first, the skin pulled taut and mouth drawn back into what would be a familiar grin, if only the underground worker had but been to the surface at all during the crisis and seen what was going on. “Sir…”
“Gaagh,” was all he got in reply, as if Stacey had been admonishing him once again for not using his first name.
Ethan panicked at first and pushed his wheeled office chair away from the apparition. Then he caught sight of his own reflection in the glass in the partly opened door to the office. He put his hand to his face in wonder; he looked just like his commander. Feeling his own taut and strangely smooth skin, he ran a finger around his mouth, fascinated by how large his teeth felt.
Picking up the headset he pressed the PTT switch and sent a final message.
“Ccchhg aargh,” before releasing the switch to receive a reply.
“Hello? Hello? Say again? Is there anybody there? Hello…” Then nothing.
To Be Continued …
Notes on the Book:
A couple of reviews to the first part of this series spoke of wanting to know more about what had caused the apocalypse. There was a direct reference to the cause in the first volume, but to clarify I added a more full description of the cause in this volume - I hope this pleases those who want to know! This attempt to lasso a meteorite is real and is being funded by the current administration in the USA. And guess who is responsible for this project? NASA, of course. I do like a certain amount of realism in my books; I think it lends itself to the adventure knowing that it could really happen. If you want to know more about this, click Huffington Post. At the end of the article you will see a particularly arrogant statement by a NASA official that ‘we’re smarter than the dinosaurs’. A flippant remark perhaps but let’s hope it doesn’t bite us on the arse.
There are two interesting incidents that prompted my use of an LRAD in the story. Firstly reading this newspaper article gave me the idea about annoying zombies with music:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2478838/Britney-Spears-songs-used-scare-Western-culture-hating-pirates-Somalia.html
Then I discovered the LRAD as a delivery mechanism. Combining it with Kylie Minogue seemed to be cruel and unusual punishment at first but then I thought, ‘what the hell’ and decided to go with it. If you would like to know more about the LRAD, visit this YouTube video. It is quite an eye-opener. I do not know if it is possible to boil heads with sound - I don’t see why not - but it does lend an interesting and novel approach to the massive zombie problem that we would be faced with in the following day, months and possibly years following an apocalyptic state.
Towards the end of this chronicle I include a rape scenario. I did not do this lightly but feel it has, unfortunately, a ring of reality about it. As it makes me feel uncomfortable to write about this subject, I prefer to allude to such an act of this nature rather than describe it, especially as this is an adventure book suitable for a wide variety of ages. I do not consider rape to be at all acceptable in peace or a war-like situation; in the latter I include an apocalypse. Naturally there are people in the world who will always find an excuse to abuse women or other vulnerable people during trying times. As far as I am concerned, there is only one end for these despots and their acolytes who have chosen to see it as a perk or as a weapon to be used against their opposition; you will see my characters are no exception to my feelings on this score and I ensure they receive justice in whichever form is available at the time, and for all of these types of perpetrators I will have no mercy. Go Angelina Jolie and William Hague!
Note from the Author:
I hope you enjoyed this book; I have endeavoured to make the subject matter believable (as long as you believe in zombies). I have even been through some significant pain in the production of this sequel - I actually listened to Kylie Minogue’s ‘Can’t get You Out of My Head’, just so that you don’t have to.
Occasionally, due to human error, some grammatical errors may go unnoticed during the editing process, which believe me is intensive. If you do find anything you would like to share with me, please feel free to email me.
Also you can visit me on my website,
http://www.david-k-roberts.com/,
or
Check out my Zombie Blog on
http://www.zombies-worldwide.com
I am also on Twitter under @dkr54. Please feel free to follow me.
My Facebook Page
Other books by the Same Author:
The Common Cold: A Zombie Chronicle (1st in Series)
Available Worldwide
Click Here For The USA
Click Here For The UK
Return of A King: A Zombie Chronicle
Available Worldwide
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Click Here For The UK
Fierce Alchemy
Available Worldwide
Click Here for the USA
Click Here for the UK
The Animus Portal
Available Worldwide
Click Here for the USA
Click Here for the UK