Copyright © 2013 by Michaelbrent Collings
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PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF
MICHAELBRENT COLLINGS
THE COLONY: GENESIS (THE COLONY, VOL. 1)
"Once again Michaelbrent delivers a smashing novel with The Colony: Genesis, the first book in a proposed new series. From start to finish, this novel is a fresh look into the world of apocalyptic proportions, brought on by anyone's guess.... the action and intrigue throughout is almost non-stop. I read it in less than two days, and I'm glad I did." - Horror Drive-In
"5 out of 5 stars.... I couldn't put it down." - Media Mikes
“If you love Zombie stories, you will love The Colony. If you are a so-so fan of Zombie stories, you will love The Colony and if you love good horror, written well and told in a way that you will lose a night's sleep because you do not want to stop reading, you will definitely love The Colony.” – Only Five Star Book Reviews
"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
“Highly recommended.” – Hellnotes
“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
“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 Inheritance
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
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.” – The Horror Fiction Review
DEDICATION
To...
Chad Brown (VAWCF)…
and to Laura, FTAAE.
Contents
Chapter
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2
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4
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1
The world had ended four hours ago.
So why was Kenny G still playing music?
Ken Strickland knew he was asking this question as a way to avoid the real questions, the questions he should be asking. The questions that had no answers.
But still, it seemed so important.
Civilization had fallen. Zombies had taken over. Zombies whose bites caused instant conversion, who were impervious to pain or grief or discomfort. Monsters whose only apparent thought seemed to be focused on killing those few normal humans that remained.
But Kenny G was still playing music.
Ken Strickland had never hated Kenny G before. Never particularly liked him, but didn’t hate him. Now, though, in an elevator in the Wells Fargo Center, riding up toward the ninth floor where he hoped against all reason to find his wife and three children alive, he realized that the fall of civilization came with some perks.
There would be no more easy listening, no more Muzak.
Beside him, Dorcas shuffled nervously. The middle-aged woman was tough as weathered saddle leather. She had saved Ken’s life several times, even though he was a virtual stranger to her. But she was nervous now, traveling up in a confined space with nowhere to run, nowhere to hide if things went bad.
Maybe we should have taken the stairs.
He discarded that idea almost instantly. Stairs would have taken too long. And the last time they had used the stairs, things had gone badly.
Plus, who knew how long the power would last? This might be the last trip any of them would ever take in an elevator. This might be a magical moment they would tell children and grandchildren about someday.
If we live that long.
“Wonder how many times people took this elevator,” said Christopher. The twenty-two year old looked wistful, as though thinking along the same lines as Ken. He had been the son of Idaho’s governor until a few hours ago. Then, like all of the people in the elevator, he became just one more survivor, one more refugee, one more person fleeing the hordes that had taken over the world in less than ten minutes.
Aaron grunted. Ken couldn’t tell if the cowboy was agreeing with Christopher, or telling him to be quiet. The older man was the most enigmatic of the group. Ken wondered anew who he was. How he’d learned to fight, how the older man seemed to know what to do in almost any situation.
Mysteries. Mysteries in mysteries in mysteries.
No one knew anything anymore.
Welcome to the new world.
The counter on the front panel of the elevator dinged at each floor, a low electronic chirp that was designed to be pleasing and unobtrusive. Each twitter set Ken’s teeth on edge, made him want to tear the circuitry out by its roots in order to shut down the sound.
4 (ding)… 5 (ding)… 6 (ding)….
Dorcas’ hand tightened against Ken’s right arm. The hand that held him was strong, though her other hand hung from the end of a makeshift sling, broken during a zombie attack. Aaron had a handful of broken fingers and a dislocated thumb. Ken had had to cut off the pinkie and ring fingers of his own hand in order to escape an attack.
Everyone was injured. Broken. Beaten down.
7 (ding)….
Only Christopher looked fine. Better than fine. He looked like a cover model, stopped for a latte break and helping out with the zombie apocalypse for a few minutes until the photographer called him back on set.
8 (ding)….
“Get ready,” said Aaron.
Christopher nodded. Ken did, too, though he wondered what they would do to get ready. Aaron had a gun, but it only had two bullets. Other than that the party was weaponless. And even if they each had an assault rifle and full body armor, Ken didn’t know what that would do against hordes of seemingly indestructible attackers. Nothing seemed to stop the things. Even major head trauma didn’t slow them down; just sent them into an indiscriminate rage that would have them attacking anything that moved – including each other.
The elevator dinged. The final floor.
Ken closed his eyes for a moment. He said a silent prayer. Imagined Maggie’s face. The smiles of Derek, Hope, and Liz.
Please let them be alive. Or let them be dead.
Just not things. Not zombies.
The elevator doors opened.
The elevator opened to a corridor. Just a blank wall. Normal, save only for the thick smear of brown-red-black that trailed down its middle.
Christopher stepped forward, clearly intending to move into the hallway. Aaron grabbed him.
“Stop,” the cowboy said. It was barely a whisper. The kind of speech Ken associated with survival.
Christopher halted. The four people in the elevator were silent. Ken couldn’t even hear anyone breathing. They were held in a momentary stasis, an instant before the future hit them with its usual freight-train momentum.
What if Maggie’s gone? The kids?
“Okay,” breathed the cowboy.
Christopher stepped out of the elevator cab.
He looked to his left and right, and Ken saw him grow pale.
“What?” said Ken.
Christopher turned around. Fast. Like he didn’t want Ken coming out.
“Maybe you shouldn’t –” he began.
Ken stepped out of the elevator.
And felt a scream tear loose from his throat.
Aaron’s good hand clamped over Ken’s mouth, stopping the scream before more than a whimper came out. Then the cowboy leaned over and retched. None of them had eaten since this all started, since the world ended. There was nothing in the man’s stomach. But he dry-heaved as though his body was trying to expel the very memory of what he was seeing at either end of the corridor, only about twenty feet away from the elevators.
Two solid walls. Not of brick and mortar, not of plaster or wood.
Bodies.
It looked like every single person on this floor had run for the elevator at the same time. And every single person had fallen prey to whatever had turned the world upside down.
The hall was blocked at either end by a solid plug of corpses, bodies and body parts ripped limb from limb and then piled atop each other haphazardly like a madman’s version of an Erector set. Heads, arms, legs, trunks. Entire bodies shredded and then stuffed into place.
“What…?” Dorcas’ voice was soft. So soft, like the vision of death in the still-lit corridor had somehow stolen away the very years she had lived. Had turned her into a little girl, shyin
g away from thunder and whimpering at the vision of lightning in the sky.
Humanity’s defenses had been stripped off. All pretenses of civilization pulled away, and not even their dead were sacrosanct. Even humanity’s holiest objects had been rendered profane. The monsters had come for them.
“What do we do?” said Christopher.
No one spoke. The lights above them flickered, and Ken wondered what would happen if the lights failed – as they would have to do eventually – while they were stuck here between the bodies of the dead.
He was shaking. His head ached, his back hurt where he had twisted it earlier, the bones of his left leg felt like white-hot pincers were clamped against them every few inches.
His absent fingers, the ones he had hacked off himself, ached. He missed his wedding ring.
He walked toward the wall of bodies on his right.
He reached out and grabbed a stiff hand. Pulled it away from the wall of the dead.
A moment later Dorcas and Christopher joined him and they started to dig through the bodies.
Aaron waited a moment. He had been standing halfway in the elevator cab, and now he looked around and spotted something in the hall: a small aluminum trash can. He stomped it flat, then wedged it in the track of the elevator. Ken saw Christopher eyeing the older man.
“We don’t want anything surprising us from behind,” said the cowboy. “And better to have the elevator available when we want it.”
The Colony: Renegades (The Colony, Vol. 2) Page 1