by Brian Keene
I hopped out of bed, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts, grabbed a pistol from my gun safe (deciding it would be prudent to approach this naked stranger with some precaution) and headed out the door. My driveway was a slim, rutted gravel road that wound down the mountain. As I walked down it, I kept catching glimpses of the nude bicyclist through the trees. Unfortunately, by the time I got to the bottom, he was gone.
At the time, it seemed like every week the mainstream media were reporting on another case where some drug-crazed nut tore off his or her clothes and ran rampant through the streets. In most of these cases, the perpetrator attempted to break into homes or vehicles or places of business. In several cases, they attacked other people. Several victims died.
Walking back up the mountain, still wearing my boxer shorts, I started thinking about what would happen if there was suddenly a horde of such fiends. Then that idea went to live in the back of my brain, which is where all of my ideas go. The good ones eventually get written down. The bad ones dissipate like dreams.
Life went on.
In early 2014, my cabin and many of the other homes in the valley were destroyed during a series of severe winter storms. Meteorologists called it the Polar Vortex. We called it Hell. We’d survived multiple floods and blizzards over the years, but the Polar Vortex did us in. My place was pretty much uninhabitable afterward, and after seeing the impact the situation had on my youngest son, I decided that maybe a remote mountaintop cabin overlooking Shoggoth Town wasn’t the best place to raise a seven-year old. So, he and I packed up our belongings (except for the stuff destroyed in the storms) and moved into an apartment complex in a nearby town. My son was much happier with this living arrangement, and I was happy that he was happy.
We’d been in the complex for about a month, and I was smoking a cigar one day, and thinking about how I viewed my new neighbors (none of whom I really knew) and how they viewed me (a new tenant whom they didn’t know) versus how I viewed myself and how they probably viewed themselves.
Then I remembered the naked man on the bicycle.
And that’s how this novel came to be—a story about our self-perceptions versus other people’s perceptions of us. And about how we don’t really know our neighbors anymore. And about deranged naked people on a killing spree.
Javier Mendez, aka The Exit, has appeared in several of my short stories—“I Am An Exit”, “This Is Not An Exit” and “Exit Strategies”. He also appears in my novel, The Seven. An alternate reality version of Grady Hicks has previously appeared in a short story called “Customer Service Letter Written by an Angry Old Man on Christmas Eve”. Hannibal the cat previously appeared in a short story called “Halves”. A few paragraphs of the introductory chapter with Sam were cannibalized from a short story I wrote called “The Eleventh Muse”.
Some of you will no doubt notice that I departed from my usual style of narrative voice, and chose something different for this novel. I’m not sure why that happened. It just did. That’s how the story wanted to be told, so that’s how I told it.
Writers are weird as fuck.
It’s also worth noting that, just like in many of my other novels, while most of the towns and locations in this book are real, I have taken certain geographical liberties with them. So don’t go looking for the Pine Village Apartment Complex in Red Lion, PA. You won’t find it. And if you did, you wouldn’t like what comes creeping across the parking lot after dark.
As always, thank you for your support. If you keep reading them, I’ll keep writing them.
Brian Keene
August 2015
BRIAN KEENE writes novels, comic books, short fiction, and occasional journalism for money. He is the author of over forty books, mostly in the horror, crime, and dark fantasy genres. His 2003 novel, The Rising, is often credited (along with Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic and Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later film) with inspiring pop culture’s current interest in zombies. In addition to his own original work, Keene has written for media properties such as Doctor Who, The X-Files, Hellboy, Masters of the Universe, and Superman.
Several of Keene’s novels have been developed for film, including Ghoul, The Ties That Bind, and Fast Zombies Suck. Several more are in-development or under option. Keene also oversees Maelstrom, his own small press publishing imprint specializing in collectible limited editions, via Thunderstorm Books.
Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Media Bistro, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. He has won numerous awards and honors, including the World Horror Grand Master award, two Bram Stoker awards, and a recognition from Whiteman A.F.B. (home of the B-2 Stealth Bomber) for his outreach to U.S. troops serving both overseas and abroad. A prolific public speaker, Keene has delivered talks at conventions, college campuses, theaters, and inside Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, VA.
The father of two sons, Keene lives in rural Pennsylvania.
Table of Contents
One - Sam: Apartment 1-D
Two - Terri and Caleb: Apartment 2-D
Three - Stephanie [Stephen] [Rose]: Apartment 3-D
Four - Mrs. Carlucci: Apartment 4-D
Five - Shaggy and Turo: Apartment 5-D
Six - Grady Hicks: Apartment 6-D
Seven - The Exit: Apartment 7-D
Eight - Phil and Beth: Apartment 8-D
Nine - Sam, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, Mrs. Carlucci, Shaggy, and Turo: Apartment 1-D
Ten - Grady, The Exit, Adam, Phil, and Beth: The Yard
Eleven - Sam, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, Mrs. Carlucci, Shaggy, and Turo: Apartment 1-D
Twelve - The Exit and Grady: Apartment 6-D
Thirteen - Sam, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, Mrs. Carlucci, Shaggy, and Turo: Apartment 2-D
Fourteen - Shaggy: The Yard
Fifteen - Sam, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, and Mrs. Carlucci: Apartment 3-D
Sixteen - Hannibal, King, Queenie, and Princess: Apartment 1-D
Seventeen - Grady, The Exit, and Shaggy: Apartment 6-D
Eighteen - Sam, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, and Mrs. Carlucci: Apartment 3-D
Nineteen - Grady, Stephanie, Terri, Caleb, Shaggy, and The Exit: Cranbrook Road
Twenty - Mike and Bryan: Speedy Stop Convenience Store, 282 Main Street
Twenty-One - Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, Grady, Shaggy, The Exit, Bryan, and Mike: Speedy Stop Convenience Store, 282 Main Street
Twenty-Two - Shaggy, Bryan, and Mike: The Garbage Dumpster
Twenty-Three -The Exit, Terri, Caleb, Stephanie, Grady, and Hannibal: Main Street
Twenty-Four - Stephanie, The Exit, Terri, and Caleb: City Limits
Afterword