Clickers II: The Next Wave
Page 1
Clickers II: The Next Wave
Title Page
Dedication
Author's Note
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
About the Authors
Dedication:
Praise for J. F. Gonzalez
"In an era of horror fiction that's often reckless and overboard, Gonzalez brings intellect and a studied, consummate craft to the table, creating tales the right way: with deft characterization, riveting plotwork, and imagery sharper than a carpet razor. This is a rare type of writer indeed, tackling even hardcore and taboo subjects with brains and creative brawn. If you haven't heard of this guy yet, believe me, you will. It won't be long before Gonzalez is taking big bites out of the field of horror fiction" - Edward Lee, author of Ghouls, Incubi, and The Bighead.
"J. F. Gonzalez is a writer to watch." - Bentley Little, Author of The Store.
"One of my must-read authors" - The Horror Fiction Review
"Gonzalez gives his audience what they crave in spades." - Cemetery Dance
"J.F. Gonzalez is one of my favorite writers and I will gladly buy and quickly read anything he publishes." - Horror Drive-In
"Forces the kind of visceral relationship between writer and reader that the best horror writing can produce." The New York Times Book Review
"…places a great deal of personal responsibility onto the reader…It's not enough simply to ask why anyone would commit such horrors; we also have to wonder why we're so fascinated by the details." - Fangoria
Praise for Brian Keene
“One of horror’s most impressive literary talents.” Rue Morgue Magazine
“Blunt and visceral.” The New York Times
“Grabs the reader and doesn’t let go.” Publishers Weekly
“Brian Keene has the gift!” F. Paul Wilson
“His work is raw, gritty and often brilliant.” Dark Scribe Magazine
“Brian Keene’s name should be up there with King, Koontz and Barker. He’s without a doubt one of the best horror writers ever.” The Horror Review
“If Brian Keene’s books were music, they would occupy a working-class, hard-earned space between Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, and Johnny Cash.” John Skipp
Clickers II: The Next Wave
Other Books by J. F. Gonzalez
Novels
Clickers (with Mark Williams)
Conversion
Shapeshifter
Maternal Instinct
Fetish
Survivor
The Beloved
Bully
Hero (with Wrath James White)
Primitive
Clickers III: Dagon Rising (with Brian Keene)
The Corporation
Back From the Dead (forthcoming)
Collections
Old Ghosts and Other Revenants
Maternal Instinct
When the Darkness Falls
The Summoning and Other Eldritch Tales
Other Books by Brian Keene
The Rising
City of the Dead
Terminal
The Conquerer Worms
Ghoul
Dead Sea
Dark Hollow
Ghost Walk
Kill Whitey
Castaways
Urban Gothic
Darkness on the Edge of Town
A Gathering of Crows
Shades (with Geoff Cooper)
Clickers III: Dagon Rising (with J. F. Gonzalez)
Clickers II: The Next Wave
Midnight Library
No part of this book may be used or reproduced, stored into or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or any other means now known or yet to be invented) without the prior written permission of the copyright holders, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed are either fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events and individuals is coincidental. This book is sold as is and neither the publisher, nor the author, will be responsible for any direct or consequential damages that may arise from the misuse of the information within.
Smashwords Edition, License Notes: This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Clickers II: The Next Wave © 2007 J. F. Gonzalez & Brian Keene
Midnight Library Edition © 2010
Cover Illustration © 2007 Dave Kendall
All rights reserved
Ebook ISBN: 978-0-9830265-2-5
Midnight Library
Lititz, PA
Email: info@midnightlibrary.com
Website: www.midnightlibrary.com
Author websites
www.jfgonzalez.com
http://www.briankeene.com/
Table of Contents
Dedication
Author's Note
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Epilogue
About the Authors
Dedication:
For our good friend Gene O’Neill,
With respect and admiration…
But next time, don’t let that damn Canadian eat all the food
Author’s Note: Although many of the places and locations in this novel are real, we have taken certain fictional liberties with them. So if you see your favorite beach or river herein, run and hide. There’s a storm on the horizon and the menu features surf and turf.
Acknowledgements:
Both authors would like to thank Shane Ryan Staley, Dave Kendall, David J. Schow, Bob Ford, Kelli Dunlap, Mark Sylva, and Tod Clark.
J. F. Gonzalez would like to thank Brian and Cassi, Cathy and Hannah, Mom and Dad, Mary Wolf, Dirk Wolf (RIP), Janice and Jeff Strand, Bob Strauss, Garrett Peck, Mark Sieber, Dave Nordhaus, Mark Williams’s ghost, and all the fans of Clickers. Who the hell knew there’d be a sequel?
Brian Keene would like to thank Jesus and the entire Gonzalez family, Cassandra and Sam, those crazy fuckers on my message board, and the security guard at Baltimore’s National Aquarium who threw me out when I was doing research.
Prologue
FLOYD DEATH TOLL EXPECTED TO RISE
Ben Murdock
Associated Press
October 31, 1994
A grim Halloween morning greeted members of the Maine National Guard, American Red Cross, and officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency as the death toll from Hurricane Floyd continues to rise.
Floyd’s powerful category five winds wreaked havo
c on Maine’s northern coast, with over 1,800 deaths reported. The heaviest damage occurred in the town of Phillipsport, where the previous death toll of 500 has now risen to almost 700. Survivors indicate that Phillipsport, which relied primarily on the lobster industry and tourist dollars, may never recover. The Bangor News quoted one survivor as saying the town was “just wiped off the map. It’s all gone.” A large swath of destruction, extending from the south of town all the way to Route 193 in the north, was decimated, including the power plant, which supplied electricity to roughly 75,000 customers.
During an interview at the Red Cross emergency station in nearby Cherryfield, U.S. Army Colonel Augustus Livingston stated that there was no truth to rumors that widespread looting and lawlessness preceded the storm, despite eyewitness accounts that many of the dead were armed, or firearms were found near their bodies. He refused to comment on reports that the streets were littered with the carcasses of a species of giant crab, unbeknownst to science. Two researchers from Boston University also refused comment, nor would they verify reports that they’d taken a sample of one of the creatures.
Meanwhile, Hollywood’s glitterati are doing their part for relief efforts. Musicians and actors are joining forces, and a benefit extravaganza is planned for Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event, which will be broadcast live on all three networks, is hosted by Chris Rock, and features such musical talents as Soundgarden, Your Kid’s On Fire, Sheryl Crow, Suicide Run, Garth Brooks, and multiple Grammy-Award winning hip-hop artist and Nobel Prize nominee Prosper Johnson and the Gangsta Disciples. All proceeds will go to…
AUTHOR FEARED DEAD IN
HURRICANE’S AFTERMATH
Matt Urich
New York Times
November 05, 1994
As clean-up and relief efforts continued in Northern Maine, after Hurricane Floyd cost the lives of over 2,000 people and over two-billion in damages, New York-based publisher Diamond Books said yesterday that it fears author Rick Sychek may have been among the casualties. A Diamond spokesperson said the company reported Sychek missing on Tuesday.
Sychek, known as “the Stephen King of Generation X,” and author of such best-selling page-turners as Baron Semedi, Night, Shadowbeast, and Night of the Devil, was last heard from on October 21st. He was staying at the home of a friend in Phillipsport, according to his agent, Cynthia Jacobs. Phillipsport received the heaviest damage during Floyd’s assault.
Sychek had just signed a six-figure, two-book hardcover deal with Diamond, and was in Phillipsport to work on his next novel. The winner of the Bram Stoker Award, Sychek was…
RELATIVES DEMAND ANSWERS
Robert McGavin
The Washington Post
October 26, 1995
To hear Gayle Lee tell the story, there was something else amiss the night Hurricane Floyd raged into greater New England and decimated large swaths of beachfront property, including the complete destruction of Phillipsport, Maine.
“We knew Floyd was coming,” she said. Gayle Lee, a forty-year old high school history teacher from Binghampton, New York, had spoken to her brother, Gary, hours before the storm hit. “The government says a few people got out of hand and were looting,” she says. “That’s their way of explaining why some people were found holding firearms when they died. But I was talking to my brother hours before Floyd hit, and he said the trouble started much sooner than that. He was in his basement when he called and said he could hear gunshots outside, like there was a war or something.”
While it’s true that many of the deceased were found clutching firearms, the official explanation is that the local Sheriff had organized a posse to prevent looters. Gayle Lee isn’t buying it.
“I’ve been in contact with a lot of folks who lost loved ones in Phillipsport,” she said. “And we want answers! It is unacceptable that an entire town was just destroyed like that when other towns of similar size or even larger survived. Something else happened and nobody is talking about it.”
When asked to comment on Gayle Lee’s accusations, FEMA refused to comment, citing their ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, economists predict that the storm’s impact on the insurance sector could…
BODY FOUND ON BEACH
Staff Reports
Bangor Daily News
November 28, 1996
The partial remains of an unidentified human being were found along the rocky cliffs near Falmouth yesterday afternoon, the Coast Guard reported.
“This was possibly a suicide victim,” a Coast Guard spokesperson said. The condition of the body and its location, at the foot of the fifty-foot tall cliffs that overlook the ocean, suggest the individual jumped to his or her death. “Those rocks are really sharp and a jump from that height will really cut you up.”
The remains appear to be that of a male or female between the ages of 18 and 30. A size ten black hiking boot and a torn piece of corduroy were found near the body. Anyone with any information is urged to call the Maine State Police at…
MODEL FEARED DEAD IN DROWNING ACCIDENT
Jessica Andreas
Boston Globe
July 10, 1997
Fast-rising supermodel Jasmine McDonald is feared dead today after a purported drowning accident off a remote stretch of beach on Martha’s Vineyard. The incident was reported late yesterday.
The twenty-three year old model was vacationing in a beachfront home when, according to her boyfriend, she was overcome by severe abdominal pain while wading in the ocean at waist level. “She screamed that her stomach was hurting,” Robert Mills, aged 25, told investigators. “Then she fell in the ocean. I tried to wade out and save her, but the tide carried her out.”
Police will not comment on whether foul play was involved. “Right now we’re investigating an accident,” a police spokesperson said. “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Police also refused to comment on an earlier 911 call made by Mills in which he screamed at the dispatcher that his girlfriend was “being eaten alive by a monster!”
“Mr. Mills was obviously very frightened and very panicky and he probably mistook Ms. McDonald’s thrashing in the water as something far worse,” Officer Harry Atkins reported. “We have a strong undertow all up and down the east coast this week. Ms. McDonald was obviously trying to fight her way out of a strong riptide.”
Mills has a history of drug and alcohol abuse, and has had several run-ins with the law.
McDonald had just signed a five million dollar deal with Lee Jeans and appeared in advertisements for several cosmetics companies. She was a recent guest on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The View, as well as having numerous appearances on Howard Stern’s radio program. The search for her continues.
SURFER MISSING, PRESUMED DEAD
Reuters
North Carolina
June 3, 1998
A twenty-four year old man was reported missing by his friends yesterday after surfing off the Barrier Reef Islands.
The surfer, identified as Mark Hansen, was twenty yards away from his friends and about two hundred yards from shore, when he suddenly vanished.
“We thought he’d caught a wave,” Allen Minafee, one of his friends, reported. “But he was nowhere to be seen. Even his board was gone.”
The Coast Guard is conducting an extensive search along the North Carolina coastline.
BOAT MISSING, FATE OF CREW UNKNOWN
Samuel Singleton
Little Creek Ledger
September 22, 1998
The crew of a missing recreational fishing vessel is feared dead, after a second day of searching by the Coast Guard and other authorities turned up nothing.
The Vanilla Sunshine departed from Virginia Beach two days ago. Onboard were the captain, John Rogers; first mate Steven Andrews; and Frank and Stella Laughman, on vacation from Ohio. The Laughman’s had chartered the boat for half a day…
EXCERPT FROM CRYPTOZOOLOGICAL WEBSITE
September 8, 2000
…l
ikewise, the town of Phillipsport, once a sleepy village on the U.S.A.’s Northern Maine Coast, is now a virtual ghost town. Even now, nearly five years after the devastating hurricane that swept through the greater New England region, whispers of a government cover-up run wild among the locals.
“My brother told me some weird giant crabs or lobsters were all over town,” one resident of a village fifty miles north of Phillipsport recalled. “He called me right before they lost power. Said he was going out with a hunting party to nab some and that’s the last I heard from him.”
Details of the crabs are scant. Scientists who were reported to have been in Phillipsport shortly after Hurricane Floyd blew over have refused comment, and recent reports indicate they have taken remains from at least two unidentified animals, heretofore unknown to modern science…