Focus on your breathing. This feels like training, except now real-life monsters lurk in the shadows. My heart thuds against my ribs. I force a short laugh, brittle with fear. This isn’t helping. Asher shoots me a questioning glance. He leads our squad through a maze of abandoned cars, moss and vines constricting around each ...

With every ounce of energy, I force air into my burning lungs and dodge Asher’s final blow. Falling to the floor, I gasp for breath. My muscles scream, aching from my hour-long training session. “I can always work you harder, cupcake,” Asher taunts, an eyebrow raised. His words ignite a flush in my cheeks. During ...

The Rabids have lost all humanity. Three of the four creatures slink silently about their prison cells, eyes darting this way and that, as if trying to find the exit or an opportunity to wreak havoc on the people observing them. What’s left of their dirty clothes hang loosely from their skeletal bodies, their hair ...

I can almost hear the trill of seagulls as I gaze at the mural on the wall across from my bunk. A calm ocean meeting a distant horizon, like one would see from a balcony view on a luxury cruise liner. It was painted for Val and me when we came aboard five years ago—a ...

Fucking zombies. The one thing I swore I would never live to see. But here I am. I slice my sword left, right into the damn thing’s shoulder. The person, if I can even call it that, doesn’t slow, reaching for me with shriveled fingers. His gaze is unfocused and a cloudy white, like the ...

All I want to do is sleepThen wake up and facethe outside world. For if I give intothis tug-of-war,and face the dawn? I may as well be oneof the walking dead,no mind or soul attached. I cling to each memorypossible of you, as ifthat will save me. I grip and pull the blanketover my head, ...

Part 1 Wes, DeeDee, and Jenna stood in silence, staring up toward the hatch door as Vic closed it, trapping them underground. The metal access panel closed with a loud click and echoed off the subterranean walls. Wes’s jaw dropped, Jenna clenched her teeth, and DeeDee’s breaths quickened. They listened with keen ears for possible ...

Mila carried a baby in her arms. The street on which she limped down shrouded in the pitch of night. A cold breeze blew in and attacked her face, fingered her hair. She held the baby tighter to her chest. Cars still being eaten by flames from the inside out cast a weak orange glow ...