Apocalyptic Thriller

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the President of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival. In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity.

Fallon Swift, approaching her thirteenth birthday, barely knows the world that existed before - the city where her parents lived, now in ruins and reclaimed by nature since the Doom sickened and killed billions. Traveling anywhere is a danger, as vicious gangs of Raiders and fanatics called Purity Warriors search for their next victim. Those like Fallon, in possession of gifts, are hunted - and the time is coming when her true nature, her identity as The One, can no longer be hidden.

Victoria Emerson is a congressional member of the US House of Representatives for the state of West Virginia. Her aspirations have always been to help her community and to avoid the ambitious power plays of her peers in Washington, DC. Then Major Joseph McCrea appears on her doorstep and uses the code phrase Crimson Phoenix, meaning this is not a drill. The United States is on the verge of nuclear war. Victoria must accompany McCrea to a secure bunker. She cannot bring her family.

Country music icon Shane Black is this year’s headliner for the New Year’s Eve bash in Times Square, but when violent riots break out, he’ll need more than a six string to escape New York City. After decades of abuse as the world’s reserve currency, the US dollar’s day of reckoning is at hand. Without a functioning monetary system to purchase basic goods, society rapidly descends into abject chaos. Protests, looting, and bloodletting take the place of civility in a country which becomes thoroughly unhinged.

Russell Cage would much rather work on his crumbling marriage and life than leave town with his best friend. But the fun weekend planned turns tragic when their plane loses power in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Battered and beaten, Russell emerges from the wreckage alone with no choice but to hike through the mountains and find help. Included in this box set: The Complete Survive the Fall Series.

Texas? Toast. Battered by five cataclysmic hurricanes in three weeks, the Texas Gulf Coast and half of the Lone Star State is reeling from the worst devastation in history. Thousands are dead or dying - but the worst is only beginning. Amid the wreckage, something unimaginable is happening: a deadly virus has broken out, returning the dead to life - with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. The nightmare begins...

Could we be living in a time of which there is more prophetic writings than of any period in history? Noah Parker, like many in the United States, has been asleep at the wheel. During his complacency, the founding precepts of America have been slowly, systematically destroyed by a conspiracy that dates back hundreds of years. The signs can no longer be ignored and Noah is forced to pull his head out of the sand and see things for what they really are.

First the dead rose up, and civilization fell. Those who survived struggled to rebuild, creating makeshift societies with harsh new rules and harsher punishments. Some would be leaders, others slaves. But none would ever be safe from the walking death. Off the coast of Texas, an island research facility offers sanctuary, supplies, and hope to a desperate trio of survivors. But when they learn what the scientists are doing, how their experiments could unleash armies of the undead, they have no choice but to fight back.

Left for dead on the nightmarish surface of the planet, Commander Michael Everhart and his team of Hell Divers barely escape with their lives aboard a new airship called Deliverance. After learning that Xavier "X" Rodriguez may still be alive, they mount a rescue mission for the long-lost hero. In the skies, the Hive is falling apart, but Captain Jordan is more determined than ever to keep humanity in their outdated lifeboat. He will do whatever it takes to keep the ship in the air - even murder.

Accused of domestic terrorism, Emilio Vega was on his way to a Department of Global Security death camp when the mega-quake hit. The streets beneath his transport vehicle buckled, tossing the van in the air like a toy. He survived the crash, but the world is now in ruins. However, for a condemned man, this disaster may be just the lucky break he needed.

Pandemic drought, skyrocketing oil prices, dwindling energy supplies, and wars of water scarcity threaten the planet. Only four people canprevent global chaos.

After nearly four years, the zombie epidemic has almost burned itself out. Once a lone survivor on the brink of insanity, Gus Berry has a new life on a communal farm, his daily routine of policing the fields only rarely disrupted by straying undead. Gus’s drinking binges are over, and the dark days of Annapolis are soon to be a distant memory. But his troubles are far from over . . .

One catastrophic event. A desperate race for survival. When a massive solar storm wipes out power and communication across the globe, the world plunges into chaos. In the remote Oregon mountains, military veteran Rex Hays thought he was prepared to weather the collapse. But nothing could prepare him for what’s coming. While hunting, Rex saves a teenage girl, Zoe Mills, from a mountain lion attack. Injured and with no memory of why she was in the wilderness, Zoe becomes the center of a deadly mystery. Strangers from out of town are searching for her, and they’ll stop at nothing to find her.

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World War III is now a bloody page in American history. With nuclear holocaust killing more than a quarter-billion people worldwide and the United States just a memory, John Thomas Rourke, ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons expert and survival authority is enduring the ultimate test. Soviet Occupation Forces have landed and must begin the "pacification" of America. They will start by liquidating any prominent Americans who could become a rallying point for armed resistance.

It’s an ordinary Monday. Until everything changes forever. At 2:44 PM, a mysterious crack appears in the sky. Anyone unfortunate enough to look up is immediately struck blind. What’s worse, their mind is wiped clean, replaced with a vicious urge to kill anyone within reach. Mark is at work when it happens. Fighting not to fall asleep, the boring department meeting suddenly turns into a bloodbath when people are drawn to the windows to look up at the sky.

Alors que le pays s’effondre, la ville de Fall Creek, dans le Michigan, lutte pour sa survie. Hannah, Liam et les autres ont enduré l’hiver brutal et des adversaires impitoyables, mais la menace n’a jamais été aussi sérieuse. Des ennemis de l’intérieur ont pris le contrôle de la ville, y compris le peu de nourriture qu’il reste. Isolés, dominés et au bord de la famine, les habitants de la ville sont confrontés à un choix désespéré. Pour être libres, les habitants de Fall Creek devront peut-être sacrifier plus qu’ils ne l’auraient jamais cru possible.

As a prepper, Grayson Rowan was prepared for almost anything...anything other than being totally alone when the sh*t hits the fan. While he sat back and watched the US rattle swords with Korea, play chicken with Russia, and strong-arm China, he felt sure if the lights went out that he and his family would be ready and safe. What he wasn't prepared for was his family not being home if it ever happened. Olivia Rowan is with her sisters, Gabby and Emma, on a girls-only trip to Myrtle Beach. Graysie Rowan, a freshman at university, just wants to go home.

After a lifetime of hunting down criminals, Ryan just wants to live out his days in peace and in the shadows of Tokyo to grieve the loss of his wife and son. But his old team - the Nameless, experts in extraction and recon - comes with an urgent request for help. The young daughter of one of his closest friends, a girl he once treated as his own, has been kidnapped.