Showing results by author "Frank Tayell" in All Categories

Anglesey became a refuge for survivors from across the world, but living in the shadow of a decrepit nuclear power station was always a precarious existence. There is only one destination for their final exodus from Britain, but Belfast won't become their new home. There are fewer undead on the island of Ireland, but they still number in the millions. With farming impossible, with the weather worsening, with ammunition exhausted, desperation turns to despair. All seems bleak, but the survivors are unaware how desperate their situation truly is.

After the outbreak came the nuclear war. The blasts killed millions. Chaos followed. Most of those unlucky enough not to succumb to starvation and disease joined the ranks of the living dead. Fleeing the impossible nightmare, 10,000 from nations across the Atlantic seaboard found refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. There, they should have been safe. There, they should have been able to rebuild. There, they were betrayed.

Anglesey has become home to nearly ten thousand survivors from across the Atlantic. While there is still danger from the undead on the mainland, there is hope. Hope that the zombies might die, hope that the electricity supply might be restored, and hope that more survivors will be found. Hope is not enough. Sergeant Branofski and Chester Carson venture into northern Wales to set up a network of safe houses that will provide a route to Anglesey for those still trapped in the wasteland. Though they find survivors, they discover something far worse.

Once, it was home to half a billion people. A year after the nuclear war, Europe is a radioactive, storm-ravaged wasteland through which a hundred million undead inexorably march. In their wake, they leave nothing but ruins. Ahead of them flee those few who managed to survive this long. Chasing them are the dregs of humanity. Once known as the Rosewood Cartel, they kill, loot, and destroy as indiscriminately as the living dead.

Nine months after the outbreak, 10,000 survivors from across the globe have found a refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. Hordes of the undead ravage the wastelands of Britain and Ireland. Satellite images show that the rest of the world is no better. Food, fuel, and ammunition are running low and there are no more old-world supplies with which to replace them. Intended as an alternative to a slide into despotism, an election is called. It is hoped the contest will bring forth solutions to the myriad crises facing this last bastion of humanity.

The outbreak was in February. By the end of November, Earth has become a hellish wasteland ravaged by the undead. Survivors from across the Atlantic seaboard took refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. Beset by dangers from within, they departed to establish a new refuge in Belfast. Not all of them arrived. Six took the last plane on its last flight but crashed in France. Expecting a sprinting battle through the ruins of Belfast, they packed light. Their chances of survival are slim. There was no evacuation in France. No quarantine. No rationing. But there are zombies.

For the alien towani, Earth is a holy site where their Last Prophecy will be fulfilled. They will do anything to protect the planet. Protecting humanity is an optional extra.

Even after the apocalypse, crimes must be solved. In 2019, the AIs went to war. It lasted three days, until the electromagnetic pulse from hundreds of nuclear bombs destroyed the infected circuits. Billions of people succumbed to radiation, starvation, and disease. But millions survived, and they rebuilt. Twenty years later, a ceremony is being held to mark the first transatlantic broadcast since the Blackout. The Prime Minister of Britain and two of the Presidents of the United States will speak to an audience of nearly 10 million people. Not all are celebrating. Crime is on the rise, and power is once again a prize worth murdering for. Ruth Deering, a new graduate from the police academy, doesn't care about ancient history or current affairs. She only joined the force to escape the smog-infested city. Those hopes are dashed when she is assigned to the Serious Crimes Unit, commanded by the disgraced Sergeant Mitchell. Her first case seems like a simple murder, but the investigation uncovers a counterfeiting ring and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy their fragile democracy.

Twenty years after the apocalyptic Blackout, steam-trains and the telegraph have replaced smartphones and satellites, but while some still fear technology, many dream of its return.

2039, 20 years after the AIs went to war, plague and famine have reduced the global population to 100 million. Most of the planet is a wasteland, with only a handful of enclave-nations preserving a dim shadow of civilization. Christmas is only days away, but Constable Ruth Deering’s mood is anything but festive. In the walled city of Dover, a lonely chef is discovered dead, poisoned. What first appeared to be an accident is soon suspected to be the work of a serial killer who is certain to strike again.

It is a week since the outbreak began in New York. The president has been betrayed. The vice-president is dead. The conspirators are close to victory. Having narrowly escaped agents of the cabal, Tom Clemens heads to Washington in the hope of warning the president, but it is too late. The highways are impassable, filled with millions fleeing from the cities. As refugees storm the towns, and zombies fill the smoking ruins, survivors become more deadly a threat than the impossibly living dead.

As nations rebuild, democracy is under threat. In 2019, the AIs went to war. Millions died before a nuclear holocaust brought an end to their brief reign of terror. Billions more succumbed to radiation poisoning, disease, and the chaotic violence of that apocalypse. Some survived. They rebuilt. Twenty years later, civilisation is a dim shadow of its former self. Crime is on the rise. During the investigation of a routine homicide, Police Officer Ruth Deering prevents a group of Luddites from destroying the telegraph. This act of sabotage is only the beginning. As arrests are made, and criminals are caught, evidence emerges that the saboteurs are connected to the AIs, the counterfeiting, and to the assassination. The shadowy figure behind the conspiracy must be unmasked before their fragile democracy is destroyed.

In a post-apocalyptic world where food is treasure, pirates will kill for a meal. A month after the nuclear war ended, Commissioner Qwong and her crew of scientists and soldiers head north. Following a clue found in the logbook of a sinking ship, they search Mexico for a community trading safety for oil. As they follow garbled radio messages and breadcrumb-clues northward from one small band of survivors to another, a picture of the new world emerges.

In 2019, the AIs went to war. Three days later, hundreds of nuclear missiles were launched. The electromagnetic pulse destroyed the machines, but the radiation and famine nearly destroyed humanity. By 2039, civilization had regressed to the age of steam, but newer technologies were on the horizon. The future looked bright until the warlords swept through Europe. Villages and towns were laid waste, the few thousand people who'd hacked out a life in the continental wasteland were butchered. It was only when the barbarians reached the British garrison in Calais that they were stopped.

As the much-depleted United Nations meets in Canberra, the scale of the global catastrophe becomes clear. The tsunami left Brisbane a flooded ruin. Vanuatu has disappeared. The Madagascan evacuation has failed. Vancouver has been reduced to a radioactive crater. For as far west as Mozambique, as far to the east as Chile, and as far north as Canada, the world is a catalogue of devastation. From the Atlantic, there has been no news since the early days of the outbreak, four weeks ago.

Three weeks after the outbreak, most nations have collapsed. An ever-increasing number of refugees flee, by boat and air, to the perceived safety of the remote Pacific nations. In Australia, every able body is conscripted, local and newcomer alike. The lucky few are put to work in the new factories, farms, and mines. The unlucky many are given tools for weapons, put aboard cruise-ships and cargo freighters, and returned to the ever-moving frontline. But even though the death toll rises, victory is still within reach.

When Pete Guinn traveled to Australia to find his missing sister, he left behind the woman he loved. In the city he once called home, panic and chaos arrive long before the living dead. As South Bend burns to the ground, Olivia flees, seeking safety in the remote woods of Michigan. But the backwoods are no safer than the outback, and nowhere is remote enough to escape the horrors of the living dead.