Ghost Run

Praise for J.L. Bourne's page-turning novels of the zombie apocalypse

DAY BY DAY ARMAGEDDON

“There is zombie fiction and then there is crawl-out-of-the-grave-and-drag-you-to-hell zombie fiction.
Day by Day Armageddon
is hands-down the best zombie book I have ever read.
Dawn of the Dead
meets
28 Days Later
doesn't even come close to describing how fantastic this thriller is. It is so real, so terrifying, and so well written that I slept with not one but two loaded Glocks under my pillow for weeks afterward. J.L. Bourne is the new king of hardcore zombie action!”

—Brad Thor, #1
New York Times
bestselling author

“A dramatic spin on the zombie story. It has depth, a heart, and compelling characters.”

—Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award–winning author of
Patient Zero

This novel is dedicated to my mother and father, who have left this earth for other planes.

For those that still have theirs, put down this book, pick up your phone, and tell them how much you love them, right now.

I'll wait.

If you made it this far, you have likely spent some time in my post-apocalyptic world through the pages of the first three Day by Day Armageddon novels. Foremost, I'd like to thank you—my dedicated readers—for punching yet another ticket on the train with nonstop service through the bleak landscapes of undead Armageddon. From the days of the black cover to now, you've been there for me, and for that, I remain humbled.

Although the series is best enjoyed chronologically, if you are just beginning the Day by Day Armageddon saga, allow me to bring you up to speed.

The three-minute version:

The first volume of the Day by Day Armageddon series took us deep into the mind of a military officer and survivor as he made a New Year's resolution to start keeping a journal. The man kept that promise, chronicling daily the fall of humanity. We see him transition from the life that you and I live to the prospect of fighting for his very survival against the overwhelming hordes of the undead. We see him bleed, we see him make mistakes, we witness him evolve.

While enduring numerous trials and travails in the first novel, the protagonist and his neighbor John escape the government-sanctioned nuclear annihilation of San Antonio, Texas. They make their way to temporary safety on board a boat dock on the gulf shores of Texas, and soon after receive a weak radio transmission. A family of survivors—a man named William, his wife, Janet, and their young daughter, Laura, all that remain of their former community—take shelter in their attic while untold numbers of the undead search for them below. After a miraculous rescue, the family joins forces with our protagonist to stay alive. As they scout
the outlying areas for supplies, they encounter a woman named Tara, trapped and near death in an abandoned car surrounded by the undead. After her rescue, Tara begins to bond with our protagonist, forming a relationship that eventually leads to them falling in love.

The survivors eventually find themselves sheltering inside an abandoned strategic missile facility known by the long-deceased former occupants as Hotel 23. But their union may not be enough in this new world, an unforgiving post-apocalyptic place in which a simple infected cut, not to mention the millions of undead, can easily kill them.

The situation brought out the worst in some . . .

Without warning, a band of brigands, seeing targets of opportunity, mercilessly began an assault on Hotel 23, intending to murder the survivors for the shelter and take the supplies inside. Narrowly pushed back, the survivors were able to hold Hotel 23 for the time being.

In the second installment,
Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile
, our protagonist, Kil, connects with the remnants of military ground forces in Texas. As the last military officer on the mainland known to be alive, he soon finds himself in command. He establishes communications with the acting Chief of Naval Operations on board a working nuclear aircraft carrier on station in the Gulf of Mexico.

Kil also discovers a handwritten letter telling of a family—the Davises—hiding out at an outlying airport within prop aircraft range of Hotel 23. The rescue mission results in the extraction of the Davis family—a young boy named Danny and his very capable civilian pilot grandmother, Dean.

After being allotted a functioning scout helicopter from the carrier battle group, our protagonist and his men begin searching for resources in the areas north of Hotel 23. Halfway through
Beyond Exile
, Kil suffers a catastrophic helicopter crash hundreds of miles north of the facility. Severely injured, he is the lone survivor.

Running dangerously low on provisions, he manages to trek south. He soon encounters Remote Six, a shadowy group with unknown motives, hell-bent on getting him back to Hotel 23. Later, he stumbles upon an Afghani sniper named Saien. Little is known
about Saien's background, and his demeanor only adds to the mystery. At the start, neither fully trusts one another, but Saien and our protagonist work together and eventually return to Hotel 23 under the watchful eyes of Remote Six.

Remote Six orders our protagonist to launch the remaining nuclear warhead on the aircraft carrier. The order is ignored and a high-tech retaliation against Hotel 23 ensues. A sonic javelin weapon known as Project Hurricane is dropped by Remote Six, attracting legions of undead creatures to the region.

The sonic weapon is eventually destroyed, but it's too late.

A mile-high dust cloud, generated by the approaching undead mega-horde, signals the need for an emergency evacuation. A harrowing battle ensues to the Gulf of Mexico, where the aircraft carrier USS
George Washington
waits to take on any and all survivors.

Shortly after our protagonist's arrival on board the carrier, orders from the highest level are issued—a directive to rendezvous with the fast attack submarine USS
Virginia
, standing by in western Panamanian waters.

In the third novel,
Shattered Hourglass
, Kil is dispatched to China with Task Force Hourglass to investigate the source of the undead anomaly. Task Force Phoenix, headed by a special operator called Doc, is dispatched to Hotel 23 to secure its remaining nuclear payload. Some of the secrets of Remote Six are revealed shortly before its annihilation at the decision of Task Force Phoenix.

The USS
George Washington
is disabled by the undead just before running aground in the Florida Keys. Meanwhile, Hourglass makes an incredible discovery in China, something that could put humanity back on the scoreboard against the overwhelming numbers of the undead. Upon Kil's emotional reunion with his pregnant wife, Tara, he's told that Task Force Phoenix has gone dark.

Humanity begins to rebuild itself around the two fully functional nuclear reactors housed inside the beached aircraft carrier, but complacency and creature comfort was something in which Kil had little interest. Explorers never stop.

So, then, loyal readers, welcome back.

Put on your gas masks and radiation suits, charge your Geiger counters, load your carbines, and turn the page.

Be ready, for the undead are near.

Day 1

The radiation suit pressed against my perspiring skin and my breath was loud through the gas mask. I was two hundred miles from any living human, deep inside the New Orleans exclusion zone. No one knew at the time it happened, but after the government nuked New Orleans, the Waterford Nuclear Generating Station melted down, further contaminating the area. Although my Geiger read above acceptable radiation limits, it wasn't by much, and I was being a bit cautious. My sailboat, the
Solitude
, was anchored out a hundred meters from shore, and about a mile from where I stood.

In front of me was something very interesting. Very unexpected. Pre-undead technology hidden away in some bunker that'd never see the light of day if the dead didn't start walking. A large balloon secured with a thin cable marked the spot like a dropped pin on a smartphone app; I'll come back to that.

•  •  •

I'd stumbled upon a radio distress ping one week ago while out fishing with John. We were a day's sail from our stronghold in the Keys. I didn't say anything to him, as I didn't want him to know I'd been scanning the old Remote Six frequencies. Just in case. People tend to get nervous if they think murderous psychopaths are still around to lob sound decoys like undead dinner bells or nuclear weapons at them. Remote Six tried to kill me a while back, but a group of men sacrificed their lives for a chance to save the Keys and our way of life.

I still chose not to share any of this with John even as
Solitude
made best wind back home. Not for any particular reason, if only that John's advice was generally infallible and I was afraid to hear his take on it. I'd already made up my mind and didn't want common sense to get in the way. After off-loading our haul of fish, crabs, and other scavenged items, I sailed the short distance to the marina. Jan, Tara, and our baby, Bug, were waiting for me and John on the pier as we motored in and tied up. Although Jan had lost half of what she lived for when Will died, she was slowly recovering. She and John were getting along nicely. I mean, it'd been months. Everyone wanted her to be happy. It seemed like Jan thought we'd judge her for moving on when the opposite was true.

It should be noted that it's been a while since I've written anything . . . well, besides a few measurements scratched in chalk on the hull of
Solitude
. As much as I'd protested, my journals were all confiscated after the Hourglass incident; they were sent off somewhere north on the mainland to be scanned and studied along with
almost
everything else we'd found over there.

I honestly thought I'd want to settle down after Hourglass; I envisioned that on board
Solitude
would be the place where Tara and I would live our lives and raise our family. While aboard, we were our own island. We made our own freshwater and generated our own wind and solar power. The undead still ruled the land beyond in all directions, but
Solitude
was under my command. Those miserable creatures washed ashore from time to time, wreaking havoc on our growing shantytown, attracted by the lights and noises that nuclear power provided. Island life wasn't safer than mainland living, mind you, just a bit less stressful. The aged and the sick still died and reanimated, and they still attempted to rip you apart.

Despite the terrors of living on solid land, Tara, urged by the birth of our baby, insisted that we move ashore. After long deliberation, I relented. She was right: Family life aboard a sailboat was cozy, to say the least. About a month ago, we picked out a vacant home on the beach near John and Jan, well inside the patrolled perimeter. Like everyone else, I was extremely concerned with security. I changed out the door on the baby's room from the hollow residential type to a steel door. Her crib was a modified metal dog
kennel, so if the undead happened to breach her room, they'd still have to deal with a heavy cage to get to her.

This was the new normal. We were going extinct, and it was up to the last of us to at least slow it down.

After spending a week ashore, I convinced Tara that we needed more supplies for the approaching hurricane season. After all, as a new father, I was concerned that we might not have enough to see us through the next few months. I needed to get out there and bring home our livelihood.