Authors: Lori Whitwam
The Dead Survive (9 page)
I translated this to mean the extensively-questioned marauders had been dispatched and disposed of quietly somewhere. Their comrades would assume they’d gone off on their own, or had met a zombie-related fate.
“So what’re we supposed to do?” someone demanded.
“The council is working on a variety of plans right now,” Rich said. “As soon as things are decided, you’ll all be notified, and we’ll figure out what needs to be done and who’s going to do it. For now, we need to focus on bringing as many of the crops and livestock we have outside the walls inside, and send out scouts to monitor the roads and set some traps to make things as difficult as possible for any forces attempting to advance on our location.”
Melissa slipped her hand into mine, something she hadn’t done since shortly after Quinn’s death a year and a half ago. I gave her a reassuring squeeze, and wished someone could reassure me.
Rebecca stood, feet widely spaced as if preparing to charge into battle, blade swinging. “A lot of double-talk, but you know what the options are, don’tcha, Ellen?”
I certainly did.
“Fight or flight.”
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A few years ago, Joshua Guess, author of the
Living With the Dead
serial blog and novels, challenged me to create a short story with its roots in his fictional post-apocalyptic world. However, being a long-winded novelist and not a short story writer, I ended up with a fourteen thousand word novella, simultaneously too long and too short. Now, the whole story has been revised and expanded to more fully tell Ellen’s story, and more books are on the drawing board to continue her tale.
Thanks, Josh, for allowing me to borrow a little corner of your world and plant the seeds for my own story.
My gratitude also to editor Darryl Cook, who helped me revise and re-shape the new face of
The Dead Survive
. An editor can’t effectively edit her own work, and your help was greatly appreciated.
I was so glad not to have to source my own cover, and thrilled to have Limitless enlist Ashley Byland of Redbird Designs. Ashley came through with the perfect art, and I look forward to seeing what she does with the rest of the series. Thank you, Ashley!
Thanks to the regulars at Lori’s Dead Talk, the Facebook group where I host live chats during episodes of The Walking Dead, especially Melissa Jensen and Lisa Shackelford. You folks keep my creepy, bloodthirsty side energized and ready to wreak havoc. Plus, you’re a lot of fun!
As always, thanks to my husband, who is responsible for every good thing in my life. And when I’m writing or swamped with editing jobs, he gives me the one thing nobody else can…time. I love you, and I’ll always find time to walk on the beach.
About the Author
Lori spent her early years reading books in a tree in northern West Virginia. The 1980s and 90s found her and her husband moving around the Midwest, mainly because it was easier to move than clean the apartment. After seventeen frigid years in Minnesota, she fled to coastal North Carolina in 2013. She will never leave, and if you try to make her, she will hurt you.
She has worked in public libraries, written advertising copy for wastewater treatment equipment, and managed a holistic veterinary clinic. Her current day job, conducted from her World Headquarters and Petting Zoo (her couch) is as a full-time editor for indie authors and small publishing houses.
Her dogs are a big part of her life, and she has served or held offices in Golden Retriever and Great Pyrenees rescues, a humane society, a county kennel club, and her own chapter of Therapy Dogs International.
She has been a columnist and feature writer for auto racing and pet publications, and won the Dog Writers Association of America’s Maxwell Award for a series of humor essays. In addition to zombie apocalypse stories, she has released a contemporary romance novel,
Make or Break
.
Parents of a grown son, Lori and her husband were high school sweethearts, and he manages to love her in spite of herself. Some of his duties include making sure she always has fresh coffee and safe tires, and convincing the state police to spring her from house arrest in her hotel room in time for a very important concert. That last one only happened once—so far—but she still really, really appreciates it.
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