Zocopalypse (Death Fields 1)

“You don’t know what my father is doing, Cole. And God, my sister. It’s like I’ve stepped into some kind of crazy alternate reality. They may not be dead.” He flinches when I say it and instantly I feel like crap. “But they’re not the people I thought I knew, so yeah, it feels like I’m pretty freaking alone right now.”

He grabs me by my shoulders so that I face him and then tilts my chin up, until I’m looking at his searing blue eyes. “When I said you aren’t alone, I didn’t mean your family.”

“Oh, uh,” I mumble and try to look away, but he holds firm. A flare of nerves race through my body—an inappropriate, or maybe the only realistic response in our current situation. “I just…I feel like I’m falling, like I’ve got nothing real to hold onto anymore. Wyatt lied to me. Erwin is insane. My family…even you started this off hiding stuff from me.”

“You know I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know.”

He steps closer until his mouth is close to mine. I get a close look at the beard he hasn’t shaved since we left the Army base and reach up to touch it. I feel his heat and warmth. I spot the look in his eyes, beneath the red weariness. It’s a look I’ve seen before but not on him. Not for me. It’s the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen and I’ve faced down a horde of Eaters.

I close my eyes to block out the pain and in a heartbeat, feel his mouth on mine. The kiss is a little sloppy—definitely nervous but I allow myself to slip into the moment, into the feeling of the moment. It’s certainly more pleasant than the other emotions I have bubbling under the surface. Than seeing the hurt and want in Cole’s eyes. His lips, the scratch of his beard, the way his hands tug on my hair, they feel amazing. Real.

I clench the front of his shirt between my fingers, twisting the fabric into a bunch. His hands land on my hips, pulling me closer. This. This is easy, I think, sinking into his hard body.

The loud scrape and groan of the gate cuts through the intensity and I step back.

I take a breath and rub my chin. “Why did you do that?”

“To give you something to hold onto,” he replies touching his forehead to mine.

“Cole, these people—my family. They’re out of control. Horrible things—”

He cuts me off. “Just because we’re here doesn’t mean we have to be like them. We know who we are, what we want to do. It’s about humanity, stopping this nightmare while helping other survivors. Together, with the resources of PharmaCorp, we will figure out how to stop this insane virus ravaging the country and the rest of the world.”

“Yes! That’s what I want to do.”

“Good. We’ve got this, Alex.”

For the first time in weeks I feel steady. I look out at the grounds—at the fighters standing on the watchtowers. The massive walls protecting us. The answers are in that building. With my father, sister and myself. They can’t push me out of this and I will demand that they do the right thing.

And if they don’t?

There will be hell to pay.

Thanks & Stuff

Many of you know that (title) is a companion to my contemporary YA book, FanGirl, a novel about a girl obsessed with a zombie graphic novel that ends up cast in the lead role in the TV mini-series. FanGirl is the redheaded stepchild of my books. My favorite but not my most successful. Those that do read it seem to love it, but the topic either weirds people out or confuses them. Either way, my plan from the beginning was to write the zombie companion to FG but life and other books got in the way. When I signed FG with Entertwine Publishing it gave me the kick that I needed to write this book (and the second book in the future).

Guys, writing zombies is hard. Especially if you’re like me and decide to add a complicated plot. This may have been the hardest book I’ve written to date. So hats off to the zombie genre. It’s not as easy as it looks!

Big thanks to my family (CA for watching The Walking Dead with me every week and listening to me complain about plot holes and pacing). Ramona who is too scared to watch but likes to talk about zombies all the time. AG for discussing all the things zombies with me. Bev and Vanessa for always being there. Claire Riley for beta reading this. (THANK YOU). And I’d like to give a big shout out to the My Zombie Addiction (and Toni in particular) group on Facebook. I also need to thank Autumn and Audrey for their eternal support and love for FG way back when. I love you guys! So much fun and laughs over dead people. I’m inserting a Coral gif for you here.

I love chatting with readers and zombie fans so find me @theangellawson or Angel Lawson (or Angel Lawson Author) on Facebook.