Plague World (Ashley Parker Novel)
Read Plague World (Ashley Parker Novel) Online
Authors: Dana Fredsti
Contents
Also Available from Titan Books
“Fast, furious, and fun:
Plague Nation
takes the promise of
Plague Town
and builds upon it, delivering bigger and better zombie mayhem.”
MIRA GRANT, author of the NEWSFLESH TRILOGY
“If you like your heroines smart and sassy and kick ass capable, Ashley Parker has what you need. And
Plague Nation
is exactly what the zombie genre needed.”
JOE MCKINNEY, Stoker Award-winning author of FLESH EATERS and INHERITANCE
“
Plague Nation
is a rollicking zombie thriller packed with action, chills, and biting humor. Brava!”
JONATHAN MABERRY,
New York Times
bestselling author of PATIENT ZERO, FIRE AND ASH, and DEAD OF NIGHT
“Snarky humor, lots of zombies (gore and all), and plenty of edge-of-your-seat action.”
LONG AND SHORT REVIEWS
One of the Top Ten Zombie Releases of 2012
“A gruesomely good read that has me panting for the next book in the series. As hard to put down as a swarm of zombies.
KAT RICHARDSON, bestselling author of the GREYWALKER novels
“In
Plague Town
, Dana Fredsti has created something truly unique in the world of horror fiction—a cool, hip zombie apocalypse novel. With crisp writing, a cast of memorable characters, and tons of undead combat action, it’s a zombie lover’s literary dream. When the dead rise, I’ll want the wild cards by my side.”
ROGER MA, author of THE ZOMBIE COMBAT MANUAL
“Fredsti’s writing is razor sharp as her heroes fight off the horde while fighting their attraction for each other.”
STACEY GRAHAM, author of THE ZOMBIE DATING GUIDE
“
Plague Town
is a fast-moving zombie tale that reads like a blast of energy. If you like zombie apocalypse stories, this is a must read!”
LOIS GRESH,
New York Times
bestselling author of BLOOD AND ICE and ELDRITCH EVOLUTIONS
“Chills and thrills for that season when you’re looking for—chills and thrills!”
HEATHER GRAHAM, author of HALLOWED GROUND and the FLYNN BROTHERS TRILOGY
“Dana Fredsti has created a world as familiar as our own back yard and populated it with recognizable people we care about… and zombies.
Plague Town
will have you turning pages fast… and checking the locks on all the doors.”
RAY GARTON, author of LIVE GIRLS and SEX AND VIOLENCE IN HOLLYWOOD
“As adorable an end of the world as you’re liable to get… a brisk, witty ultraviolent romantic gurlventure…”
GINA MCQUEEN, author of OPPOSITE SEX and APOCALYPSE AS FOREPLAY
“More action than season two of
The Walking Dead
.”
HORROR TALK
“A diverting, entertaining zombie siege novel—complete with all the delicious, bone-crunching, blood-gushing awesomeness a zombie lover could ever want.”
BOOK SMUGGLERS
“While
Plague Town
is a really fun and action-packed ride, one cannot dismiss the darkness at the center of it all. There are sections laced throughout written from the perspective of the innocent people as they are turning into zombies… an emotional core that grounds the novel and keeps it from being just a shallow action/horror romp.”
STRANGE AMUSEMENTS
“Read it—I zombie dare you. Fun, fast, read.”
AFFAIRS MAGAZINE
“If you love zombies, strong, sarcastic heroines with heart, and fight scenes that will knock your socks off, you’ll devour
Plague Town
!”
MY BOOKISH WAYS
“Delightfully gruesome.”
NERDS IN BABELAND
“It’s funny, scary, gory, sexy and goes a mile a minute.”
CULTURE BRATS
“If you like butt-kicking heroines with a fair dose of snark and humor, then you’re going to love Ashley.”
GEEK MOM
DANA FREDSTI
THE ASHLEY PARKER NOVELS
Plague Town
Plague Nation
Plague World
A Man’s Gotta Eat What a Man’s Gotta Eat
(e-original novella)
Murder For Hire: The Peruvian Pigeon
PLAGUE WORLD
Print edition ISBN: 9780857686374
E-book edition ISBN: 9780857686404
Published by Titan Books
A division of Titan Publishing Group Ltd
144 Southwark St, London SE1 0UP
First edition: July 2013
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
Dana Fredsti asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
Copyright © 2014 Dana Fredsti
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A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
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“Son of a bitch must pay.”
Jack Burton—
Big Trouble in Little China
Stavros tried to tune out the hacking coughs, snuffles, snorts and other unpleasant sounds coming from the four passengers he’d picked up at Chelsea Physic Garden. Two women and two men, all wearing power suits and sharing what seemed to be a nasty cold.
Blow your nose, mate
, he thought as one of the men gave a snorting inhalation that sounded like a walrus.
He thought about raising the window that separated the driver and passenger portions of the town car, but it seemed a bit rude. It might be taken the wrong way, and one of these corporate types would no doubt complain. So he contented himself with surreptitiously pressing the pump on his ever-present hand sanitizer, tucked into one of the cup holders under the control panel.
There was something about these wankers in their suits, fresh out of their oh-so-important meetings, and the self-importance that pumped them up. It just set Stavros’s hackles on end. All the little slights and the condescension in their voices when they spoke to him… if they bothered to speak to him at all.
He didn’t regret skipping university. He didn’t have any desire to do more than he was doing, but every now and then he wished he had a degree that would allow him to slap one of these posers across their over-educated faces.
Another twenty minutes on the road and he’d be rid of them at Heathrow, so they could spread their germs in their own countries and not make an honest working man too sick to do his job.
* * *
Danny sat in the furthest seat in the back of the town car, huddled against the door in a ball of misery. He’d been sick before, but nothing compared to this—not even the four-day salmonella marathon he’d had in 2005. His body hurt inside and out; even his eyeballs felt as if they were going to crack in half if he blinked.
A line from the Haunted Mansion ride was stuck in his brain, something about hot and cold running chills… He had those, along with the sensation of boiling poison running through his veins and in his forehead.
“You okay, Danny?”
He opened his eyes to see Jan from Digital Media, Holland Division, eying him with superficial concern. Jan was one of those uber-competitive guys who equated the failure of his peers with personal gain. He also made it more than obvious that he lusted after Nita from R&D Sweden, whom Danny had been seeing on the sly for the last year. Jan had made a few comments at the LP meeting, hinting that he knew about the relationship.
“I’m fine.” A wet cough contradicted Danny’s words almost immediately.
Jan smirked with an unattractive twist of his lips that he imagined made him look wry and sexy.
“Too many late nights sampling Swedish meatballs, eh?”
If he hadn’t felt so shitty, Danny would have flipped the asshole off. He closed his eyes instead, and drifted away on a wave of pain that faded into blackness.
* * *
Jan raised an eyebrow and smirked. Danny looked like shit. And he’d been the first to come down with the flu at the annual LP meeting, spreading it around quickly, judging from the coughs and sniffles of many fellow attendees. This was a flu bug that would get to see the world. Maybe Jan should start calling him Typhoid Danny, so no one forgot where it started.
Oh yes, the kind of thing that could dog a person throughout their career… and perhaps even shorten it.
Jan chuckled to himself, only to have the laugh cut off by a sudden tickling in the back of his throat and nose. He sneezed violently, barely catching it behind one hand. His smugness evaporated at the sight of blood mixed in with the spray of spittle on his palm.
And then Danny went into convulsions.
* * *
Stavros frowned as he heard yet more coughing from the back of the town car. Had they never heard of Hall’s?
“Danny?”
The sharp note of concern in the man’s voice caught Stavros’s attention. He glanced back to see the lanky Dutch fellow in the back shaking his seatmate by one shoulder. Blood dribbled out of the man’s eyes, nose, and mouth, his features slack and lifeless.