Military Apocalyptic

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.

On Earth, we’re dying; the ships have landed. On Proxima, we’re ignorant; the sabotage nearly complete. Our strongholds are routed. Our defenses crippled. Our wills are broken. Our hope is gone...or is it? Three heroes. Two battlefronts. One desperate chance for victory. Damnation is the exhilarating final installment of the Forgotten Vengeance series.

The final countdown has begun for John Rourke, and the fate of the entire world hangs in the balance. As the all the pieces for the endgame are put into place, Rourke and his hated enemy, Dietrich Zimmer, will do battle on an epic scale. But just as John Rourke finally manages to back his rival into a corner, an attack from an unforeseen enemy may cost him his very life.

John Thomas Rourke's darkest nightmare may be true. He has learned of the death of his wife Sarah Rourke, at the hands of his his most hated enemy, Dietrich Zimmer. Driven by the desire to see the man, whom he hates most, brought to the final justice, nothing will stand in Rourke's way. That is, until a totally new plot unravels and further complicates the game between him and his brilliant and completely insane rival.

In a post-apocalyptic far future, there is only one thing that can save the fragile civilizations humanity has cobbled together: the mechs. A ragtag crew of mech pilots must battle the undead hordes, cannibal tribes, and religious cults in a daily race to keep humanity safe. But now a threat worse than anything has surfaced and is growing stronger. The undead have reanimated in their own battle machines and created the rise of the Dead Mechs!

John Rourke knows that there are six people left on Earth - his loved ones. After five centuries of sleep, they wake to discover a world unlike the one they knew...and they are not alone. New and old enemies live to kill and kill to live. It could be the ultimate test of Rourke's skills as The Survivalist.

Marion "Mops" Adamopoulos and her team were trained to clean spaceships. They were absolutely not trained to fight an interplanetary war with the xenocidal Prodryans or to make first contact with the Jynx, a race who might not be as primitive as they seem. But if there's one lesson Mops and her crew have learned, it's that things like "training" and "being remotely qualified" are overrated. The survival of humanity—those few who weren't turned to feral, shambling monsters by an alien plague—as well as the fate of all other non-Prodryans, will depend on Captain Mops and her crew.

Hugh Logan and the other human cores of the expeditionary force are back home, but the cost of keeping their allies alive has been a heavy one. Not happy about losing their prey, the Ssath continue to use the vast resources at their disposal to seek total victory over humanity. They will stop at nothing until Earth’s cores are defeated and the planet is transformed into a feeding ground and hunting preserve.

In an effort to rule 21st century Earth, Vladmir Karamatsov and his followers used the nuclear option, nearly destroying Earth. Five centuries later, Karamatov's successors battle to use the same weapons and newer "ultimate" weapons in pursuit of 25th Century world "peace." From Pacific islands to the frozen foothills of the Himalaya's, John Rourke, The Survivalist, and his allies fight delusion and raw ambition to save the fragile planet from men and women bent on proving the American philosopher George Santayana right, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it."

Alvin and his wives had been busy over the last few weeks. They’d gone out of their way to visit settlements they’d helped in the past, all while killing a string of mini-bosses across what had been the American west. Life looked good for Team Asshole…until the devs made a mistake. Without any warning, Sammi stopped showing up. At first, they brushed it off as her being too busy, or maybe in trouble. That changed when a new dev showed up and tried to assert his dominance.

John Thomas Rourke's remarkable survival skills enabled him to emerge unscathed from the nuclear devastation of WWIII. But terrifying new storm clouds loom over the eastern horizon - as the ex-CIA Covert Operations Officer and weapons expert takes command of his battered nation's broadening air and land war against the brutal Soviet foe.

Just 15 years from now, the world is polarised along ethnic and religious lines. Regional low-intensity wars have now been raging for 35 years. In the midst of the conflict, 97 members of the Allied forces ninth Mountain Squadron en route from the Northern Front for a long awaited period of rest and relaxation, are shot down over the Nordic wilderness. With no way of communicating with the outside world, the aircraft’s captain and the squadron commander lead the squadron out of the wilderness only to discover that during their absence the world they knew has ceased to exist.

Humanity nearly killed itself once. Can John Rourke stop it from succeeding in a second try? If the Chinese worshipers of the Sun God have their way, the world will be cleansed in the fire of a second nuclear holocaust. For every being on the planet, there is no escape.

In a world ravaged by a devastating attack, the remnants of humanity are barely clinging to existence. Months have passed since the enemy unleashed hordes of murderous creations that now engulf the planet. Amidst the chaos, One renegade group takes refuge on Earth's last remaining space vessels, orbiting above the desolate wastelands. They are Banshee Team, and they are a lone beacon of hope in the face of annihilation. They are committed to uncovering the truth behind the brutal attacks and lend their expertise to turn the tide of this merciless battle.

In a darkened corner of the world, America lies bleeding. The Big War has reduced the country’s once-great industrial cities and vast countryside to a war-blackened landscape. But out of these ruins emerges brilliant ace fighter pilot Hawk Hunter, a lone warrior battling to keep the spirit of his country alive... From his secret base in the coastal wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, Hunter hears rumors of a vast army equipped with Russian SAMs hidden deep in the Bad Lands.

In the final book of Shelby Gallagher‘s A Great State trilogy, Julie and Ned embark on their perilous journey from Colorado to Pierce Point, Washington, where Julie will rescue - and adopt - baby Addison. Julie hopes to save her from the danger that is only growing more extreme as society continues to collapse, and Addison can no longer be safely cared for by her biological parents. Meanwhile, unrest in Oregon continues to intensify and violence in the city becomes deadly as cultures clash and lawlessness begins to rule.

Generations after the world was reduced to ruins by war, the remaining pockets of humanity are ruled over with an iron fist. The streets are patrolled around the clock, curfews are enforced, and executions occur for minor offences. That ruling power, totalitarian and cruel, doesn't go unchecked. Born, raised, and trained in secret, Eve is forged into the perfect soldier. The time comes for her, and the others like her - the members of Project Genesis - to take the fight to their oppressors. But the Party has its own clandestine projects lying in wait.

When John Rourke's daughter is kidnapped by a Russian agent, Rourke follows their trail across a frozen Arctic wasteland - and stumbles upon a small pocket of humanity living in a tropical paradise surrounded by ice and snow. The community of Icelandic descendants has flourished in seclusion during the long years following the fiery holocaust, unaware of the fierce and bloody struggle in the outside world between the forces of freedom and Communist tyranny.

Without technology, survival is hopeless. Then intelligence data confirms rumors of an alliance being forged between the warring Soviet factions. Almost as a warning, New Germany is ravaged by a hellish bombing raid of unprecedented magnitude. John Thomas Rourke and the Free World have no choice: a duel strike, simultaneously against the Soviet undersea forces and the Soviet Underground City, must be launched.

It was supposed to be fun. Six teenagers and their British captain aboard the ketch Crosscurrent Voyager, headed on a senior year summer cruise to excitement and adventure. Then the world as they knew it ended. A plague spread throughout the globe, killing millions and turning the survivors into cannibalistic rage monsters - zombies, in so many words. Only by putting aside their differences were the young crew able to survive. Now, they seek others like them, those fortunate souls who have made it through the zombie apocalypse.