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.

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.

Civil Icon John Rourke must come to terms with his new status as a god among men. He is the ever reluctant hero of legend, and now must battle a completely new retinue of villains in the futuristic new world. Along with the rest of the Rourke family, he will fight to gain supremacy over the one man who has the ability to save Sarah Rourke's life.

One Tier-1 Naval Special Warfare Operator, trained at the highest levels of any military, with 20-plus years of operational experience. One ex-cop civilian survivalist, who lived through two years of post-apocalyptic hell, unlike seven billion of her fellow humans. And an entire continent heaving with 400 million dead guys. To save the lives of his children, and rejoin Alpha team and the fight to save humanity, Homer must journey across a thousand miles of undead North America with Sarah Cameron, battling heavily armed bands of marauders who shoot first and ask questions never.

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.

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!

AD 2150: Chris Randall just lost his job as a bodyguard. That night, after picking up his wife, Bree, from her shift at a local casino, he breaks the bad news. Moments later, thunder cracks the sky, but there’s no lightning. Flaming debris rain across the valley, and a dark mass goes sailing out of the clouds, headed straight for LA. It’s not one of the Union’s starships, because they can’t defy gravity like that. But then, what is it? The answer chills both Chris and Bree to their cores: It’s an invasion.

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.

A century ago, nearly all life in the universe was destroyed by the Starless Horrors. Spanning three decades, the Cataclysm wiped out two-thirds of known galaxies and left the rest broken. But eventually, the survivors of countless civilizations and species banded together and prevailed against the onslaught, and those who remained began to rebuild, reconnect, and rediscover hope.

Will the last humans on Earth please turn out the lights? James Patterson's ZOO was just the beginning. The planet is still under violent siege by ferocious animals. Humans are their desperate prey. Except some humans are evolving, mutating into a savage species that could save civilization-or end it.

On an Earth decimated by war, a lone gunslinger delivers justice, protecting the innocent and righting the wrongs of a broken world. Some call him lawman. Some call him madman. Some call him vigilante. Some call him killer. Some call him legend.

Congo already faced the extreme ravages of war before the outbreak. Deep within the militia-controlled jungles, Captain Dominic Holland and his covert group, the Hunters, follow a lead in a desperate race to uncover who is responsible for the biological weapon turning humans into the monsters known as Skulls. But what they uncover may be far more dangerous and frightening than they ever expected. Back in the US, a lost member of Dom's team faces a relentless tide of Skulls alone. The fate of the Hunters and their mission may rest in his hands.

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 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.

Once. Just once. Sheriff Hayden Duke would love to get involved in a mess that didn’t blow up into an all-out disaster. Not this time. His hunt for clues has led him to more questions and a whole heap of new trouble: He lost his horse, his newest ally is a wanted man, and the enemy he’s chasing isn’t the enemy he expected. They’re worse. Much, much worse. They say no good deed goes unpunished. It's time for Hayden to punish back.

Cryogenically preserved before the nukes obliterated their own way of life, an elite team of battle-hardened American fighting men have now been reactivated for duty, commanded by this supreme manipulator. Their first mission in a tortured new world: Move in and secure Cerberus Redoubt and the mat-trans network at any cost. In a world where trust is hard-won and harder kept, Kane and his fellow exiles must convince Team Phoenix that they are on the same side — for humanity and against the hybrids and their willing human allies.

Orson Scott Card, Kevin J. Anderson, and Larry Niven have seen the future. Now you can, too. A constellation of the brightest lights in the science fiction and fantasy firmament have judged these authors to be the best, the brightest, the truest emerging stars in the field.

Hugh McDaniel lives in Queens, New York. He's a genius, and he has been struggling to pick one area to focus his life’s work on. His brother and best friend, Travis, is a marine officer. They get along very well, despite their differences. When aliens suddenly invade and destroy their entire culture, they are forced to struggle together in the ruins. At first they just tried to survive; to collect food, medicine, weapons, and to find other survivors. But now, they've set their sights higher: on resistance and reclaiming their planet from invaders.

After running and gunning across much of the western US, Cade Grayson, former Delta Force operator, is finally reunited with his wife, Brook, and daughter, Raven. Hours after arriving at the relative safety of Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the new Capital of the United States, Cade is approached by the new president, Valerie Clay. Her request is simple: she appeals to the patriot in him to rejoin the unit that he left for civilian life 15 months prior and once more go into harm's way, taking the fight to the enemy.

John Thomas Rourke has learned that his wife is alive, and now he must risk everything to save her. But the Diabolical Dietrich Zimmer remains one step ahead of him as always. This time, however, Rourke will throw aside his ideals of fair fight and launch an attack that will make his worshipers question his role as God among men. With his family on the line, Rourke will embrace a darkness from which he may never return.