Wade cupped his hand to his ear. I hear something. Waved his hand to the ground. Get down. A listening halt.

The squad crouched behind the line of cars parked against the curb. Gray looked at Wade and mouthed, What the fuck?

Then they all heard it. A distant rattle. It grew louder by the second.

Wade fixed his bayonet to the end of his carbine.

A vehicle rolled up the road, scattering trash. A shiny BMW convertible driven by a middle-aged couple wearing black sunglasses and smiling as if out for a pleasant Sunday drive in the city. The man wore a brown suit and tie, the woman a polka dot dress.

The rattling sound was chains.

The car was dragging dozens of bodies. Shredded into hamburger over miles of road.

The stench of death struck them as the vehicle passed.

Then came to a halt. The V8 engine roared.

The heads swiveled toward the squad’s position. The man grinned and said, “I smell lunch.”

–from THE RETREAT by Craig DiLouie, Joe McKinney and Stephen Knight

COMING SOON.

Gray grit his teeth and yanked the wheel. The car wove through mobs of infected. Past scenes of madness and savagery. The Klowns turned and acknowledged them with the delighted surprise of seeing old friends.

Wade looked behind them. The crazies chased them in a laughing stampede.

Ahead, men on ladders were busy crucifying a cop to a telephone pole.

“Problem,” said Gray.

Rawlings glared at the back of his head as if looks could kill.

“Jesus Christ,” said Fisher. The man was losing it. “What the hell now?”

“Gas,” Gray barked back at him. “We’re on the reserve tank.”

“We’re not far from Hanscom,” Wade pointed out. “Maybe a mile.”

“Might as well be a hundred,” Fisher told him.

The car sputtered. Gray pounded the wheel.

“End of the road,” said Gray.

Another residential street. Abandoned cars, broken glass. They got out and stared at the flood of laughing maniacs pouring up the road.

Nobody gave the order. They knew what to do. They started firing.

–from THE RETREAT by Craig DiLouie, Joe McKinney and Stephen Knight

COMING SOON.

Foster got off a few rounds and missed. The truck was going too fast. He walked his fire forward, guided by the tracers. The truck pulled up alongside the Humvee’s right and slowed. Lee saw naked, self-mutilated men swarming across the truck bed, clashing crowbars and golf clubs against the battered chassis. One of crazies threw a colorful object that struck the rear of the Humvee. Water balloon. Lee smelled piss. Infected piss. Others lobbed grappling hooks like pirates. One hooked onto Lee’s window. Its connecting chain pulled taut. A man tried to jump onto the Humvee but missed and became road kill. A baseball struck Lee in the chest. He grit his teeth against the flash of pain and the stars that sparked in his vision. A man was about to throw a bright yellow water balloon straight at him. He sprayed the back of the truck on full auto, draining the magazine in seconds. Laughing bodies spilled and smashed against the asphalt rushing under their feet. As his rifle clicked empty, Lee pulled out his 9mm and unloaded it into the driver’s cabin.

Foster found his mark. He lit up the truck back to front with a deadly metal rain. The vehicle crumpled like tin foil, riddled with smoking holes. The figures capering along the truck bed exploded. The windshield burst with a splash of glass. The truck disintegrated.

The Humvee door wrenched off with a crack as the shattered truck spilled off the highway. Lee blinked into the darkness. He sighed. “Jesus Christ.”

–from THE RETREAT by Craig DiLouie, Joe McKinney and Stephen Knight

COMING SOON.

I’m proud to be partnering with Joe McKinney, author of THE SAVAGE DEAD, and Stephen Knight, author of THE GATHERING DEAD, on a new six-part series of novellas titled THE RETREAT, which will be available in popular eBook formats.

Here’s the synopsis:

As a new disease turns people into sadistic, laughing killers, in Boston, a battalion of light infantry struggles to maintain order. As the numbers of infected grow, the battalion loses control, and the soldiers find themselves fighting for their lives against the very people they once swore an oath to protect.

During the ensuing collapse, the lost battalion learns the Army is still holding out in Florida, which has been cleared of the Infected. Harry Lee, its commander, decides the only hope for his men is to get there. But first they must cross more than a thousand miles of America that has been turned into a war zone.

And here’s a taste of the action you’ll find on almost every page of this book:

Ramos raised his Sledgehammer as he cleared the doorway. Wade followed, pointing his carbine the other way. Then Eraserhead with his SAW, the squad automatic weapon. Then Williams with his M4/203.

The hall was packed with grinning Klowns. Several stomped on the half-stripped, mangled body of a nurse lying on the floor. Others watched and roared with laughter, hands on their hips or gripping their stomachs.

The nurse was laughing.

The infected noticed the soldiers pointing guns at them and cheered. They shrieked with glee as if the guests had finally arrived at their surprise party. Once again, Wade was disturbed by their faces. They looked like clown faces with their wide, glassy eyes and crazy leers.

One stumbled close, his eyes unfocused from the heavy dose of sedative he still carried in his bloodstream. He blinked at Ramos and giggled.

Ramos cut him in half with a blast of buckshot.

As if waiting for this signal, the crazies surged at them.

The first episode of THE RETREAT, which I authored and which has the title PANDEMIC, is coming out near the end of October. The second episode, authored by Stephen Knight, will come out shortly after that.

Stay tuned!

I’m excited to make a special announcement today. In a collaboration with Joe McKinney (FLESH EATERS, THE SAVAGE DEAD) and Stephen Knight (THE GATHERING DEAD, EARTHFALL), I will be introducing a new six-part series of novellas (about 40,000 words) for eBook, THE RETREAT. Here’s the synopsis:

As a new disease turns people into sadistic, laughing killers, in Boston, a battalion of light infantry struggles to maintain order. As the numbers of infected grow, the battalion loses control, and the soldiers find themselves fighting for their lives against the very people they once swore an oath to protect.

During the ensuing collapse, the lost battalion learns the Army is still holding out in Florida, which has been cleared of the Infected. Harry Lee, its commander, decides the only hope for his men is to get there. But first they must cross more than a thousand miles of America that has been turned into a war zone, fighting a fearless, implacable and merciless enemy.

The first two episodes will be published in the fall. Stay tuned for this exciting new series!