The Sixth Extinction: America – Omnibus Edition (Books 1 – 4)

By Glen Johnson

Mankind is no longer at the top of the food chain.

The Sixth Extinction: America – Omnibus Edition (Books 1 - 4) is set in America.

Now for the first time we jump from England to the United States and see how the Americans are dealing with the end of the world.

The Sixth Extinction is an apocalyptic tale about a pandemic that sweeps the globe, decimating the human race, leaving humanity struggling to survive. Within three weeks, everything has changed. Social structure has collapsed as the government locks itself away with a select portion of its vast army in deep bunkers, leaving the civilians to their own fate and the infected that stalks the streets.

The Story follows a group of fourteen strangers, who lived in an apartment building in the Fordham Heights area of New York City; they decide to band together, seeking shelter in a shipping container, on the back of a truck heading towards Pennsylvania and the promise of safety.

There’s Alexander Frazier, a twenty-four-year-old, who, before the outbreak, worked in the mail department of a large law firm. The King Brothers, Lindell, who’s thirty-seven and used to be a bouncer for a nightclub, and his thirty-one-year-old little brother, who was once an amateur boxer. The fifty-one-year-old alcoholic Reverend Frank Clark, who harbours a dark secret, and is looking for redemption from a broken world. The second generation Mexican seventeen-year-old twins, Juan and Bonnie Sanchez. The twenty-six-year-old Cody Tanner who used to be a soil conservationist, and his twenty-five-year-old wife Abigail Tanner, who used to be a wine taster. The twenty-two-year-old all-American girl Jessica Scott, who used to be a waitress. The seventy-one-year-old Phyllis Washington, who isn’t even aware of what’s going on around her. The thirty-three-year-old Gothic lesbian, Naomi Ford who used to work as a chef, and has a dangerous addiction. The twenty-year-old Tierra Ouellette who used to be a stripper to pay the bills, and her three-year-old son Dante, who never stops crying. And finally, the driver of the truck, the forty-six-year-old Troy Cobb, who even ten years later is still trying to get over the death of his wife. Altogether, they are struggling to survive and come to terms with their new situation. However, they’re a large group of people now living in close proximity. Tempers flare, and emotions run high as one disastrous situating leads to another.

There is also Doctor Nathan Bachman, a scientist working in Groom Lake, in the secret base often referred to as Area 51. However, it doesn’t contain UFOs and little green men; its sole purpose is much more disturbing. It contains one of the seven pods – living artefact that our ancient forefathers buried beneath vast structures of stone, to save the world from their deadly, infectious black spores. When the base is compromised Bachman is airlifted to the secret Quirauk Mountain, Pennsylvania bunker. There an even more disturbing secret comes to light that makes everything before it pale in comparison.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Glen Johnson
• Release date: Sep 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310591426

Glen Johnson

Glen Johnson was born in Devon, England in 1973. He is the author of 55 fiction and non-fiction books. In August 2014, he gave away all his belongings and bought a backpack and he started travelling around Southeast Asia. While he travels, he helps charitable organizations, writing and releasing books about their foundations, leaving them with all the royalties. His first charity book is called Soi Dog: The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter and it’s available in ebook and paperback worldwide. He has also started to release a series of books about his travel adventures as they unfold, and Living the Dream: Part One – Khaosan Road, Thailand, and Part Two – Krabi, Thailand is available from all good ebook retailers. He also loves to travel and has spent over eleven years living and travelling around the world – so far, he has explored forty-three different countries. At present, he lives in Bangkok, Thailand, but he has also lived in Mexico, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, and Singapore. He is also the lead writer on the development team for a new computer game called The Seed (2018), from the creators of the award-winning S.T.A.L.K.E.R Misery mod.Why not add Glen as a friend on Facebook. From his author’s page, you can keep up to date with all his new releases and when his kindle books are free on Amazon. He checks it daily, so pop on and say hello. Don’t be shy, he’s friendly and accepts friend requests.www.facebook.com/GlenJohnsonAuthorwww.facebook.com/RedSkullPublishing and all good ebook retailers.Glen has published 174 books worldwide (via two publishing companies he owns). 55 are his own work; the other 119 are modern-classic-fiction books that can be found on all good eBook and paperback retailers.Books Released by Sinuous Mind Books, and Coming Soon –Books released under his real name Glen JohnsonNON-FICTION BOOKS –CHARITY BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Soi Dog – The Story Behind Asia’s Largest Animal Welfare Shelter (2015)BEES Elephants Sanctuary: A Haven for Old and Retired Elephants (Coming Soon)TRAVEL BOOKS (with Gary Johnson)Living the Dream 1 – Khaosan Road – Thailand (2015)Living the Dream 2 – Krabi – Thailand (2019)Living the Dream 3 – Penang – Malaysia (Coming Soon)FICTION BOOKS –APOCALYPTIC/DYSTOPIAN/HORRORTHE SIXTH EXTINCTION SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)The Sixth Extinction 1 – Outbreak (2013)The Sixth Extinction 2 – Ruin (2013)The Sixth Extinction 3 – Infested (2013)The Sixth Extinction 4 – The Ark (2013)The Sixth Extinction 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 1 – Noah’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 2 – Red’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 3 – Betty and Lennie’s Story (2013)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks 4 – Doctor Lazaro’s Story (2013)The First Three Weeks 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2013)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION & THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES OMNIBUS (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks 1-8 – Omnibus Edition (2013)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The Sixth Extinction America 1-12 – Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction & The First Three Weeks & The First Three Weeks The Squads Stories & The Sixth Extinction America & The Seven Seeds of the Gods 1-23 – Omnibus Edition (2017)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: THE FIRST THREE WEEKS – THE SQUADThe Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Echo’s Story (2014)The Sixth Extinction Series: The First Three Weeks – The Squad – Coco’s Story (2014)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: AMERICA SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short stories)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part One: The Black Spores (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Two: False Hope (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Three: The Pods (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Four: The Long Road (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-4 Omnibus Edition (2014)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Five: No Turning Back (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Six: A Friend in Need (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Seven: All Aboard (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eight: New Hope (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-8 Omnibus Edition (2015)The Sixth Extinction: America – 1-20 Omnibus Edition (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Nine: Keep Running (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Ten: Don’t Look Back (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Eleven: Resurrection (2016)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Twelve: Alliance (2018)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Thirteen: Abandon (2019)The Sixth Extinction: America – Part Fourteen: Burn (Coming Soon)THE SIXTH EXTINCTION: BOOK EXTRASThe Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book One – Ancient Egypt (2016)The Sixth Extinction: The Seven Seeds of the Gods. Book Two – Ancient Mayan (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: One Year On (England) (Coming Soon)The Sixth Extinction: Clarkson’s Discovery (Coming Soon)THE ENDLESS SERIESEndless: Part One – Sorrow (2019)Endless: Part Two – Fear (Coming Soon)Endless: Part Three - Anger (Coming Soon)THE EVENT SERIESThe Event: Part One – The Last Hope (2019)The Event: Part Two – Crashing Down (Coming Soon)THE HUMAN NATURE SERIES (A #1 Best Seller on Amazon UK Horror Short Stories)Lamb Chops and Chainsaws – Vol.1 (2012)Lobsters and Landmines – Vol.2 (2012)French Fries and Flamethrowers – Vol.3 (2014)The Human Nature Series 1-3 – Omnibus Edition (2014)Backpacks and Body Bags – Vol.4 (Coming Soon)THE EXTREME HUMAN NATURE SERIES (Extreme Horror Short Stories)Condoms and Cabbages (2015)GHOST (Short Stories)Sea of Trees (2017)Child Angels (2018)Tall Ghosts (2020)The Lost Cat (2023)HORROR (Short Stories)Quarantine (2020)Laugh Out Loud (2021)Secrets and Lies (2021)Blood Lotus (With Hathairat Phuekhiran – 2023)HORRORThe Watchers (2014)THE WAR OF THE GOD’S SERIESWar of the Gods 1 – The Devil’s Tarots (2012)War of the Gods 2 – Lilith’s Revenge (Coming Soon)THE SEVEN WORLDS SERIES (with Gary Johnson)The Gateway – World One (2014)The Keystone – World Two (2015)Even Jewel – World Three (2017)The Sleeping Gods – World Four (Coming Soon)The Turquoise Abyss – World Five (Coming Soon)Oceans of Fire – World Six (Coming Soon)Journeys End – World Seven (Coming Soon)THE SPELL OF BINDING SERIESThe Spell of Binding – Part One (2012)The Spell of Binding – Part Two (Coming Soon)THE PARKINGDOM SERIESParkingdom – Book One (2012)Parkingdom – Book Two (Coming Soon)OTHER BOOKSTales from the Lake Vol.2. Short Story: Prime Cuts (A mixed horror anthology with 18 other writers – published by Crystal Lake Publishing. 2016)Books released under the pseudonym J.G. NewtonEROTIC PLEASURES SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense)Guilty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Dirty Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Secret Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Kinky Pleasures: Erotic Pleasures Series (2014)Erotic Pleasures Series 1-4 – Omnibus Edition (2014)EROTIC MONSTERS SERIES (#1 Best Seller on Amazon USA and UK Erotic/Suspense/Horror/Humorous)Frankenstein’s Monster: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Dracula’s Lover: Erotic Monsters Series (2014)Mummy’s Desire: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)Werewolf’s Lust: Erotic Monsters Series (Coming Soon)COMPUTER GAMETHE SEEDGlen Johnson is on the development team as the lead writer (eight writers) for a new computer game series called The Seed. The Seed is a story-driven post-apocalyptic video game set in Eastern Europe in 2026. It’s a single-player 2D interactive novel, deeply rooted in HEXACO psychology – it showcases the gravity of choice. It’s by the same team that created the award-winning game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misery mod.The Seed: Act 1 (2018)The Seed: Act 2 (Coming Soon)The Seed: Act 3 (Coming Soon)If you need to get hold of Glen Johnson, email him on: [e-mail]

Book preview

Part One – Outbreak

(Set in England)

And also

THE SIXTH EXTINCTION

THE FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES

(Set in England)

and

THE SQUADS FIRST THREE WEEKS SERIES

Echo’s Story

(Set in England)

Prologue

A mass extinction, or scientifically named The Sixth Extinction, is also referred to as the Holocene Extinction – the Holocene epoch is a period of time from present to around 10,000 BCE – where a large number of extinctions span numerous plants and animals, including birds, amphibians, arthropods, and mammals.

Four hundred biologists were interviewed in 1998 by New York’s American Museum of Natural History. Seventy percent believe that the world is in the grip of a human-caused mass extinction. They believe that if left unchecked twenty percent of all living things could become extinct by 2028. One famous biologist, E. O Wilson believes that if humans continue to destroy the biosphere, then half of all species on the planet will be extinct within one hundred years.

Almost nine hundred extinctions have been recorded by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources since the 1500s. However, that is just a drop in the ocean, according to the scientific species-area theory; it estimates that one hundred and forty thousand species are becoming extinct every year.

The main reason for the hundreds of thousands of extinctions, which is speeding the sixth extinction along, is due to one mammal – the homosapien. Without intervention, the human race will cause the next mass extinction.

However, it would seem that Mother Nature has a way of making sure that one species does not overpopulate and dominate her planet at the expense of everything else. Viruses and plagues are her way of culling and controlling.

Part One – The Black Spores

1

Week Three of the Infection

Alexander Frazier

Inside a shipping container, on a truck

Interstate 95 Express

New York City Metropolitan Area

Friday 5th January

Alexander Frazier was tired, cold and hungry. He checked his watch; it was just after four o’clock. He sat in the corner covered with a musty smelling blanket, with his aching back leaning up against the galvanized metal wall of the twenty-foot shipping container. His body slowly rocked from side to side with the movement of the truck. Every now and then, he would jolt as the truck pushed an abandoned vehicle or debris out of the way.

It was made even more tense due to the fact there are no windows in the container to see what is happening outside – it was just too impractical to cut the strong metal and replace it with glass, no matter how thick.

Do we really want to see what is out there, what was charging at the vehicle as it passed?

With each shunt of another vehicle, and the sound of metal on metal, the mind always thinks the worst.

Alex was lean but not skinny; he had more of a jogger’s body. Not that he ever exercised, he never used to have the time. However, he was doing a lot of running now. If you couldn’t find a secure hiding place, it was run or die. And of course, due to the lack of food and sleep and the constant stress of trying to survive from one day to the next.

At twenty-four years of age, he used to spend his days trying to be recognized in the law firm he worked in. He didn’t want to be just a drone; he wanted to climb the ladder, even though he was only in the Mail Department. He was saving up for night school, to learn to be a secretary. It wasn’t unheard of, nowadays, to have male assistants. Then, when his foot was on the ladder, and making more money, he was going to cut back his hours and get into law school. That was the dream. He wanted to prove to himself that he could be whatever he wanted. That was until the world came crashing down. Now it didn’t matter if you were a doctor, a lawyer, or a homeless bum – death is the great equalizer.

Not that any of that matters now. Most of the people he used to work with are either dead or hiding – or have turned into something, something that would have been inconceivable just three weeks ago, before the clouds of black spores started sweeping the globe. Even hearing the word aloud still sounded surreal – zombie.

After he first ran out of food, he left his flat and cautiously made his way through the city streets. He knew there had to be food somewhere; it was a large city; the rioters couldn’t have taken it all, although they did a great job of trashing everything, leaving streets looking like a war zone. He tried a few apartments around his block, but they were all controlled by gangs with weapons, hoarding their supplies, and due to there being no police; they would shoot to kill without a moment’s hesitation. In fact, he witnessed a group of teenager’s gun down a family just for sport. They allowed them time to run before pulling the triggers.

He had to be careful; places that looked abandoned normally had people hiding in them, keeping a low profile, trying not to draw attention to themselves. That is, until you disturb them. Then you found out if they had a handgun or crude, handmade weapon, which was just as deadly in close quarters.

Alex scavenged food anywhere he could find it – a few tins that had been kicked under the shelving. A handful of cereal dropped from a ripped packet. Or dried food he had found hidden in abandon homes. He was amazed at how fast all the food disappeared. The only problem with looking through buildings was the Poppers, they could be anywhere, and if you stumble near one that was it, game over, even if you survived the blast you were infected by the spores. No one could outrun the spores – black death on the wind.

Once he realized the government was doing nothing, his plan was to get out of the city. The problem was, so was everyone else’s. Vehicles were abandoned everywhere. Possessions that people considered important at one point were scattered around the streets among the dead bodies that were left to rot, or to be consumed by the hordes of creatures that were everywhere. Creatures born of horror movies and the darkest part of the imagination.

Alex wasn’t cut out for surviving on the streets. He has no useful skills. He had never needed any. Everything he wanted, if he could afford it, he paid for. Just like most people, he was completely unprepared for the end of the world. A life of everything at his fingertips had made him weak when it came to a real survival situation. Why would he need bushcraft skills; he lived in a sprawling metropolis?

He used to watch programs on the television about bushcraft, with people surviving in impossible terrains and life-threatening situations. However, it was just entertainment, something to pass the time; he never thought that he would actually need to use that information; or else he would have paid closer attention. He must have seen people on the TV make a fire a thousand times, yet he had no idea how to do it himself. He saw them make traps, gut animals, make shelters, navigate by the sun, make fishing hooks out of twigs and nets out of clothing, stalk animals and skin them, and yet all of that was alien to him. If he was dropped out in the wild, he would die of thirst in three days, or if he managed to find drinkable water, that wasn’t full of parasites, then he would most probably die of starvation, or poisonous berries or mushrooms. He knew he had been made soft by the comforts of civilization.

He once heard a saying, going something along the lines of: Once mankind learned culinary skills, they started eating twice as much as the body needs to survive.

It is true; we have grown soft with our comforts.

After each day of struggling to look for food and water in the concrete jungle, he returned to his apartment.

He would probably be dead, or worse, if it wasn’t for Troy.

The truck slowed down, then jerked as it shunted yet another object with its powerful engine. The sound of rendering metal grated through the enclosed space.

Alex could hear the two brother’s heavy boots echoing on the metal roof. Suddenly, there was a short burst of gunfire. The truck swerved to the right. Then, there was another barrage of bullets. The truck accelerated. Alex could feel the gears crunch and change one after another. His body rocked against the wall with each gearshift. His muscles ached from the hard surface.

There was muffled shouting from above. An object hit the sidewall of the container. Another – sounding like a body hitting the metal with a resounding ring quickly followed it. A muffled volley of bullets echoed throughout the confined space. Guttural, throaty growling sounds could be heard, like an angry pack of large rabid dogs.

Alex could imagine the Eaters slamming into the container, no longer human; they were deformed by the virus, changed into perfect killing machines that only had one purpose, to feed – to gorge themselves with fresh meat.

Then, there was silence, with just the ever-present rocking of the truck as it picked up speed. The boots moved about on the roof with less urgency.

Alex couldn’t believe how quickly the world turned to utter chaos. A mere three weeks and everything had completely changed. The world was unrecognizable, and it would never be the same again.

It all started with a simple, seemingly average spot at the end of the night’s news report. Not big news, just a short filler from Madagascar, about a logging company airlifting nine sick workers out for medical treatment, after they became severely ill while logging in an uncharted section of the jungle.

Alex didn’t catch the first announcement – the news didn’t interest him much; he was too busy trying to get to work on time, and keep up with his rent and bills. He had three envelopes resting on the side that were filled with warnings and possible consequences if he didn’t pay within the next seven days. Why would a report from a country thousands of miles away make any difference in his life? He had enough problems of his own.

The virus reached the shores of America five days later. Then it became his problem, along with everyone else’s. Then the only good those warning letters were, were for lighting a fire to cook a can of beans.

Within a week, more cases were registered in Cape Town, South Africa. Mexico City, Mexico. Perth, Australia. Moscow, in Russia. Then after two weeks, there were reported cases in almost every major city on every continent.

After fourteen days, the World Health Organization reclassed it as a pandemic. It didn’t make anyone feel safer just by slapping a label on it; they already knew it was deadly.

Alex remembered the original CNN report word-for-word, as the news feed played repeatedly across the channels and radio, due to no more news coming from Madagascar. It was as if someone flicked a switch and made an entire country disappear.

However, it was obvious it started with the group of nine loggers when they were airlifted out of a work site next to the Nosivolo River in Marolambo, Madagascar, and taken to Cape Town, South Africa, after apparently suffering from some unknown malady.

The original report was sketchy, but it announced that within eight hours of the helicopter leaving for the Mananjary Airport, eighty-one miles away, the Madagascan government declared Marolambo, in the Atsinanana Region, in the Province of Tamatave, a quarantined zone, and suspended all air traffic. All twenty-six thousand residents were put under house arrest, with the military roaming the streets in breathing equipment.

Also, the city of Mananjary, Fianarantsoa, where the plane took off, was, within an hour, also put under quarantine, with an estimated twenty-eight thousand civilians put under house arrest. More soldiers flooded the streets with armored vehicle’s using live ammo.

The world governments soon realized the virus was much worse than the bird or swine flu from the previous years. The H5N1 and H1N1 made governments cautious. They spent too much money and stockpiled vaccines for viruses that faded out, leaving them looking like they were trying to cause nationwide panic.

The swine flu killed just over two hundred thousand worldwide in 2009. A drop in the ocean when held against the annual deaths due to the common cold, which kills over half a million people yearly.

The bird flu was blown completely out of proportion. A prototype two-stage dose was created. The British government ordered one hundred and twenty million doses that were stacked in a warehouse and never used.

Since 2003, the bird flu has officially only killed six hundred and thirty-eight people worldwide, and that is with all fifteen of its different strains.

Strangely, even though so many people were being infected by the new virus from Madagascar, and across so many countries, the news seemed a little sparse on the details. Whenever an outbreak was registered and confirmed, the military – in whichever country concerned – swooped in and took over, quarantining everything and causing a news blackout.

In one case in Cape Town, a news helicopter was shot down by the military for crossing over into the quarantine zone.

The World Health Organization was giving out a few details. They stated, if you felt dizzy, nauseous, and confused, with constant blinking of the eyes, which form a bloodshot clouding over the cornea, then you were to phone an emergency number set up for your individual state. While you waited for the authorities to arrive, you were told to lock yourself in a room away from other people.

However, everyone knew that if someone in your house was infected, it meant you were too; it was just the symptoms have not shown just yet.

Within two hours of the announcement, the phone lines across the United States were straining under the response. Several telecommunication providers’ networks collapsed under the strain. They never came back on again.

The president made a public announcement, telling everyone to collect enough provisions to last two weeks, and to stay at home and tape shut the windows and doors. Do not let anyone in.

The infrastructure was the first thing to collapse, with people storming the supermarkets and malls panic buying. Within days, the shelves were bare. Bank accounts were emptied, to the point where people were turned away. The banks only held so much money; almost everything was digital; they weren’t equipped to return everything everyone had deposited at once – most of it was tied up in investments. Crowds got angry and vented their frustration out on the banks.

People couldn’t go to work. The country ground to a halt, and due to people staying at home, behind locked doors, there was no one to transport materials and provisions.

People waited at home for the promised help. The government stated they were working on a cure – the antidote. However, when people looked out their taped windows, they didn’t see FEMA or soldiers or any assistance, they just saw barren streets with heaped up trash and rubble, and burnt-out cars. A country frozen in time – an image of its, and their, abandonment.

By the end of the second week, people were rioting in every major city and towns. They smashed up shops that no longer held anything of use. Vehicles were set alight. They destroyed anything they couldn’t carry away with them. Buildings were first ransacked, and then torched.

Soldiers finally appeared, but not to help, but to use live rounds on the rioters.

Then the Internet started throwing up broken links – 404 Not Found filled the screen instead of web pages. Then the Internet started going off for a few hours at a time. Then days. Then it never came back on.

Mobile phone carriers worked spasmodically for the first two weeks, and then on the third they all went dead.

To start with, the TV channels were filled with long reports and news clips, showing the effect of the turmoil from around the world, twenty-four hours a day in high-definition. Then clips started to be repeated, and it became obvious nothing new was being filmed. Then the channels started turning to static one after another. Those that still aired were filled with a looping message.

The Emergency Alert System came online. It was transmitted via AM, FM, on broadcast, cable, and digital television, land mobile radio service, VHF, UHF, and Sirius XM satellite, IBOC, and DAB radio. Every device still working and transmitting would automatically pick it up.

The multi-spectrum broadcast started with a stark high pitch buzzing sound that reminded Alex of the old dialing tones for computers, just like his father used to have. It buzzed three times in long bursts, then three short bursts. Then in a slow modulated male voice, it announced, This is an Emergency Transmission... This is not a test! Repeat, this is NOT a test! Then after a second pause, the voice continued. Do not leave your home. Do not try to leave the cities or towns. Stay where you are. Keep your family together. Tape shut your windows and doors. Keep calm. Your government is doing everything in its power to contain the situation. Do not approach anyone who looks infected. Then after a few seconds of silence, the same klaxon sounded.

When the signal first flashed across the TV channels, it also started coming through on any mobile phone that was still switched on.

Alex could picture the last news feed he saw before the stations started showing only static. After the rapid eye movement, and swelling, with veins mapping around the swollen orbits and neck, people started falling into a coma-like state. Their breathing became shallow, and they didn’t respond to any stimulation. By the time the stations went off air, over a hundred million people were unconscious across the country. Hospitals were overflowing, with people lining the corridors. Football and baseball stadiums, along with any public building capable of holding bodies were full of cots with victims laid motionless – many in sealed plastic pods until they ran out of pods and cots, and then they were simply left lying on blankets on the cold floor.

Then the unimaginable happened, and the whole situation took a deadly turn.

The infected people’s hearts gave way under the viruses’ deadly assault – they flat-lined. Then, minutes later, after being registered as brain-dead, the infected people became reanimated – something else had taken over.

2

Doctor Nathan Peter Bachman BSc PhD

Government Biosciences facility

Groom Lake, Nevada

Friday 5th January

Doctor Nathan Bachman stood silently with a clipboard in one hand. He had to wait until he was officially introduced. The man who slowly walked towards him was surrounded by military personnel and assistants who buzzed around him like flies on a cow’s ass.

The air slowly hummed around Doctor Bachman. Being so deep below ground the air was circulated via huge vents. By the end of each day, he always had a sore throat from the scrubbed air. Everyone in the facility took tablets for sore throats; they arrived each week along with the clean laundry.

The doctor fidgeted. It was just after four, he should be checking results in Lab 5.

He stood in a vast white room, filled with long white tables surrounded by technicians and scientists working on computers and medical apparatus. Scattered about were small biocontainment laboratories that were designed to prevent the escape of microorganisms. In these chambers were high containment isolator units. A scientist in type I hazmat suits stood with their arms in thick rubber sleeves going into the sealed units. The area buzzed with activity and the drone of hundreds of mixed sounds.

Bachman hated showing people around. He had better things to do with his time, not acting like a glorified tour guide. This would be the fourth high-ranking government official he has given the tour to in the last two days. He tried to fob the meeting off, but Doctor Callaway, his superior, always beat him to it.

Ah, Doctor Bachman, Callaway said, as if they were the best of friends, and they had met on a sidewalk somewhere pleasant, not in a secret military base two hundred feet below the Nevada desert.

Doctor Callaway. Doctor Bachman gave a curt nod – one doctor to another.

Callaway looked worse with each passing day. He had pale, slack skin, with dark rings around his deep-set eyes. He had lost so much weight that his clothes looked like they were hung on a coat hanger. The fifty-year old stunk of stale cigarette smoke – it was so pungent it was like a physical slap to the senses when he stood too close, you always knew when he was around. He smelt like an ashtray left out in the rain.

May I introduce Director Grant, the new Director of the CIA and National Human Intelligence Manager. Callaway shuffled sideways so the short, slightly tubby, unimposing man, with a rosy complexion and balding head, wearing a five thousand dollar suit could step forward, followed closely by two protective agents and a swarm of assistants and military personnel.

Bachman remembered showing the last director around, giving him the nickel tour. Of course then they didn’t have the live subjects section.

Doctor Bachman, it’s so good to finally meet you. The short man held out a pasty hand with manicured nails.

Likewise, Director, Bachman replied while shaking the sweaty hand. He noticed the buttons on the man’s jacket were straining under his paunches assault.

Well I’m afraid I must leave you, Callaway announced as he rushed off without given them time to reply.

A very busy man at the moment, I suspect?

If only the Director knew Callaway ran and hid in his office, avoiding the laboratories and subjects in the containment cells. Once the outbreak spread and infected subjects started being shipped in, Callaway spent three days vomiting. The doctor in charge no longer involved himself with the hands-on experiments and research. Instead, he spent his days chain-smoking up on the surface, or sneaking a quick drag in his office with the blinds down.

Please, if you’d like to follow me, I’m sure you would like to get started. Doctor Bachman led the way down a sloping corridor.

The quicker we finish the faster I get back to some real work.

The subjects are held on the lower levels, so if we have a problem, or a containment issue, we can seal them off from the upper sections.

The Director walked along beside Bachman, with his entourage of nine followers trailing along behind like a tail of a comet.

They walked across the vast white medical research room to a bank of elevators against a stark white wall. Everything was white – sterile and practical like an operating theater.

There was an armed guard to either side of the elevator. They stood ramrod straight and ignored everyone. Bachman knew they normally lazed around, chatting with the female assistants, but today, due to the visitors, they were on their best behavior.

Bachman placed a hand against a palm scanner. He also leaned forward so his left iris could be scanned. The panel blinked green and the doors swished open.

Without sounding rude, Bachman said, do all of you need to be with the Director? He stood waiting for someone to reply. It’s just it’s not really designed for a whole party of people at once. There was more than enough room, but he didn’t like the idea of so many people traipsing around behind him. They didn’t need to be there; they were just superfluous hangers on.

A dark suited guard went to speak, but the Director cut him off. It’s okay Agent Miller. The Director turned back to Doctor Bachman. Just myself and General Gordon will accompany you.

Thank you for your understanding.

The three stepped into the elevator, leaving the group to awkwardly mull around by the closing doors while trying to avoid the gaze of the ramrod straight guards.

There were no buttons on the white walls. Once the door had closed, it started its descent. There was nothing to suggest how far the lift was descending or how many levels they were passing.

I understand you had the president down here yesterday, before he continued on to the Raven Rock Mountain Base? the Director said.

Yes sir. I was honored to give him the tour personally.

The President had nineteen people encircling him like small satellites.

They remained in silence the rest of the descent.

The elevator slowed and stopped. The doors slid open to reveal a long brushed concrete corridor, which had large metal and glass doors at intervals down its length, with strip lighting running down the center of the ceiling. One section was flashing on and off, as if the starter motor wasn’t kicking in properly. Everything reeked of disinfectant and a tangy sweet smell.

Bachman led the way.

This way please gentlemen.

Bachman walked to the first metal door. A glass plate showed a large white room beyond. Once again, Doctor Bachman used a palm scanner. The door clicked. Bachman held it open, so they could enter.

Inside was a chamber forty-foot square. The room was dissected by a thick glass window. Through the glass, they could see the sectioned off part of the room had windows all the way around, like a large fish tank. Behind there was a laboratory with scientists in type II hazmat suits working on various apparatuses. There was a female on what looked like a morgue’s autopsy table being dissected. A large Y incision dissected the young girl’s chest, with a person in protective clothing scooping out her lungs and heart in one block with his rubber-gloved hands.

However, what caught the two guests attention was what was inside the chamber. There were nine people imprisoned in the glass cell. All wore yellow jumpsuits that were numbered with large black stenciling. The only other objects in the room was a prison

Reviews for The Sixth Extinction

[steelyshan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I actually read all eight books in this series in just a few days. I stayed up too late and hid in the bathroom reading like a junkie because I didn't want to stop. This is an apocalyptic zombie/virus novel with a few differences to the typical zombie scenario. At first I was slightly annoyed that the author took the everyday, run-of-the-mill zombie infection and tweaked it. Im not good with change.:) This situation is started with a virulent virus that causes multiple stages ending with a final death of the infected. As I continued to read, I realized it enabled an entirely original time-line and gave the story of the survivors a more interesting spin.There is a handful of main characters, all of which also have a book of their own telling their backstory. We meet Noah, a young loner, is forced to leave his flat and face not just zombies but the savageness of the human race. He meets Red, who is 19, and running from the zombies and a sad, disturbing family life.. Then there is Dr. Lazaro, a hardworking young woman who is ripped from the life she knew to work non-stop on the cure for the virus. My favorite characters were Betty and Lennie. Betty is old spitfire who is traveling with her very large adult mentally handicapped grandson. Eventually the characters find themselves on the way to a military base and hopefully safety.The characters in these stories were all well-written and easily grabbed your heart, made you root for them. This was very fast-paced and made it difficult to put down. There was really never a dull moment. The action and backdrop of the story is always described enough to paint a good image in your head and provide perfect flow. I also thoroughly enjoyed the backstories and normally I take a pass on add-ons and extra stories released after the main novel is done, They were done so well and all their stories were intriguing and sometimes heartbreaking. I am very impressed with this authors writing and I will definitely read more of his work.