Infected Freaks Volume One: Family First

By Jason Borrego

A FATHER CAN CLING TO HIS MORALS AND DIE, OR DO EVERYTHING IT TAKES TO SURVIVE!
INFECTED FREAKS VOLUME ONE: FAMILY FIRST

Armageddon began the day Red Dead entered the solar system. Fear leads to blame, blame leads to choosing sides--and both sides have bombs. Civil War in America turned into a worldwide conflict, leaving the planet in a new dark age.

Nothing has stirred about in the ravaged mountains for two years. Abraham's heart is broken save the fading hope of bringing his lost children home. He sets out without a destination searching for signs of life--what he finds is something infected.

Living husks riddled in fungus and straight out of a nightmare threaten the region. No one knows if the infected freaks are some sort of zombie created in a lab or something alien related to the approaching red planet.

Where do you go when everything in the world is destroyed?
Who do you trust when each survivor is a wolf in sheepskin?
And how do you stop something you know so little about?

For Abraham Heinz, understanding that help isn't on the way is the first step in the long journey to finding peace in a world, so cold. Survival is going to take him beyond moral limits. Hell on Earth is here in Jason Borrego's survival horror adventure--INFECTED FREAKS.

VOLUME 1: FAMILY FIRST
Abraham's nightmare has just begun...

The alien fungus appeared right after the cryptic planet Red Dead stained the sky much like a distant moon. The cordyceps fungi has transformed much of humanity into mindless puppets--something straight out of a nightmare. Is the infection alien or something created in a lab? One thing is certain--the closer Red Dead draws to Earth--the more powerful the infected freaks grow. As the emotion thriller builds, Abraham is transformed into someone he tried to forget. He wages war on anything living and dead if it means protecting his family. He will stop at nothing to keep his loved ones safe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jason Borrego
• Release date: Nov 29, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311202741

Jason Borrego

Jason Borrego is author based in Denver, Colorado. He is leading the charge against hard-hitting political issues such as who would win in a fight—a pirate or a ninja. Please let him know on Facebook or Twitter.In addition, in these troubling times Jason aims to expose major cover ups such as dragons behind every major war, zombies boosting the coffee industry and the unicorns unionizing movement plaguing the nation.How is a lowly author supposed to focus? As an exhausted war veteran, a college grad with endless debt, a parent without a clue, and future knight of the round table—most will find his writing chronicles his own journeys and struggles in life. That should scare you!Are you still there?Great, you must be crazy too!Now we can share stories of fishing with Gollum in Mordor. Please join me on Facebook, Twitter, and visit my Website for all things bold, even though I feel italic.www.jasonborrego.comwww.jasonborrego.com/contests (FOR FREE STUFF)www.facebook.com/jasonborrego123https://twitter.com/JasonBorrego123www.youtube.com/user/jasonborrego123

Book preview

Jason Borrego

INFECTED FREAKS

VOLUME 1

FAMILY FIRST

Copyright

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Infected Freaks Volume One: Family First

Copyright © 2014 Jason Borrego

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means –electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or another—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Published by Broken Light Studios at Smashwords

First Edition: August 2014

http://www.jasonborrego.com/

Table of Contents

Copy Right

Author’s Note

Prologue

I

II

III

IV

V

VI

VII

VOLUME 2: THE ECHO OF DECAY

CORDYCEPS FUNGUS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

OTHER BOOKS BY JASON BORREGO

CONTESTS

Authors Note

INFECTED FREAKS isn’t your typical zombie apocalypse. The survival horror series brings to life the struggle of Abraham Heinz, his family, and the torment of a world facing extinction. The series, fused with emotion, will be delivered in a volume of novella-sized episodes that will make up a much larger tale of tragedy. Think of it as a favorite TV show or comic that will continue to build upon each breathtaking volume.

Dare to enter into the promise of heart-wrenching decisions? Make sure to leave the light on first.

Prologue

Abraham Heinz sipped his whiskey and settled into the stiff wooden chair in his two-story barn. The salvaged police radio was ready to broadcast in the studio he built on the second floor. He took a long look at the rusty microphone he recovered and exhaled. This was his last chance to reach his two missing children in the ruins of America. Abraham, a devoted father of five, had three of his grown children with him on the mountain farm. His two missing children, a son and daughter, fled to different sides of America’s second Civil War. In his heart, he knew the broadcast was limited, but he was determined to try anyway. Abraham would never rest until he discovered the fate of both Robb and Alison. He started his broadcast the same way he did every one of them, with a description of how things got to where they were today. He always tried to give information to any who may be listening in for the first time.

It’s been three years since the planetary object known as Red Dead first appeared in the sky. What’s left of my household thinks that’s the least of our worries, but I don’t think it was a coincidence the first shots of combat happened hours later. It wasn’t long after the United States of America erupted in a merciless Civil War. Again, the greatest nation in the world was alienated by an extended version of the Mason Dixon Line. The rest of the world followed suit, picking sides for reasons only God knows. That’s when I packed up my family in Denver and fled to the Rocky Mountains. I had to get out of the city. The good state of Colorado banded together with Kansas and Utah, shaping America’s only neutral zone. Working together, the three states were safe from the effects of the Civil War.

Abraham hated his digital voice; it sounded arrogant and gaudy. His sun-weathered skin itched from a dozen hay pricks and the combined smell of human and animal feces assaulted his broad, wrinkled nose. "We took over a small farm a few clicks from the Heart of Colorado. It took some getting used to, living in the mountains away from all the glamor of the Mile High City. But we had everything we needed, and most important, my family was safe. Then, life got real. Some say the Northern Republic was the first to drop a nuclear bomb. Still, others suggested the dirty rumor was all a setup organized by the Southern Liberty. All I know is that one year into the dreadful war every nation launched whatever it had. According to the news, the hardest hit regions were overseas, but that didn’t mean America escaped unscathed.

The East Coast of America was reported to be a radioactive wasteland. A few days later, a terrible silence blanketed the airwaves. Televisions were reduced to static. Odd enough, the antenna radio stations lasted for a few more days. The self-proclaimed experts explained that the sheer force of the countless bombs provoked perpetual tremors throughout the tectonic plates. Mother Nature responded to our stupidity with a fury that devastated more or less every inch of dirt. The last bit of news we heard was that California had broken and slipped off into the salty sea. I guess, in the end, all those conspiracy shows got it right.

Abraham knew handheld radios existed out there somewhere. What he didn’t understand was why nobody responded. It was always a one-way address. "It took almost six months before we came across our first set of survivors after the initial bombing. For the longest time, I thought the mountain folk might have been all that was left. Then, rumors of the sickos, murderers, and the ruthless assaulted our ears. In the southern part of the state, the wicked banded together and plundered the weak and the innocent. A few of them drifted my direction. I killed to protect my family, and I would do it again. By the grace of God, we managed to endure. Only a few survivors ever managed to find my farm. Most of them stayed true to the far-reaching highways leading toward Denver and promise of its bright lights.

I didn’t trust anyone. My wife made me give a few of the travelers a night’s stay in my barn. One of them I was forced to murder. The other thanked us and continued on toward the Mile High City. The Stiles, a nice bunch of folk, they asked me and my family to tag along and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think about it. Yet, my wife was quick to remind me that no one ever came back from that direction. We spent many nights watching the vacant roads. Her words gave me an eerie feeling, so I declined. I figured my chances were better in the sticks. Don’t know if they ever made it, and right now, I don’t care.

His words sounded like a monster with terrible fangs, terrifying anyone out there listening. He took another deep gulp and wiped the wetness from his cracked lips. His back was soaked with sweat, his nerves on end. Yet Abraham was determined to finish his routine broadcast.

"My brother used to say we needed struggles to polish our hearts. I still think that’s a crock of bologna. One year into this senseless war, right before the first bomb fell, my sweet son Robb ran away with some foolish scientists. He decided to fight for the South. I told him we didn’t have a stake in this accursed conflict, but he went anyway. It broke my heart and damn near killed my wife. A few days later, my youngest daughter, Alison, enlisted in the Northern Republic Army. Her new husband was a high-ranking officer. That was the real reason she left.

Still, that night I suffered my first heart attack. Looking back, death would have been much kinder. But I’m sure you’ve had troubles too. When it rains it pours. It seems the end of the world was simply the beginning of my nightmare. Partner, if you’re out there in the wilderness, listening to me ramble on this old police radio, then you already know about the infected freaks. That’s what my family calls them. They aren’t senseless like those zombies you used to see in the movies. These things are right out of a nightmare.

Abraham sighed.