The Beginning of the End (When the World Ended and We Were Invaded: Season 3, Episode #1): When the World Ended and We Were Invaded: Season 3, #1

By Rebecca A. Rogers

The Walking Dead meets Falling Skies in this fast-paced, new adult episodic series.

Ella, Shay, and Lin are on a mission to find Ella's mom, but things don't quite go according to plan. Amara's nerves are frayed as she deals with Sarge's stubbornness regarding physical therapy. Injured, Matt makes his way back from the crashed Kyborg ship in downtown Atlanta.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rebecca A. Rogers
• Release date: Aug 1, 2017
• ISBN: 9798201180867

Rebecca A. Rogers

Rebecca Rogers is currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing and English at Southern New Hampshire University. Her first novel, Silver Moon, was published in 2011. Since then, Rebecca has published seven more novels, two novellas, two short story and poetry collections, as well as several works of serialized fiction. When she’s not writing about other worlds, she’s daydreaming about traveling our own.

Book preview

Season 3 Episodes:

Episode 1 – The Beginning of the End

Episode 2 – A Shot in the Dark

Episode 3 – Aftermath

Episode 4 – We’re Not Finished

Episode 5 – This is War

Episode 6 – Infestation

Episode 7 – It’s a Trap

Episode 8 – The End of the Beginning

Season 3, Episode #1

The Beginning of the End

ELLA

Sssh! Quiet! Ella warned the others. "Do you want one of them to hear us?"

Sorry, Lin apologized.

He was the last to duck through the small opening in the chain-link fence—small enough that their group could fit through, but not large enough that a zom could see it and figure out how to slip inside. At least, that’s what Ella hoped wouldn’t happen. The more zoms she came across, the more intelligent they became.

Two days ago, she and a few others were on a scouting mission for possible Kyborg hideouts when they encountered a horde of undead. They weren’t just drooling, brainless, decaying corpses—they were stalking Ella and the rest of her group. They had climbed trees, hid behind boulders and shrubbery, and dodged hits in hand-to-hand combat. It was like a nightmare had become reality, not that they weren’t already living in some sort of nightmarish hell that she’d be more than happy to wake from at any moment.

But this was different. Slow, stupid zombies were easy targets. Intelligent zombies weren’t.

They were evolving. And with evolution of these so-called mindless creatures came bad things—worse than before. All of the fighting became much more difficult. Escaping them became more difficult. And killing them? Yeah, that was difficult, too.

Ella, Shay, and Lin sprinted for the nearby trees, which lined the outskirts of Chastain Park. Past them, a clearing, then onward to businesses and subdivisions. Ella was on a mission of her own. Neither Shay nor Lin had been invited, but when they realized she was gathering supplies, they put two and two together. She attempted to escape without them knowing, but they were already ready and waiting for her, jumping out at the last second from behind a tent. She’d nearly screamed, but stifled her reaction, so the guards—and the rest of camp—wouldn’t hear her. And even though she tried to convince them this was her personal mission and they should stay behind in case she was caught, Shay and Lin refused. Not wanting to stick around base camp longer than necessary, Ella refused to argue with them. So, there they were, escaping through a hole in the fence, which, surprisingly, hadn’t been found by anyone else at camp, including the guards. Maybe they were just too busy at their posts, keeping their eyes on the surrounding landscape, to notice.

Ella didn’t care either way; she was just glad to have the option of leaving camp to find her mother. In the aftermath of the battle for Atlanta, and seeing how close Amara came to losing her father, Ella’s quest to locate her mom—dead or alive—had been reignited.

How far is your old house from here? Shay asked.

"You mean, my current house? Ella responded. It never stopped being home just because I left for college."

Someone’s snippy, Shay retorted.

Heart plummeting into her stomach, Ella knew Shay was right. Shay had been by her side since the beginning of this apocalypse. There were plenty of opportunities for her to turn away and never come back, but she never did. And now that Shay’s brother, Matt, was presumed dead aboard the crashed Kyborg mother ship jutting out of downtown Atlanta, Shay had no family. Ella was the