The Days Alive - Time of Doors Season 1 Episode 3 (Book 3): Post Apocalypse EMP Survival - Dark Scifi Horror (Time of Doors Serial EMP Dark Fantasy Apocalyptic Book Series) Read online

  Title

  The Days Alive

  The “Time of Doors” Series

  EDDIE PATIN

  Season 1 – Episode 3

  (Book 3)

  Copyright

  “The Days Alive – The Time of Doors Series – Season 1, Episode 3 (Book 3)”

  Copyright © 2017, Lost Woods Publishing LLC

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  Published in the United States of America by Lost Woods Publishing LLC, 2017

  Table of Contents

  Title

  Copyright

  Table of Contents

  Book Introduction by Eddie Patin

  1 - Arthur Kline

  2 - Chad Murray

  3 - Megan McKinney

  4 - Kayleen Lugo

  5 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  6 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  7 - Chad Murray

  8 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  9 - Megan McKinney

  10 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  11 - Arthur Kline

  12 - Kayleen Lugo

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  A Message from the Publisher

  Book Introduction by Eddie Patin

  "Fresh and Invigorating. The end of the world like you've never seen it before!"

  "Horrific Post-Apocalyptic science fiction at its best!"

  After the merging of multiple worlds with our own, our heroes struggle to stay ALIVE...

  It's only been a day or two for six Americans and their families since Portal Zero unleashed an unknown amount of dimensional tears and their accompanying EMP blasts all over Earth, and life as they knew it is now totally upside-down!

  As each of our heroes and their loved ones deal with their own versions of the chaos, desperate to survive the horrors emerging from other planes of existence, they must dig deep down and find their individual strengths to stay alive! It's hard enough to suffer the collapse of society in the wake of the massive electromagnetic pulse that killed America's power grids with each new opening gateway, but will the weird and terrifying beings from these gruesome other places may be too much to face?

  "The Days Alive" is Episode THREE of Season ONE of the "Time of Doors" (Book 3)

  What is the “Time of Doors”?

  Sometimes, things go horribly wrong.

  In the arena of worldwide politics and major scientific research, projects can be so big and all-encompassing that the little things can be missed.

  And when certain details are not anticipated—like the burst of a massive Electromagnetic pulse being an unforeseen side effect of the activation of an inter-dimensional portal—there may be unintended consequences.

  Especially when that EMP blast leaves the scientists disabled, and their new open gateway creates an out-of-control chain reaction of other portals to random dimensions and far-off places throughout the universe popping up all over Earth—each accompanied by their own EMP bursts as well…

  A whole world can change because of the little things.

  Worlds can collide…

  Entire pieces of a world can be lost into the dark, unknown spaces in between…

  These are the stories of the everyday Americans trying to survive on an Earth devastated by the total collapse of electronics and man-made power, and ravaged by the otherworldly dangers that emerged from the Time of Doors…

  The Characters:

  Arthur Kline is a family man and heavy equipment operator living in Colorado Springs, CO, desperate to find his missing wife and young sons. When the EMP hits his city, Arthur struggles to keep his wits about him as it soon becomes evident that there are much more dangerous things to worry about than the total collapse of society! Sometimes, the hungry and unrelenting darkness keeps coming, and it’s faster during the night...

  Officer Harvey Swanson is a disgraced LVMPD beat cop who’s lost everything he cared about while living in Las Vegas, NV. A short stint as a vigilante killer didn’t work out so well for Harvey, and now the Metro Stalker is trapped in the basement of a police precinct when the whole world turns upside down. The streets of Vegas are hardly recognizable anymore, and Harvey and his reluctant brothers in blue are only focused on one thing—survival.

  Chad Murray is the young, naive cameraman present at Portal Zero in Geneva, Switzerland, during the quiet initial experiment of the UEA’s newest technology that will usher mankind into an era of space travel—Dimension Drive. When everything goes wrong, he and a UEA soldier that survived soon find themselves traveling on foot through Manhattan, New York, trying to stay one step ahead of interdimensional monsters and a city that’s tearing itself apart!

  Kayleen Lugo is an art major at Portland State University, and only cares about veganism, the fight for social justice and political change, and a football player named Preston. When the power goes out, and Portland seems to be overrun with a dread atmosphere of slime and mist, Kayleen’s unexpected drive to survive takes her onto an adventure that will leave her much closer to the bizarre, eldritch powers invading her town than she ever wanted to be...

  Megan McKinney is a martial artist and physical therapist who long ago conquered her weight problem and took control of her life. On vacation (again) in Zion National Park, UT, Megan and her boyfriend are present when a strange, golden monolith appears in place of the park’s famous “Centennial Cottonwood Tree”, and nearly all electronics throughout the region are destroyed! As things turn weird and hairy in the park, Megan turns her focus to one thing that seems more and more out of reach—escape.

  Tommy and Jody Shelton, the children. Twelve-year-old Tommy and his little sister do their best to survive and stay together in Flagstaff, AZ, when tragedy befalls their family in a small, mountain town overrun with wildfires and terrifying, alien monsters! Soon, all the kids have are each other, but will it be enough?

  April the 27th, 2017

  Episode 3 is here! If you’re still with me, then you’re in for a ride as things start getting crazier and the world starts going to hell! Please, if you don’t mind, don’t forget to review, and let me know what you think there. How do you like the characters and their individual stories? Do you want to see more of this series?

  Welcome, readers, to another dark and adventurous tale. Thank you for taking the time to look at my book!

  As my author career develops, I’ll be working hard to make great stuff that will entertain you—stories I hope you’ll love and remember. So, if you do like this book, please join my mailing list to get email updates whenever I publish something new. I also run contests and free drawings from time to time, and frequently come up with ideas for new giveaways.

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  Now … onto the good stuff…

  This is Book 3 in a Series!

  If you’re new to this series, you’ll want to read the previous books before you read this one, or the story won’t make sense!

  CLICK HERE to Find Book 1 – Portal Zero (FREE)

  CLICK HERE to Find Book 2 – Worlds Merge

  1 - Arthur Kline

  Colorado Springs, CO

  The first drops of a new rain hit Arthur in the face.

  Icy drops.

  Even in the summer, the rain in Colorado Springs was always cold. There were times in his life here and there where he traveled to warmer places—Las Vegas, South Texas; once, he visited the old ruins on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico on a college trip—but he never felt the warm rain here, even in the summer when it was 90-something degrees.

  That might be a good thing. The cold rain was unpleasant in the chillier months, but refreshing when it was hot out.

  Right now, the icy drops of water splattering onto his face were a good thing. The rain helped to wake Arthur up and keep him alert as he marched toward the three zombies across the street with his Mossberg 500 pump-action shotgun shouldered and pointing mostly at the ground.

  The old lady neighbor’s caretaker was screaming for help as Arthur strode across the quiet circle street. The pudgy, middle-aged man pushed back against the monster, its eyes glowing a cold blue as it fought hard to take a bite out of him...

  Two more of the creatures were shambling across the lawn. In another moment, they’d be on him, too...

  Arthur raised the shotgun, now thirty yards or so away, at the second zombie—the one that would make it next into the fight. The creature clawing at the caretaker was still too close for Arthur to help at the moment.

  He put the front bead sight over the monster’s head, made sure the stock was tight into the gap between his chest and shoulder, and fired!

  The boom of the weapon sent a shudder through the trees and clapped hard against Arthur’s ears, but it didn’t hurt as badly as he thought it would.

  An instant after the shotgun went off, the buckshot connected with the zombie, punching holes through its face and neck, sending a puff of cotton and polyester debris away from its chest and shoulder clothing, followed by the sporadic spray of black blood from multiple wounds.

  Arthur cycled the pump, and continued walking toward the fight.

  The zombie staggered, almost fell, but regained its balance and turned to face Arthur. The third zombie behind it did the same. Fierce blue pinpricks of light bore into him like lasers in front of the black holes of the creatures’ melted-out eye sockets as they glared at him...

  Good, Arthur thought. Come at me instead.

  Suddenly, the caretaker’s screams took on a ragged, higher pitch, and Arthur’s eyes left his sight picture for a moment to glance over at the guy. The first zombie was finally overpowering the large, mustached man, and its teeth were sunken into his forearm! The caretaker howled in fear, his eyes wide and white, his pale blue polo shirt splashed with a small amount of red blood...

  Shit.

  Arthur focused back on the other two zombies, who were now shambling toward him. He continued to close the distance, and when he was about ten yards away, give or take, he put the bead on the second zombie’s head again and fired.

  The shotgun boomed once again, pushing solidly back into his shoulder, and a half-second later, the second zombie’s head exploded!

  Arthur pumped the slide, and moved the little brass bead over to the third creature. The headless zombie collapsed to the sidewalk like a sack of dirty water balloons.

  He aimed the creature’s face. It opened its mouth in a hiss as the blue fire lights burned at him from its eye sockets. The creature was a female, and was dressed in a green and khaki grocery uniform. Up until Arthur almost fired, he hadn’t even noticed—the monster’s clothing was so tattered and bloody and coated in mud and oil from whatever places it had been dragging itself through—this zombie-thing was previously a woman from nearby!

  The neighborhood market, he thought, then fired.

  At less than ten yards, with his bead on target, it was hard for Arthur to miss, but he still managed to hit the creature’s head with just half of his buckshot pattern, blowing chunks of the zombie’s skull, face, and a huge puff of bits of hair into the air behind it.

  The grocery zombie’s arms fell to its sides, it swayed in place for a moment with the left half of its head gone, took a step, then crashed down into the street onto what was left of its face...

  “Help!” the man cried nearby.

  Arthur pumped the slide and looked back to the caretaker’s fight with the first zombie.

  The two of them were on the ground now, struggling in the wet grass...

  Arthur broke into a run.

  “Help me!!” The caretaker’s face was red and stretched into an expression of terror, and he was using all of his strength to hold the creature away from him. The zombie was clawing and pulling, trying to push its rotten mouth through the man’s desperate attempts to fend it off. The caretaker’s wound was red and sloppy, bleeding freely. The red all over his shirt wasn’t a small amount of blood anymore...

  What could he do??

  Arthur approached within a few feet, and raised the muzzle of his shotgun, putting the bead over the monster that writhed and struggled on top of the man.

  He couldn’t just shoot it—not like this...

  And if Arthur tried to kick it off of him or something, he might slip and be attacked as well...

  The man screamed again, loud and hoarse, as the creature bit his arm once more. The zombie shook its head like a vicious dog shaking a rabbit, and pulled skin off of the caretaker’s arm in its jagged teeth...

  “Push him up!!” Arthur shouted. “Push him up!!”

  Screaming and crying, red blood pulsing from his arm, the man put his hands in the middle of the zombie’s chest and strained to get the creature higher.

  Arthur aimed with the shotgun, but still couldn’t see a way to shoot the thing without the buckshot continuing into the man’s legs. He crouched low and aimed again—still no good...

  The creature hissed, opening its jaws wide—far wider than a normal human’s mouth could open. Its melted eye-sockets were the deepest black, as if stained by ink, and the tiny, blue fires inside that masqueraded as pupils darted up to Arthur...

  Taking the shotgun down from his shoulder, Arthur closed the distance in an instant, and bashed the thing in the head with the buttstock of his gun.

  He felt something crunch under the stock, and the creature let out a gurgling sound of protest. Arthur raised the gun and bashed it again!

  “Get him off!” he yelled at the man on the ground. “Throw him off!”

  The caretaker was slick with his own blood, his eyes were wide, and his mouth was pressed tightly shut in determination. For a moment, Arthur thought that the man was in such shock and fear that he didn’t understand him. But then, the man nodded, and rolled to the side, pushing the creature’s chest away from him as he did.

  For an instant, the zombie was stunned enough to fall off of the caretaker, into the grass at Arthur’s feet. The creature immediately reacted, spinning to get its arms and feet under it, preparing to leap back up...

  But an instant was all Arthur needed...

  He lowered the barrel of the shotgun, put the stock back into his shoulder, and brought the bead up to the monster’s head.

  Boom!

  The zombie’s skull imploded under a point-blank shot that punched a huge hole through its cranium and continued into its body underneath, sending a large splash of chunky, dark blood splattering across the lawn under it.

  The creature collapsed onto its belly.

  The sound of the rain was all that was left...

  After a few moments, Arthur racked the slide, feeding another round into the chamber, and he heard the caret
aker gasp nearby. The man started crying and blubbering, and Arthur realized that he was holding his breath.

  Arthur let out a long sigh, and backed away from the body, lowering the gun.

  “Oh my god!!” the man said. “Oh god, it hurts!”

  Arthur looked over, and saw the man climbing to his feet, his good hand clamped down over the newest wound on his arm. He looked at the blood seeping out from between the caretaker’s fat fingers.

  “Do you need help with that?” Arthur asked.

  How many shots did he take at the creatures? Four? Five?

  Arthur looked down the street. Were there any more monsters coming?

  The rain soaked his hair and dripped down his beard. He could hear the cold water sizzling on the hot barrel of the shotgun. The gun’s front end steamed in the cool air.

  Suddenly, the door to the old lady’s house opened, and his neighbor stood inside, her face white, her features a mask of terror. Two small children clutched at her legs.

  “Randy, are you okay?” she exclaimed. “Oh Lord—you’re hurt!!”

  The man’s face transformed, and Arthur could tell that he was struggling to hide his pain. He turned back and talked to her over his shoulder.

  “It’s okay, Delores. It’s not that bad—I can patch it up inside. I’ll be okay,” he said. He looked over at Arthur. “I’ll be okay, right??”

  Would he?

  He was just bitten by a zombie. Or something that was like a zombie...

  Twice.

  Arthur shrugged.

  “You’re losing a lot of blood, man,” he said. “Are you sure you don’t need help?”

  “I’m a nurse,” the man said. “I can stop the bleeding and clean the wound.” He paused to grimace, then looked back up. “Thanks for saving me.”

  “Grandma,” one of the kids said from the doorway. “Mr. Randy is going to turn into a zombie!”

  The old lady looked extremely offended by that, and pushed the child deeper into the house. She scoffed.