After
The Ending
The Ending Series
Book One
Lindsey Pogue and
Lindsey Fairleigh
Genre: Science Fiction
Romance
“Emotionally-charged
Science Fiction”
Publisher: L2 Books
ISBN:
978-0615719740
ASIN: B00BJDUBLU
Number of pages: 400
Word Count: 154,000
Cover Artist: Lindsey
Pogue/Lindsey Fairleigh
Book Description:
The Virus spread. Billions
died. The Ending began. We may have survived the apocalypse, but the
Virus changed us.
When people started
getting sick, “they” thought it was just the flu. My roommate, my
boyfriend, my family…they’re all gone now. I got sick too. I
should have died with them—with the rest of the world—but I
didn’t. I thought witnessing the human population almost disappear
off the face of the earth was the craziest thing I’d ever
experience. I was so wrong. My name is Dani O’Connor, I’m
twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.
The Virus changed
everything. The world I knew is gone, and life is backwards. We’ve
all had to start over. I’ve been stripped of my home, my dreams…all
that is me. I’m someone else now—broken and changed. Other
survivors’ memories and emotions haunt me. They invade my mind
until I can no longer separate them from my own. I won’t let them
consume me. I can’t. My name is Zoe Cartwright, I’m
twenty-six-years-old, and I survived The Ending.
We’ve been inseparable
for most of our lives, and now our friendship is all we have left.
The aftermath of the Virus has stranded us on opposite sides of the
United States. Trusting strangers, making sacrifices, killing—we’ll
do anything to reach one another. Fear and pain may be unavoidable,
but we’re strong…we’re survivors. But to continue surviving in
this unfamil-iar world plagued by Crazies and strange new abilities,
we have to adapt. We have to evolve.
And more than anything, we
have to find each other.
EXCERPT
ONE (ZOE)
Looking around apprehensively, I made my way toward the convenience store in hopes of finding a bathroom. The vacant world around me was eerily silent. All I could hear was the creaking of a giant wooden billboard being assaulted by the wind.
How long has it been since anyone was here? Through the dark windows I saw a bathroom sign that looked promising, but I couldn’t bring myself to enter. I wonder if it’s safe…
As I stood outside of the store, I noticed a newspaper box still filled with papers. I leaned closer. The headline read, BILLIONS DEAD, and the paper was dated December 9, right before everything had started to shut down. I inserted a quarter and snatched out a paper. Scanning its contents, my mouth grew dry and my body stiffened.
…the H1N1/12 pandemic…
…looting and riotous outbreaks everywhere…
…end of civilization as we know it…
…survivors losing their minds…
…governments can’t control…
…the Apocalypse…
The newspaper slipped from between my fingers. Frozen in place, I was suffocated by the reality of our situation.
This isn’t going away.
The world ended.
Thinking of the strange feelings I’d been experiencing, I once again questioned my own sanity. My thoughts were too loud to silence. My heart thudded, and I couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat. Looking out into the abandoned world around me, I realized how alone we really were.
I bent down to reclaim the paper and turned on my heels to head back toward the truck, completely awestruck as the words I’d read replayed in my mind. Each was a reminder that the only world I’d ever known had ended.
EXCERPT TWO (DANI)
Eventually, sporting fresh pajamas and damp hair, I was again settled in the living room but on an unfamiliar couch.
“This isn’t my couch,” I said to no one in particular. I watched Jack as he stared forlornly at the clean kitchen floor. Someone had swept up the mountain of kibble and locked it away.
“Yes, well, yours was…unsuitable. We swapped it with one from an apartment down the hall. It’s not like they’ll be needing it anymore,” Chris explained, setting a glass of orange juice and a generous plate of breakfasty goodness on the coffee table in front of me.
I stared at the food but didn’t touch it, even though my stomach grumbled in need. Cam usually made me breakfast. “What d’you mean? Why won’t they need it?”
Chris halted her efforts to arrange a fuzzy blanket around my legs and looked at me with sharp, sky-blue eyes. Her expression melted into sympathy before she spoke. “Because they’re dead, hon. Most people are. I thought you knew.”
“I…,” I tried to speak, but my throat caught after the first sound. I shook my head.
Satisfied that I was covered and warm, Chris moved to the other side of the coffee table to sit in a large recliner—another item from the furniture shopping spree in my neighbor’s apartment.
“It was that damn Virus…we all had it…weeks ago,” Chris said, gesturing around the room even though it was empty of anyone but us. “Several days back, everyone in the world seemed to be infected. Now everyone’s pretty much dead. The rest are like you and me—Survivors. But as far as we can tell, we’re in the extreme minority.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, confusion creasing my brow. “This is impossible.”
“Not impossible. Just improbable…and really, really awful.”
Looking around apprehensively, I made my way toward the convenience store in hopes of finding a bathroom. The vacant world around me was eerily silent. All I could hear was the creaking of a giant wooden billboard being assaulted by the wind.
How long has it been since anyone was here? Through the dark windows I saw a bathroom sign that looked promising, but I couldn’t bring myself to enter. I wonder if it’s safe…
As I stood outside of the store, I noticed a newspaper box still filled with papers. I leaned closer. The headline read, BILLIONS DEAD, and the paper was dated December 9, right before everything had started to shut down. I inserted a quarter and snatched out a paper. Scanning its contents, my mouth grew dry and my body stiffened.
…the H1N1/12 pandemic…
…looting and riotous outbreaks everywhere…
…end of civilization as we know it…
…survivors losing their minds…
…governments can’t control…
…the Apocalypse…
The newspaper slipped from between my fingers. Frozen in place, I was suffocated by the reality of our situation.
This isn’t going away.
The world ended.
Thinking of the strange feelings I’d been experiencing, I once again questioned my own sanity. My thoughts were too loud to silence. My heart thudded, and I couldn’t swallow the lump in my throat. Looking out into the abandoned world around me, I realized how alone we really were.
I bent down to reclaim the paper and turned on my heels to head back toward the truck, completely awestruck as the words I’d read replayed in my mind. Each was a reminder that the only world I’d ever known had ended.
EXCERPT TWO (DANI)
Eventually, sporting fresh pajamas and damp hair, I was again settled in the living room but on an unfamiliar couch.
“This isn’t my couch,” I said to no one in particular. I watched Jack as he stared forlornly at the clean kitchen floor. Someone had swept up the mountain of kibble and locked it away.
“Yes, well, yours was…unsuitable. We swapped it with one from an apartment down the hall. It’s not like they’ll be needing it anymore,” Chris explained, setting a glass of orange juice and a generous plate of breakfasty goodness on the coffee table in front of me.
I stared at the food but didn’t touch it, even though my stomach grumbled in need. Cam usually made me breakfast. “What d’you mean? Why won’t they need it?”
Chris halted her efforts to arrange a fuzzy blanket around my legs and looked at me with sharp, sky-blue eyes. Her expression melted into sympathy before she spoke. “Because they’re dead, hon. Most people are. I thought you knew.”
“I…,” I tried to speak, but my throat caught after the first sound. I shook my head.
Satisfied that I was covered and warm, Chris moved to the other side of the coffee table to sit in a large recliner—another item from the furniture shopping spree in my neighbor’s apartment.
“It was that damn Virus…we all had it…weeks ago,” Chris said, gesturing around the room even though it was empty of anyone but us. “Several days back, everyone in the world seemed to be infected. Now everyone’s pretty much dead. The rest are like you and me—Survivors. But as far as we can tell, we’re in the extreme minority.”
“I don’t understand,” I said, confusion creasing my brow. “This is impossible.”
“Not impossible. Just improbable…and really, really awful.”
Lindsey Fairleigh lives
her life with one foot in a book—as long as that book transports
her to a magical world or bends the rules of science. Her novels,
from post-apocalyptic to time travel and historical fantasy, always
offer up a hearty dose of unreality, along with plenty of adventure
and romance. When she’s not working on her next novel, Lindsey
spends her time reading and trying out new recipes in the kitchen.
She lives in the Napa Valley with her loving husband and confused
cats. You can visit Lindsey’s blog at
www.lindseyfairleigh.blogspot.com
Lindsey Pogue has always
been a little creative. As a child she established a bug hospital on
her elementary school soccer field, compiled books of collages as a
teenager, and as an adult, expresses herself through writing. Her
novels are inspired by her observations of the world around
her—whether she’s traveling, people watching, or hiking. When not
plotting her next storyline or dreaming up new, brooding characters,
Lindsey’s wrapped in blankets watching her favorite action flicks
or going on road trips with her own leading man. You can visit
Lindsey’s website at www.lindseypogue.com
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www.lindseypogue.com
Lindsey Fairleigh:
www.lindseyfairleigh.com
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