Survival Short Stories

They thought the superflu that was attacking the nation was bad until they realized the state-mandated vaccine was worse! Joshua Miller is not what you would call "a nice guy." Having served fifteen years of a life sentence for multiple homicides during a bank robbery "gone wrong", he finds his freedom following a state-mandated vaccine which is supposed to eradicate the new superflu is flawed and ends up turning people into blood-hungry beasts. During his escape from the prison, he promises a friend that he will find their daughter and keep her safe. Worrying about the creatures as well as...

How many times can a boy lose his home? When Jacques is transferred to the Buckners Orphans' Home in 1916 at the age of six, he hopes that he's finally found a place to belong. Unfortunately, he couldn't be more wrong. Jacques' only choice is to run away to Dallas and live on the streets. He has no future, no guarantee he will even survive. Then he stumbles on a once-in-a-lifetime chance to change everything—if he dares to take it. Origin/Prequel novelette for Black Jade - A Daiyu Wu Mystery. Stand-alone fiction.

In this first of three fast-paced, short stories, a mysterious woman gives Lancelot a message written in code which he must deliver to the intelligence agency. Adept at solving puzzles, Lancelot decodes it. Mr. Biggs, Head of Security, is to meet an agent at a safehouse. But is this a trap? Lancelot follows Mr. Biggs to the safehouse where they must overcome the threat of foreign agents. The Boy on the Bench sets the stage for this four-book series wherein Lancelot and Mr. Biggs fight the enemy at home and abroad.

Wars have a way of dragging on, and sometimes you need a safe harbor. A Sanctuary, if you will. Having reclaimed the stolen mech, Firefly, Matthew is now concerned with saving Marie. After all, she saved him. He's bound by honor to do the same in return. With the twins Alois and Louise at his side, Matthew reasons that the odds are stacked in his favor. Problem is, they aren't. Join Matthew as he fights to save Allegra! Sanctuary is the sixth book in the short story military sci-fi series The Battle for Allegra. Dive into this thrilling story that is filled with all sorts of sci-fi warfare....

In this audiobook, you will find yourself set down in a mysterious redbrick townhouse in rural Illinois (“A House on the Plains”), working things out with a baby-kidnapping couple in California (“Baby Wilson”), living on a religious-cult commune in Kansas (“Walter John Harmon”), and sharing the heartrending cross-country journey of a young woman navigating her way through three bad marriages to a kind of bruised but resolute independence (“Jolene: A Life”).

Before he became an archmage to topple an empire, before he met the legendary Eradicator Xal, Saghir was born a free ratkin, living on the streets of Gateway, a perilous desert city at the edge of the Blasted Lands. Each month, the free laborers must pay their tithe in coin, or blood. Every ratkin in Saghir's tribe searches for something of value, lest their whole people be enslaved. Ruthless Corax, carnivorous scarabs, and worse infest the city. There are countless ways for a rat to die, and all it takes is one mistake. There are no second chances.

For the animals and plants of the Arizona desert, every day is about staying alive. But it’s all the other stuff—desire, fidelity, hope, envy, grief, betrayal—that bridges the gap between science and fiction, and highlights the interconnectedness of the human and natural worlds. A wealthy Gila monster suffers from halitosis. A young peccary chooses a side in war. A rattlesnake upends the historic enmity between serpent and man. A subterranean termite princess comes home. These and dozens more characters run, hop, slither, and fly through captivating storylines.

What if the president of the United States was the leader of a murderous motorcycle gang? Dive into a world where treasure hunts become deadly, houses are set aflame, and motorcycle gangs are connected to a Civil War-era homicidal leader. After a mysterious treasure hunt at the O’Neill’s ancestral home in Sterling, Illinois goes horribly wrong, Jim O’Neill takes his two children, Adrianna and Jay, on a getaway to Chicago. Seemingly leaving both the treasure hunt and the Quant motorcycle gang behind, the O’Neills embark on a quiet family vacation in the windy city. As Jim’s ...

When a treasure hunt turns deadly, will solving the clues be enough? Enter a world where a family’s dark past is weaved with its unassuming present. From the small city of Sterling to the massive city of Chicago, the O’Neill’s family vacation has more in store than they could ever imagine. Following the loss of his wife in a car accident last year, Jim O’Neill takes his son Jay and daughter Adrianna on an adventure to his late grandfather’s house. He soon realizes that the mysterious treasure hunt his late grandfather organized is putting his family in peril. Upon facing down ...

When the world is ending around you do you just give up and die, or find a reason to make the best out of a bad situation? For John Earl and his friends, Luke and Anna, the unthinkable has happened and they can either stay put and hope "they", that mysterious they people are always going on about, will show up to save them, or they can do what they normally do and turn this into an adventure. They decide that hanging around, waiting to either become part of a giant barbecue or zombie bait, just isn't on their bucket list and head out for one last adventure before the end of the world ...

An old traveler tells his grandchildren how he survived a harsh winter alone in the American Northwest during the gold rush of the 1800s, facing brutal cold and hungry wolves, and finding help from an unexpected source. This is a short story of about 3k words.

Josh Malerman is a master weaver of stories-and in this spine-chilling collection he spins five twisted tales from the shadows of the human soul: A sister tells her little brother that "Half the House Is Haunted" with a presence that only she can see, but is it her own mind that is haunted? In "Argyle," a dying man confesses to crimes he never committed, and reveals long-kept secrets far more sinister than murder. A tourist takes the ultimate trip to outer space in "Jupiter Drop," but the real journey is into his own dark past.

Seemingly unstoppable alien invaders are invading the Milky Way. Archibald Dare's ship, the Huntress is dispatched to defend an uninhabited moon to keep the alien invaders, known as Beets, from getting a foothold in the galaxy. Will they succeed, or is their mission doomed to fail? Read on to find out! *This is a side story to The Invasion of Allegra story, but it can be read as a standalone. This, and the Invasion of Allegra, both take place prior to The Battle for Allegra.* **Note, this is an edited and republished version of the story that was first published on Kindle Vella in 2022.***

Lancelot and Mr. Biggs face a traitor, an intruder, and an imposter in this second book in the Lancelot Maddox series. There’s a traitor at the intelligence agency. Lancelot and Mr. Biggs must discover who the traitor is before classified information falls into the hands of foreign agents. An intruder hides explosives at various places in the intelligence agency. Lancelot and Mr. Biggs must locate the intruder and the explosives before it’s too late. Mr. Biggs’ life is threatened by an imposter delivering toxic material disguised as regular mail. When the imposter kidnaps Lancelot, Mr...

The last survivor of of a fallen people is offered as a sacrifice to protect her adopted village. Surviving will lead her to the truth of what happened to her people, her death will see them lost and forgotten forever.

Mister Tidwell is a scholarly Oxford professor snatched out of his bookish world and pressed into service aboard Lord Nelson’s legendary British fleet - in the position of schoolmaster. Such is the life of the land-loving, seafaring Mister Tidwell, Gunner. Thrust into service at the height of the Napoleonic Wars, Tidwell soon finds himself directly in the line of fire and way out of his depth. Fate has cast him into a terrible and terrifying spot - alone on deck to face the fearsome approach of a French man-o’-war.

Ten more stories to heal the divide between man and machine. This is the sixth volume of the collected short stories of Joe Vasicek. It includes: Quantum Worlds Will AI herald the death of human creativity, or its startling rebirth? Bloody Justice (by J.M. Wight) The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed… A Mother's Last Goodbye When the living and the dead collide, a single act of selflessness ripples across generations. The Princess and the Professor When a kingdom is terrorized by a dragon, only Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life stand between chaos and salvation. The ...

Brace your brain for "Reboot Protocol" - a tech-nightmare that'll haunt your digital dreams! Follow Dr. Elias Roth as he sprints through neon-drenched streets, pursued by Spectre 77 - a killing machine with blood all over him and extinction on its mind. This isn't just an audiobook, it's a nitro-boosted thrill ride that'll have you eyeing your toaster with suspicion! Feel your pulse race as man and machine clash in bone-crushing battles, with humanity's fate hanging on every line of killer code. After this electrifying earful, you'll never look at your gadgets the same way again.

From Stranded in the Heart of Darkness... "Red-shirted man speaks once more. In turn, I gaze at the interpreter, await his translation. “You have fought and killed many men?” he hesitantly asks. I shake my head. “No,” I say, taken aback. “I have never killed anyone.” “In the voodoo culture,” the translator goes on, “men who are able to wear such a band are considered to be powerful fighters.” Now gesturing towards the red-shirted man. “This man here envies you for your power.” _________________ In 2009, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Vincent Zandri ...

The Fall Festival was hopping every afternoon and into the evening of those three days. Little kids chasing one another and squealing, and the big ones sneaking off to smoke or to make out with a girl and maybe cop a feel, and come back to talk about it. Back in those days, a pack of Harley's was kind of threatening. If a bunch of Harleys were parked outside a hamburger joint, most folks would just go on down the road to the next burger joint rather than risk confronting a bunch of bikers.