Short Apocalyptic Thrillers

When an EMP wipes out the power grid, Caroline Thompson is alone on the family ranch while her husband, Luke, and their son are stranded in Fort Worth as chaos erupts. With no power, no law, and danger at every turn, Caroline must fight her way into the collapsing city to find them. But bringing her family back together is only the beginning. Looters are closing in, determined to take everything Caroline has fought to protect as their ranch turns into a battleground for survival.

The EMP has officially crippled the nation and her infrastructure sits in ruin. Can a burned-out DEA agent, a Guatemalan-born cartel daughter, and an estranged brother find their way back to their families, or will they succumb to the perils of a nation in steep decline? The Complete Age of Embers is a no-holds-barred post-apocalyptic adventure series chronicling a nationwide descent into a powerless world.

Los Angeles, Zombie Apocalypse! By James Bachman When the outbreak spreads to the City of Angels, chaos reigns. Los Angeles descends into a nightmare as wildfires blaze, the infected roam the streets, and survivors scramble to escape a city consumed by death. In a world where the rich hide behind gates and the poor are left to fend for themselves, the lines between life and death blur—and survival comes at an unimaginable cost. Fast-paced, gritty, and unrelenting, Los Angeles, Zombie Apocalypse! plunges readers into a city where every moment is a fight to stay alive. Perfect for fans of ...

Shannon Grayson is a tough-as-nails long-haul truck driver. But her life is turned upside down when a massive EMP blast hits North America and demolishes the power grid. Trapped in a sprawling retail super-center, Shannon barely escapes with her life and her truck. Now, as a bullet wound in her shoulder festers with an infection, Shannon is determined to find the daughter she lost contact with five years ago.

An EMP strike shatters the nation. Keith flees biker gangs, his daughter is trapped in mall rubble, and his wife fights through burning streets. Their only hope is Eddie’s off-grid mountain homestead. Survival, family, and chaos collide in this explosive thriller.

When the end of the world arrived, it came not with a bang, as most expected, but with more of a "pfft" instead. Humanity has been torn asunder and brought to the edge of total annihilation in less than an hour. For those who died, it was a quick death, so fast that their brains didn't have time to process the pain signals from their nerves. For those who survived, the true horror is about to begin as they struggle to not only stay alive, but come to grips with the shocking realization about what - and who - was responsible.

A powerful EMP attack leaves the city in chaos, plunging society into darkness and uncertainty. Stephanie Dupont, a podcast host who exposed government secrets, must navigate the crumbling streets of Chicago with her teenage brother and a frightened stranger. With limited supplies, rising violence, and no power, they race against time to escape the city and find safety. As societal order collapses, Stephanie must confront her beliefs and decide whom she can trust. Will they survive the journey, or will the city’s descent into anarchy consume them all?

Washington DC, Zombie Apocalypse! by James Bachman When the halls of power crumble, survival begins. The infection starts in the heart of Washington D.C., turning politicians, aides, and lobbyists into ravenous undead. As chaos engulfs the nation's capital, a janitor, a fast-food worker, and a grandmother on a mission band together in a desperate bid to escape the hellscape. With the military enforcing brutal quarantine measures and the infected growing in numbers, every decision could mean life or death. As the city burns and democracy dies, can a few unlikely heroes find safety, or will ...

Zombie, Indiana explores the impact of an invading zombie horde on a trio of Hoosier protagonists…each of whom have some dark secrets to keep. When the governor’s daughter mysteriously disappears on a field trip, IMPD Special Sergeant James Nolan, scholarship student Kesha Washington, and Governor Hank Burleson must all come together not only to find the governor’s daughter, but also to undertake a quest to redeem the very soul of the state itself…all while under constant attack from the living dead.

Civilizations ravaged by a virus. Desperate survivors fight for scraps as unlikely heroes rise from the ashes. Z Horizon features four full-length, post-apocalypse novels. Get 40 plus hours of pulse-pounding action and gripping apocalyptic characters in this bargain collection. Four deadly outbreaks, four collapsed worlds, and the heroes who battle monsters both dead and alive.

After a mysterious blackout shatters society, Samantha and her dog Dean journey through looted cities and treacherous wilds. Haunted by her parents’ deaths and unable to save a wounded survivor, she finds an unlikely ally in Gabriel. As danger closes in, a hidden bunker may be their last chance at hope.

A quick read for those looking for dark fiction that you can devour in one sitting. These are creepy, crawly, and grotesque stories meant to make your stomach churn and your toes curl. The fierce auction of an abandoned storage unit leads to a mysterious box finding its final resting place. Assigned to a military post, a man watches security cameras capture the end of the world. An unusual illness leaks into society and leaves a man isolated and battling for his life. On a dark fall night, a happy family is tormented by an invisible beast from under the bed. A man with an overbearing mother...

Night Portals is a metaphysical anthology series that explores the hidden secrets of life around us. Twelve "What If" short stories from the mind of Ernie Howard. Immune is the third story in the series. Jakob the motel clerk opened a door one day. A door that should have stayed closed. Being immune to a virus that will kill off most of the world's population seems like winning the lottery at first. That is until you realize you killed most of the people you loved just by being around them. Sometimes the virus is in your mind. What would you do if you were the last person on Earth?

Can they survive a post-apocalyptic world filled with evil? Heartbroken, Kim decides to move on with her life and return to the surface. She assumes the threat she faced in her underground shelter is gone, but she’ll soon find out that evil has no boundaries and face her greatest test when she discovers what remains. Bestselling author Scott W. Kimak delivers another nail-biter in part two of his prequel to the “I Call him HIM” trilogy. A survival thriller perfect for fans of Kyla Stone, Ryan Schow, Grace Hamilton, and Jack Hunt. Buy What Remains today!

This is a SHORT STORY set within the ongoing THE UNSEEN franchise. Potential spoilers ahead! This short story stars the youngest character in the intense THE UNSEEN franchise, Hope Diaz. Her survival is one of heartache, terror, and perseverance, an event that occurs during book two of the main series, DESOLATION.

A brilliant young savant builds an artificial intelligence to fix the world’s software. Instead, he triggers its collapse. When Min-Jun’s AI spirals beyond human control, it unleashes a self-replicating algorithm that devours every digital system on Earth. No internet. No power grids. No communication. No banking. No control. Civilization doesn’t crumble slowly. It shuts down. The world goes dark. Suddenly, everyday things we take for granted disappear. In a world dependent on digital tools, what happens when there is no access to information? Or communication devices? How will we ...

Earth is quickly becoming an undead wasteland, that much is for sure. What isn't certain is the fate of her three children, as their desperate bid to find safety at their family cabin is cut off by the revelation of world-altering proportions. What seems like a lifetime ago, the secret battle to be the first superpower to perfect the perfect bioweapon has been corrupted into a scourge now headed straight for them. Suddenly Abby's past becomes just as unclear as her future.

When an EMP cripples the nation's power grid, lawlessness erupts across the country. Fighting against the chaos, Bailey Smith must rescue her family from the city and bring them to a remote cabin in the West Virginia mountains.

Detroit, Zombie Apocalypse! By James Bachman The Motor City is dead—and the dead don’t stop. On the assembly line of a half-abandoned auto plant, the outbreak begins with sparks, screams, and blood soaking the factory floor. Within hours, Detroit is overrun—hospitals collapse, neighborhoods burn, and the city’s steel-and-concrete ruins swarm with the infected. Darnell, a laid-off auto worker who knows every back alley and shuttered plant. Gloria, a nurse trapped in a hospital where patients rise from their beds. Miguel, a teenager running with a scavenger crew caught between ...

The best-selling Extinction Cycle series by Nicholas Sansbury Smith first introduced listeners to a world ravaged by an engineered virus that turned men into monsters. Humanity's only hope was not a cure, but another bioweapon. When deployed it killed 90 percent of the infected, but the remaining 10 percent transformed into even more terrifying creatures called Variants. Here's a collection of Extinction Cycle short stories that explore the human spirit and the fight for survival in the face of overwhelming odds from some of the leading voices in the post-apocalyptic genre.