Keller smiled for the cameras. “More on that in a minute. For now, we have some details to tend to.”
Ana’s heart was leaking beats like her lungs were losing air. Keller paced in front of the boxes, speaking slowly and using his hands to usher one sentence into the next.
“We’ve been too tolerant. Now we see the results of not knowing our neighbors,” he repeated, “and have suffered the folly of watching tolerance curdle to weakness. No more! We cannot allow this cancer to spread. We’ve taken care of the situation on the ground, stopped the infection from eating its way into The City proper. Now we must begin the healing. We must show those who stand against freedom that they will be unable to stand at all. We’ve arrested the two suspects who worked together, orchestrating this attack.”
Two?
Keller yanked the curtain away with the flourish of a magician, revealing both boxes.
Adam!
“What is Adam doing there?” she cried out.
Nobody answered—every eye on the screen.
The boxes looked like soundproof plastic or glass, like those she and Liam were trapped in before Duncan saved them, when she learned about Liam’s horrible lie and chose to spare Liam’s life over an innocent girl’s. Ana could see her brother and father with open mouths, screaming in silence, not a note of torment heard.
Adam looked older than the last time she saw him. Taller and stronger. Less like her little brother, and more like a man, less scared than angry. She would have done anything, given anything, to tell him that everything would be OK.
But it wouldn’t be.
Keller was a monster, and about to prove it to every citizen, pretending to keep his sheep safe from the wolves.
“As I said,” Keller resumed his pacing. “Rules and protocols must be followed. As we all know, treason against The State gets you into The Darwin Games.”
Even though Ana knew what was coming, she screamed. Liam held her tight, pulling her mouth into his chest.
She looked up at the screen, helplessly.
“Unfortunately, we have another rule in The Darwins. No repeat performances. Not that this has ever been an issue before. Every other player has either perished, or had the sense to enjoy the good life in City 7. But since Mr. Lovecraft was determined to forfeit his freedom, he must also forfeit his life.”
“No!!” Ana screamed, pulling away from Liam.
He grabbed her from behind and whispered something in her ear. She couldn’t hear it over her screaming, though.
Keller drew a blaster from inside his coat as her father’s box was opened by two City Watchers.
“What do you have to say for yourself?” Keller asked.
Her father stared into the camera. “Please, let my son go. Please. He’s innocent. He’s a good boy who did nothing wrong.”
“I’m sorry,” Keller said. “Rules and protocols.”
Chief Keller’s smile returned, looking like that of a demon as he stared at Jonah, basking in his power over Ana’s father.
Keller then raised the blaster, and took aim at Jonah’s head.
Jonah’s eyes didn’t waver as he stared at the cruel bastard.
Keller pulled the trigger, disintegrating Jonah’s head into a bloody, ashen pulp.
Her dad’s headless corpse stood for a few seconds as Ana’s heart stopped along with her breath.
His body dropped.
Ana screamed as she fell to her knees.
TO BE CONCLUDED
NEXT SPRING
IN Z 2136
AUTHOR'S NOTES
If you leapt to the end of Z 2135 to read this author’s note, you may want to wait and come back after you finish reading the book. There are some major spoilers for this season below, and we’d hate to ruin the awesome surprises.
First, we’d like to thank you for buying Z 2135, and making last season’s serial, Z 2134, such a success.
When we were in our earliest pre-production phase of Z 2135, deciding exactly what we wanted to write, where we wanted to take the story, and in what specific ways we wanted to expand the universe, we looked at what YOU, our dear reader, had to say in reviews and email about Z 2134’s first season.
Reception was mixed. Some people loved the book, some had legit criticisms, and plenty of haters wanted to hate for no other reason than we dared to say we were writing The Hunger Games meets The Walking Dead.
We were practically BEGGING people to trash the book by not only using two recent smash phenomena as seeds for our story, but also comparing ourselves to perhaps the greatest in their respective genres.
Thankfully, more people loved the book than didn’t, and 47North signed the serial for a total of three seasons. So, thank YOU, for loving the first season enough to give us a chance to finish the story.
We returned to Z’s world poised to deliver something amazing to our loyal readers, address our critics, and pretty much prove the haters wrong by writing the best damn season we could. This season is bigger in size, deeper in character depth, and we turned the tension up to 11!
One thing we wanted to do this season was delve more into the zombies, both in how they came about, and remind you of their constant threat. Last season, they were just sort of there, and could’ve been replaced with any monster, really. This season, both Duncan and Ana brought us closer to the true horrors of the zombie plague.
We also wanted to expand on the world created in Season One. That meant going deeper into our characters, their pasts, and their sometimes conflicting motivations. One of the things we most enjoy about Z, and that readers seem to appreciate, is that good and bad isn’t black and white.
Even bad guys like Keller and Sutherland have motivations that make sense to them. Keller was a good man turned to darkness following the death of his son many years ago. We get a sense of him seeking some sort of redemption in his enemy, Jonah’s, son.
Of course, that doesn’t go well.
In addition to morally gray areas, we wanted to push our characters into serious dilemmas, where there was no easy solution: Adam was forced to decide between his old friends and loyalty to City Watch (and his new father figure, Keller); Ana and Liam both faced difficult decisions regarding her infection; and Jonah was made to choose between his daughter and the lives of an entire City.
It’s in these choices, and the actions our characters take, where we truly learn what makes them tick.
And lastly, we wanted this season to have serious repercussions.
That meant killing someone, someone you’ve come to root for, or hell, maybe even love.
Originally, our plan was to kill Adam. But the more we thought about it, and how next season will play out, we knew that there was only ONE logical ending for this season.
We hope you enjoyed Z 2135.
We’re eager to writing the last book in the Z trilogy next spring with Z 2136, and look forward to bringing you more killer cliffhangers, and one hell of a roller-coaster ride to the end.
If you liked what you read this season, we’d love for you to leave a review, at either Amazon or Goodreads, or both!
And if you loved Z, we hope you’ll check out one of our other five serials.
With 47North, we also have Monstrous.
Independently we’ve published the number one horror series, Yesterday’s Gone, WhiteSpace, Available Darkness, and ForNevermore, and a collection of 18 short stories called Dark Crossings: The Collection.
Before the end of 2013, we’ll also have a standalone novel called Threshold and a new series called Nomad.
Visit our website www.CollectiveInkwell.com today and sign up for our Goner’s Newsletter to get a free e-book, all the latest news, and free short stories.
As always, thank you for reading,
Sean Platt & David W. Wright
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Kris D. Mauga, 2011
Sean Platt is an author, entrepreneur, speaker, and when not writing thousands of words each day, one-third of The Self Publishing Podcast
and Better Off Undead with co-hosts David, and Johnny B. Truant.
Sean blogs once in a blue moon at http://seanmplatt.com, and lives in Austin, Texas with his wife, daughter, and son.
Email Sean at: [email protected]
Follow Sean on Twitter: http://twitter.com/seanplatt
David W. Wright, 2013
David Wright is a cartoonist and writer living on the East Coast. He’s married with a 6-year old son and the world’s most poopingest cat.
He blogs about creativity, his inspirations, TV, and other pop culture stuff at his blog: www.DavidWWright.com
Email David at: [email protected]
Visit his website: www.DavidWWright.com
Visit Collective Inkwell at www.CollectiveInkwell.com
Talk with Dave, Sean, and other Goners on Facebook: www.Facebook.com/collectiveinkwellpublishing
****
OUR OTHER BOOKS
::SERIALS WITH 47NORTH::
Z 2134
Z 2135
Monstrous
::OUR INDIE-PUBLISHED SERIALS & SERIES::
Yesterday’s Gone: Seasons One-Four
WhiteSpace: Seasons One and Two
Available Darkness: Seasons One and Two
ForNevermore: Season One
Nomad
::OUR NOVELS::
Threshold
::OUR SHORT STORY COLLECTIONS::
Dark Crossings: The Collection (Volumes One-Three)
Dark Crossings: Volume One
Dark Crossings: Volume Two
Dark Crossings: Volume Three
Visit www.CollectiveInkwell.com/our-books for a full and often updating list with links to all of our books.
This book was originally released in episodes as a Kindle Serial. Kindle Serials launched in 2012 as a new way to experience serialized books. Kindle Serials allow readers to enjoy the story as the author creates it, purchasing once and receiving all existing episodes immediately, followed by future episodes as they are published. To find out more about Kindle Serials and to see the current selection of Serials titles, visit www.amazon.com/kindleserials.
Z 2135 Page 34
