Surviving The Evacuation

The outbreak began in New York. Within days it had spread throughout the world. Nowhere is safe from the undead. As anarchy and civil war took grip across the globe, Britain was quarantined. The press was nationalized, martial law, curfews and rationing were implemented. It wasn't enough. An evacuation was planned. The inland towns and cities of the United Kingdom were to be evacuated to defensive enclaves being built around the coast, the Scottish Highlands, and in the Irish Republic. For George Tull and the other residents of the Waverly-Price Retirement Home, walking to the coast is not an option. Abandoned by the staff, they wait for rescue. It doesn't come. When George leaves the illusory security of The Home and ventures into the nearby village, he finds it deserted. But he is not alone, his unhappy retirement is broken by the undead. George is left with a terrible choice; stay and fight to save the people he loathes, or leave and abandon the woman he has come to love.

The outbreak began in New York. Soon it had spread to the rest of the world. People were attacked, infected, and they died. Then they came back. Nowhere is safe from the undead. As anarchy and civil war took grip across the globe, Britain was quarantined. The press was nationalised, martial law, curfews and rationing were implemented. It wasn't enough. An evacuation was planned. The inland towns and cities of the UK would be evacuated to defensive enclaves being built around the coast, the Scottish Highlands, and in the Irish Republic. Bill Wright broke his leg on the day of the outbreak. Unable to join the evacuation, he watched from his window as the streets filled with refugees. He watched as the streets emptied once more. He watched as they filled up again, this time with the undead. Then the power went out. He is trapped. He is alone. He is running out of food and water. He knows that to reach the safety of the enclaves he will have to venture out into the wasteland that once was England. On that journey he will ultimately discover the horrific truth about the outbreak, a decades old conspiracy, and his unwitting part in it. This is the first volume of his journal. (73,000 words).

Billions died during the global civil war that followed the outbreak. Anarchy took grip. Chaos ruled. The world collapsed. In Britain, the evacuation failed. Nowhere was safe from the undead. Four months after the outbreak Bill Wright has found safety in a ruined Abbey in southern England, but he is still alone. All he has for company are the files sent to him by his shadowy contact, Sholto. On those, he believes he has found the origins of the undead, and the vast conspiracy in which he discovers he played an unwitting part. He needs answers, and knows the only place they will be found is at the facility that created the virus. As he journeys through the desolate ruins of a dead civilisation, he meets other survivors. He rescues some, is rescued by others, but ultimately discovers that zombies are not the most deadly threat in an undead wasteland. This is the second volume of his journal. (76,000 words)

Nations collapsed. The undead rose. Not everyone died. There is a safe haven, so they are told, in a small village on the Irish coast. But before they can go there, Bill and Kim must travel back into London to rescue Annette and Daisy. Then they will have to battle their way through an infected England to a rendezvous in Wales. But even if they can get the children to safety, Bill's journey won't be over. When he is told of the sanctuary awaiting them, he also discovers that the scientist who created the virus escaped from New York. In order for the survivors to truly be safe, Bill will travel to Northumberland to confront the threat, discover the truth behind the conspiracy, and finally choose between his old family and his new one.

"There are no reported outbreaks in the UK or Ireland.” That is what the government broadcast. Nilda didn't believe it. Not trusting the authorities, she and her son stayed behind when Penrith was evacuated. After weeks of rationing, there is little food left in the small town, and many other survivors competing for it. Choosing diplomacy over violence, she attempts to forge a community out of a disparate group. As the number of the undead grow, she realises that they will have to seek sanctuary elsewhere. Nilda travels north into Scotland, but death follows, and she is forced to leave once more. Joining with others who have survived the evacuation, she finds not all of them have the same motives. Some, like Tuck, Sebastian, and the Abbot of Brazely only want to help. Others, like Harper and Rob, only want to help themselves. Chester and the new Mayor of Anglesey have their own agenda, one at odds with Nilda's quest to find a safe haven for her son. A new novel, featuring new characters (and a few old) in the post-apocalyptic series "Surviving The Evacuation". Set during the first nine months of the outbreak, in Cumbria, Scotland and Wales. (78,000 words)

Surviving is easy. It's the next part, living, that's hard. Zombies. It is seven months since the outbreak. The world is in ruins. Britain is a radioactive wasteland peopled by the undead. The few survivors cling to the hope that they might wake up tomorrow. For most, that is all they have left. But Nilda has something more; the chance that her son is alive. She and Chester set out from Penrith, searching for her son. During the journey, Nilda learns more about this self-confessed criminal, Radio Free England, and the conspiracy behind the outbreak. As they near Hull, she realises it is too late to change her travelling companion. She will need his help to escape the zombie infested city, and find her son. Fleeing from the last remnant of the old government, Tuck and Jay head south in search for survivors. When they rescue a wounded man, their quest becomes one for medical supplies. That leads them to a rooftop city, and to the realisation that surviving out in the wasteland is easy compared to forging a new life from the wreckage of the old civilisation.

A castle can be made safe from the undead, but not from the people inside the walls.It is seven months since the outbreak. In the anarchy and chaos that came with the undead, civilisation was destroyed. In the wars that followed, the planet was nearly ruined. Billions died. Only a few thousand survived.Fifty people have found refuge in the Tower of London. Zombies plague the city outside the old fortress. The wasteland beyond is filled with nothing but radioactive ruins. With nowhere left to retreat to, and in a final attempt to make the ancient castle a place where they can do more than just slowly starve, the survivors search for food in the abandoned coastal farms. They find something else. They discover that hunger, thirst, and the undead aren't the only threat they face. (78,000 words)

The outbreak began in February. Nations went to war. Governments collapsed. Billions died in the chaos and anarchy that followed. Billions more were infected. They died. They came back. It is now October and out of the tens of millions who lived in southern England only ninety people remain. They sought sanctuary behind the ancient walls of the Tower of London, but it was only a temporary refuge. There is no more food to be scavenged from the ruins of the old world. Their water supply is polluted. As the days get shorter, the weather worsens, and people begin to get sick. They have been betrayed and are besieged by the living and undead alike. Over their heads hangs the threat of a last catastrophic weapon. This specter of the old world conspiracy that brought the living dead to plague the Earth leaves them with a terrible decision. Some must be sacrificed so that amidst the horror others might find somewhere in the undead wasteland that they can call home.

Trapped. Alone. Unconcerned. Eight months after the outbreak, Bill Wright is trapped during a survey mission in Ireland. Surrounded by the undead, low on food and lower on water, he's been in this situation before. Unlike before, help is only a rifle shot away. While waiting for the rescue he's sure will come, he records the turbulent events since his last entry. The Welsh island of Anglesey has become a sanctuary for survivors from across the zombie-infested world. It has electricity, wheat, and not much else. Medicines and equipment, plants and fertilizer, books and batteries, and so much more are needed if this last bastion of civilization is to survive. Scavenging expeditions depart for Svalbard, Liverpool, and the southern Atlantic, but a discovery is made far nearer, one which will change the fate of all those who've come to call Anglesey home. Set on Anglesey, in Bangor and Caernarfon, and in the Republic of Ireland, Bill's journals continue.

Within a few minutes of the outbreak, Manhattan was overrun by the living dead. Within a few days, the undead had reached every corner of the globe. Ireland was no exception. There was no evacuation of Northern Ireland, and no quarantine in the Republic. A Royal Naval blockade prevented ships from docking, but they didn't prevent those who could reach the coast from fleeing by sea. There weren't enough boats for everyone. Those who were left behind took refuge in castles, police stations, churches, military bases, and any other buildings with strong walls. The walls weren't strong enough. Eight months later, there are only a few dozen survivors left on the entire island of Ireland. They are certain that there is no safe refuge anywhere on the planet. Stranded on the southwestern Atlantic coast of the Irish Republic, Bill and Kim head north. They know that there is a safe haven on Anglesey, but that is hundreds of miles of undead Ireland and a treacherous sea crossing away. They begin a journey on which they will have to rescue the innocent and confront the past before they can embrace the future. Set on the island of Ireland, eight months after the outbreak, this is the next volume of Bill Wright's journals.

Whoever wins the election, humanity will lose. Nine months after the outbreak, ten thousand survivors from across the globe have found a refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. Hordes of the undead ravage the wastelands of Britain and Ireland. Satellite images show that the rest of the world is no better. Food, fuel, and ammunition are running low and there are no more old-world supplies with which to replace them. Intended as an alternative to a slide into despotism, an election is called. It is hoped the contest will bring forth solutions to the myriad crises facing this last bastion of humanity. After the favoured candidate is hospitalised, suspicion falls on the new frontrunner, a publican who purchased his support with an impossible promise of a return to the pre-apocalyptic world. With no viable candidate, and no way of calling off the election, those who still have access to a ship plan their departure; others plan to rig the contest; a few give up on all plans for a future beyond tomorrow. Anglesey is on the verge of collapse, and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Set in Belfast, the Isle of Man, and Wales during the run-up to the election on Anglesey, this is the sixth volume of Bill Wright's journals.

Not all survivors are to be trusted. Not all the conspirators are dead. February: Within hours of the outbreak, the quarantine was sabotaged. Within days, the world was gripped by civil war. March: When the lights finally went out, billions were dead. Millions more had joined the ranks of the undead. May: Anglesey has become home to nearly ten thousand survivors from across the Atlantic. While there is still danger from the undead on the mainland, there is hope. Hope that the zombies might die, hope that the electricity supply might be restored, and hope that more survivors will be found. Hope is not enough. Sergeant Branofski and Chester Carson venture into northern Wales to set up a network of safe houses that will provide a route to Anglesey for those still trapped in the wasteland. Though they find survivors, they discover something far worse. September: Nowhere is safe from the living dead, not even The Tower of London. The ancient fortress has become home to nearly a hundred people. Food is scarce and the undead are many. The survivors are doomed unless help can be found, but the only place it can come from is Anglesey. Eamonn Finnegan sets out alone to seek their salvation. He never reaches Wales. November: In her heart, Greta knows that Eamonn is dead, yet she has to look for her lost love because he would look for her. Chester joins her in the futile quest to ensure the search doesn't cost Greta her life. Before their journey has barely begun, they discover an old foe that they thought was dead. Set on Anglesey and in London, near Wrexham and in Birmingham, while hope is fading for the last survivors of humanity.

Anglesey became a refuge for survivors from across the world, but living in the shadow of a decrepit nuclear power station was always a precarious existence. There is only one destination for their final exodus from Britain, but Belfast won't become their new home. There are fewer undead on the island of Ireland, but their numbers still count in the millions. With farming impossible, with the weather worsening, with ammunition exhausted, desperation turns to despair. All seems bleak, but the survivors don't know how truly desperate their situation is. During the chaos that ensued after the calamitous election, they misjudged the evidence. Their true enemy is still among them, and that enemy is about to act. Set nine months after the outbreak, in Britain and the island of Ireland, when humanity is at a crossroads. Either all will survive, or our species will die.

For good or ill, the future has begun. After the outbreak came the nuclear war. The blasts killed millions. Chaos followed. Most of those unlucky enough not to succumb to starvation and disease joined the ranks of the living dead. Fleeing the impossible nightmare, ten thousand, from nations across the Atlantic seaboard, found refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. There, they should have been safe. There, they should have been able to rebuild. There, they were betrayed. Forced to flee once more, a hasty exodus was planned, but those plans were sabotaged. The survivors became scattered across the island of Ireland. Old-world supplies are scarce, hope is running out, and safety is just a memory. The snow has come, and though rain will soon follow, winter has truly begun. In Dundalk, eight hundred survivors have occupied a local college, but the campus is too dispersed to defend. As they scour the snow-covered town for a safe route to the sea, they find signs of long-fled survivors and answers to a question they hadn't asked. In Belfast, the situation is increasingly precarious. There are saboteurs in their midst. As the investigation into their identity slowly progresses, the terrorists continue to plot. Rumours of a mutiny escalate into a riot, while an unseen clock ticks ever closer towards humanity's destruction. Set in Belfast and Dundalk, over three days that change everything.

Not all people died. Not all gave up hope. The outbreak was in February. By the end of November, Earth has become a hellish wasteland ravaged by the undead. Survivors from across the Atlantic seaboard took refuge on the Welsh island of Anglesey. Beset by dangers from within, they departed to establish a new refuge in Belfast. Not all of them arrived. Six took the last plane on its last flight, but crashed in France. Expecting a sprinting battle through the ruins of Belfast, they packed light. With few weapons and barely any food, their chances of survival are slim. The chances of rescue are slimmer. There was no evacuation in France. No quarantine. No rationing. But there are zombies, and there are people who believe they, alone, are the last survivors of the old-world. So begins a frantic race against the undead, through the snow and storm ravaged ruins of Northern France.

There is always hope. Northern France is a frozen morass of mud and snow across which rampages a horde of the undead, a hundred million strong. That won't stop Chester Carson and his comrades. Seeking a way across the Channel, they make for the coast, unaware that Britain has been abandoned, Belfast is a ruin, and that radiation is seeping into the Irish Sea. If they knew, that wouldn't stop them either. They're on a quest to save their family, their friends, and humanity itself; failure is not an option. As they journey through war-ravaged ports and storm-wrecked beaches, a new truth becomes clear. The flotilla that found refuge on Anglesey wasn't the only group of sea-borne refugees to have survived the outbreak. There are other survivors. Some good, some evil, some just determined to do their duty no matter the cost. Danger lurks along the French and Belgian coasts. So do answers, and hope that humanity now has a future.

The battle might be lost, but the war isn't over. Once it was home to half a billion people. A year after the nuclear war, Europe is a radioactive, storm-ravaged wasteland through which a hundred million undead inexorably march. In their wake, they leave nothing but ruins. Ahead of them flee those few who managed to survive this long. Chasing them are the dregs of humanity. Once known as the Rosewood Cartel, they kill, loot, and destroy as indiscriminately as the living dead. Hope might be lost, but it could still be found, as can a future for the last remnant of humanity. Those who built a sanctuary on Anglesey, in Dundalk, in Creil are the help that came to others. In this, their darkest hour, but with a new dawn so close, they will not give up. Set in the Faroe Islands, France, Denmark, and elsewhere, the battle has begun, but the war hasn't yet been lost.

As one year ends, and our old world fades into memory, a new future is born. On a frozen archipelago, where it is too cold to farm, a few thousand survivors from across the Atlantic have found a refuge. The arduous process of turning a sanctuary into a home begins once more for these weary travelers who've been chased from Britain, from Ireland, from France and Denmark. But their work is not yet done. The missing Marines cannot be left behind. The French and Ukrainians cannot be abandoned. The cartel can never be forgotten. As soldiers once again become civilians, the dangers of malnutrition replace the everyday specter of starvation. Potential mutiny supersedes being overrun by the undead. Boredom replaces fear. Slowly, they relax, allowing themselves to enjoy the simple pleasure of music and plays, of weddings and births, of life without the imminent prospect of death. But all is not what it seems in the snowy wastes surrounding their town. While Europe is a zombie-filled radioactive wasteland, there are other continents. Other oceans. Other survivors. Other communities, just like their own, who will fight to keep what they've the clawed from the grip of the apocalyptic nightmare. Set in Northern Europe, Eastern Canada, and the tumultuous seas between, as one year ends, and a new civilization dawns.

Fourteen months after the outbreak, thirteen months after the nuclear war, the old world is gone, but a new world is emerging. The evacuation of Britain failed, but other evacuations were a success. In Canberra, a new civilisation is being born, but in Canada, the survivors bid a last and final farewell to the Atlantic.While a final evacuation of Nova Scotia is planned, the search for lost communities begins. The journey takes Bill and Kim to the very end of the Earth, and to a meeting with familiar strangers.Crossing the border, Sholto endures a bittersweet return to the country he'd embraced so many decades ago. The United States he remembered is gone, and yet he can see its shadow among the burned ruins and desolate towns of the American Northeast.But the rains soon turn to a flood that washes away the few bridges not destroyed during the failed quarantine. With no other escape from the deluge, they take to the river. On the Hudson, they sail into the middle of a civil war. When they learn one faction is led by the last surviving member of the political conspiracy that spawned the apocalypse, it is obvious which side to take. Set among the thawing wilderness of Quebec and Ontario, the swollen rivers and flooded roads of New York, and in the courtrooms of Canberra, this novel includes characters and events from the five-part Pacific-based series Life Goes On.

The final evacuation begins. A year and a half after the collapse of civilisation, pirates plague the Atlantic, the Saint Lawrence River is a radioactive dead-zone, and the forests of Quebec are succumbing to disease. With insufficient supplies to last until autumn, the survivors in Eastern Canada have no choice but to flee. A final evacuation is planned, to migrate across the breadth of irradiated North America to what they hope will be permanent safety on the Pacific coast. Until they leave, life goes on, and children grow up. For Jay, that means getting a job. Apprenticed to old George Tull, he's tasked with scouting the Digby Peninsula for roadworthy vehicles left behind during the first evacuation of Canada. Instead, he finds signs that an old foe has returned. For the Canadian evacuation not to become a deadly tragedy like its British forebear, safe roads and intact bridges must be found. Tuck and Sorcha join the soldiers mapping the tracks and trails through the dying forests of Quebec. It should be a straightforward mission, but the starving bears and predatory wolves are not as great a danger as the desperate survivors who wish to be forgotten by the world. With increasing desertification on land, and rising toxicity in the oceans, it is unclear for how much longer the planet can sustain life. With imminent annihilation a real possibility, the more populous group of survivors in the Pacific plan a multi-faith expedition to Jerusalem and Mecca. For the devout, it is an opportunity to complete a pilgrimage. For the politicians, it is a chance to diminish the power of the ascendant crusaders, extremists, and death cults. For a few, it is an opportunity to hunt for the friends and family abandoned during the escape from Europe.

A murderer stalks the post-apocalyptic wilderness of the Pacific Northwest. A year after the outbreak and nuclear war, the planet is teetering on the edge of environmental collapse. Across the entire Northern Hemisphere, very few survived. Fourteen thousand Europeans and Canadians found safety behind the great defensive walls erected across Nova Scotia. Attacked by piratical bandits based out of New York, they have no choice but to flee. While Bill Wright organises their evacuation, Kim and Sholto remain in the Pacific Northwest, searching for a new home for all those in the east. Kim thinks they have months to prepare until a plane full of pilgrims arrives from the south, bringing a murderer with them. Where the evacuation of Britain was a bloodbath, the Southern Pacific fared better. Survivors thrive in fortified enclaves in Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia. Thousands of Canadians found a new home in Australia's Northern Territory, albeit living in hastily built shanty towns where water is scarce and crime is rife. Now they want to return home. After an assassination attempt on the leadership on Vancouver Island, an investigation is launched, and the hunt begins. Whoever the killers are, their backers are still in Australia. Finding them falls to Commissioner Tess Qwong, whose hunt takes her from crocodile-filled rivers to the densely packed refugee camp the exiled Canadians call home. Set among the radioactive desolation of British Columbia, the undead-filled ruins of Washington State, and the exiled Canadians' capital in Australia's Northern Territory, Bill and Kim's dreams of creating a new and better world are fading, while the prospect of war only grows stronger.

Nova Scotia has been abandoned. New York has fallen. The war to control the Americas has begun.Bill Wright's final evacuation is underway. A route to the bastions in the Pacific Northwest has been mapped out. Supply dumps have been created, and the first batch of evacuees have already departed. For those still waiting to leave, there's little to do and less to eat, so it was inevitable that some might turn to theft and murder. With spies discovered in their midst, and another attack by the Atlantic pirates imminent, it will take all of Bill's cunning to prevent this evacuation from becoming a rout.After the outbreak, most people either hid in their homes or fled towards safety. Maggs and Etienne opted to go to work. For over thirty years, they'd helped keep the electricity flowing in northern Quebec. As long as the power remained on, there was a chance the stay-at-home order could be obeyed and the outbreak stopped. The nuclear exchange ended that hope. In the chaos that followed, they were separated, but even as she fled, Maggs left a letter for husband, saying where she'd gone.Childhood is already a distant memory for Jay. Between helping run the orphanage and the attached chicken farm, he barely has time to sleep, let alone dream. When he does get a few hours free, he spends them scavenging among the ruins. On one such looting expedition, he and Heppy find a year-old letter left by Maggs for her missing husband. Though the chance of finding either of the missing couple is slim, both Jay and Heppy have buried too many not to feel compelled to search for them. Everyone deserves a chance to join the evacuation and to survive.

Was anyone else alive?With each kilometre travelled, Maggs Espoir is increasingly certain the answer is no. In the aftermath of the outbreak, most people barricaded their homes or fled to somewhere remote. Maggs and her husband, Etienne, went to work, ensuring the electricity supply for Quebec and beyond. When the mushroom clouds rose above Montreal, the lights finally went out, and Maggs and Etienne were separated. In the year since, Maggs hasn't stopped searching for her husband or given up hope that he's still alive.Between bandits, plagues, and the ever-present undead, Maggs and her small community are forced to flee one refuge after another. As civilisation fades into memory, the roads become increasingly treacherous. Strangers are more likely to offer a gunshot than a welcome. Medicines run out. Food runs scarce. Only the undead endure.As the long winter finally comes to an end, her community is forced to accept that they might be among the very last survivors in North America, if not the world. For some, this realisation brings despair. Others see the increasing division as an opportunity for power. With factionalism rising, Maggs is tempted to strike out on her own, until the chance sighting of a plane suggests they aren't alone after all. A plane means more than just survivors. It means a runway, a fuel supply, and enough food security that some people can be spared from farming. It means civilisation. And if those people survived the evacuation, then perhaps her husband survived, too. A story of love, loss, and determination, set in the Pacific Northwest, three months before the events of Book 22.