Withered

In this post-apocalyptic sci-fi horror series opener, zombies and humans alike threaten the future for a tough young woman. After an epidemic swept across America like a biblical plague, the government leapt into the fray with the release of a new vaccine-but what was meant to bring salvation to the survivors instead brought damnation. Mutations began within days of the drug's release, and the Withered Ones were born-those neither alive nor dead. They walked the streets, unblinking and unaware. And, they were starting to evolve. Growing up on the streets taught Avery Whitlock how to care for herself, but nothing could have prepared her for the outbreak of deadly gangs, a corrupt government bent on using her blood for experiments and the depths to which desperate people would go to survive. She soon discovered that it was not the Withered Ones that she needed to fear, but those still human. The ones who knew how to put a gun to her head, when they wanted something from her. Avery was forced to decide how far would she be willing to go to survive just one more day...

Nearly two months after a kidnapping, brutal gang attacks and the death of the only man she had ever loved, Avery Whitlock believed she could survive anything-until she crossed the Tennessee border and straight into hostile territory. Hunted by a ravenous pack of mutated Withered, she stumbled right into the military's crosshairs. Avery discovered a group of survivors concealed within the ruins of the once Grand Ole Opry Hotel. Although protected by high walls of debris and ample firepower, Avery began to suspect that the real threat wouldn't come from the outside but from within their own ranks. When a perimeter breach forces Avery to risk it all, she will find herself flirting with death-and the horrific truth of how the Withered came into being.

A woman on the verge of becoming a flesh-eating zombie fights to save the lives of others in this post-apocalyptic, science fiction horror novel. Though Avery Whitlock may have won the battle of the Grand Opry hotel, she knows the war is just beginning. Cable would stop at nothing to have her now that she was within his grasp-but to stay meant endangering innocent lives. No longer fully human and unwilling to accept her fate as a flesh-eating zombie, she must abandon the only place she could call home in order to save Nox and his people. Driven to prevent anyone else, from suffering from the same fate, she follows the trail of the doctor responsible for the heinous mutations as he races to reach the Atlanta Safe Zone. But, with spilled blood on her hands and malice in her heart, her cravings to kill become amplified-and her grip on her humanity begins to slip. Only the love of those closest to Avery can bring her back from the edge, but will they be able to reach her in time to save their own lives?