Dar and her band of survivors must flee for their lives after a terrorist blows up the fence protecting their Boston camp. Departing in two eighteen wheelers, the group heads to Washington State to find Dar’s family. A caravan of army troops, led by egomaniacal General Townsend, arrive in Boston to take control of the camp only to find it in ruins. His goal: to capture the President of the United States and Annabelle, one of the few ‘ghosts’ in the world who can walk freely among the dead without fear of attack. Hungry and in need of rest after being pursued by Townsend, the survivors take refuge in a walled-in Amish compound. But all is not what it seems there. The compound, which has its own ‘ghost’, is bitterly divided and separated into two camps by a zombie-filled ditch. Dar realizes that if the Amish don’t soon change their traditional ways, they will die at the hands of the dead. Little does anyone know that a militant group of Amish youth has been secretly planning to overthrow their elders and take control. Desperate to capture the survivors, General Townsend has plans on becoming the next President of the U.S. But first he must capture Annabelle and President Roberts so that the transfer of power is constitutional. The only obstacle in his path is the Chinese tank battalion pursuing him and his troops. The Amish feud comes to a head. After an outbreak occurs on the other side of the ditch, Dar and her survivors quickly put up a fence to keep the zombies from entering. They must then set up an ambush and surprise Townsend and his troops. After suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the survivors, Townsend manages to escape in his Hummer. He is captured and taken prisoner by the Chinese army. Rather than treating him as a POW, the Chinese view him as their new conquering leader. With winter looming, and no food to sustain his army, he and his Chinese troops return to the Amish camp and settle in for winter until they can resume their search for the survivors. On the advice of Virgil Snow, an MIT professor, the group travels to Gentel Labs in Minnesota where Snow once worked. Run by a brilliant, charismatic biologist named Calloway, the walled-in compound appears impenetrable. But the facility hides a house of horrors. Having lost his humanity during the apocalypse, Calloway has spent years trying to develop a cure for the plague. Chained zombies line every wall of the facility; guinea pigs for his nefarious research. Hybrid zombie children run freely through the facility. After unleashing an experimental virus onto the horde, the severity of the plague goes from bad to worse, and the slow zombies morph into Olympic sprinters. Dar and her group must flee yet again. A Lakota Indian named Tony advises them to head to the Black Hills of South Dakota where a vast series of wind caves might serve to protect them. A mysterious undertone given off by the wind tunnels somehow keeps the horde at bay. Dar experiences a sense of community with the Lakota. It is a return to the days when they lived freely off the land, and Dar settles down to raise her son only to make a startling discovery. Joseph Souza's award-winning short stories have been published in various literary journals throughout the country. Winner of the 2004 Andre Dubus Award for short fiction from the University of Southern Maine, he also received Honorable Mention for the Al Blanchard award in crime fiction. His horror novel The Reawakening, The Living Dead Series, Book 1 won the 2013 Maine Literary Award for Speculative Fiction. His other books include Darpocalypse, The Living Dead Series, Book 2 and The Liger Plague. Darmageddon, The Living Dead Series, Book 3 is to be published 2/14 by Permuted Press. He lives in South Portland, Maine with his wife and kids, and enjoys running, boxing, golf and reading. Joseph Souza-Horror&Crime Novelist Facebook: Joseph Souza Twitter: josephsouza3 www.josephsouza.net
