Origins of the Outbreak (24 page)

The Carrier
, 8:23 a.m.

Steven's badly burned and mutilated corpse stumbled down the road. As the original carrier, the creature moved much faster than those that it had infected and it had been far east of Austin when the giant fire destroyed most of those who followed behind it. The zombie still limped hideously from where Trisha had hit it with her wrangler. The body would never heal, but it barely hindered its feeding since most victims allowed themselves to be cornered.  The burning thought that continued to play repeatedly through its warped mind was that it needed to feed in order to spread the spores.

It lurched towards the sound of a church organ.
The parishioners of Saint John's prayed for th
e
Holy Spiri
t
to intercede on their behalf. Tonight, only the angel of death heard their calls.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A veteran of both the Iraq and Afghanistan war, Brian Parker was born and raised as an Army brat.
He moved all over the country as a child before his father retired from the service and they settled in a small Missouri town where the family purchased a farm. It was on the farm that he learned the rewards of a hard day's work and enjoyed the escapism that books could provide.

He’s currently an Active Duty Army soldier who enjoys spending time with his family in Texas, hiking, obstacle course racing, writing and Texas Longhorns football.
His wife is also an Active Duty soldier and the pairing brings its own unique set of circumstances that keep both of them on their toes. He's an unashamed Star Wars fan, but prefers to disregard the entire Episode I and II debacle.

Brian self-published four books before signing a 4-book contract with Permuted Press.
His novels GNASH and Enduring Armageddon were previously self-published and will be re-released by Permuted beginning in May 2015 along with two previously unpublished works, REND and SEVER.

He is also the author of The Collective Protocol, a paranormal thriller that shows how far people will go to gain power; Zombie in the Basement is a children's picture book written to help children overcome the perceived stigma of being different than others; and his how-to guide Self-Publishing the Hard Way is for writers looking for pointers to self-publish their manuscript
.

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Permuted Press: 
www.PermutedPress.com