The End Games - By T. Michael Martin Page 0,122
felt dizzying, the truth. “You?” Grinning hugely, Holly mouthed to him: over. “O-over,” Michael said into the walkie-talkie.
There was a pause across the airwaves. And then Radio Man said, “More,” with his smiling voice—his beaming voice, actually. “More than three.
“Three out there in radio land,” he said disbelievingly. “Oh, boy. Thank G . . .” For some reason, he sounded nearly like he was going to cry.
“Hey, pal, your signal’s going out; let’s get your location info before we lose each other, okay?” said Radio Man after a moment. “I’ve just got to ask: Who are you?”
Who are you?
Michael closed his eyes.
And while he rode the wind that carried them into his unpredictable dawn, he pushed down the SEND button, and answered.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The End Games is a work of fiction that contains some nonfiction elements. For example, Charleston and virus mutations really do exist, but for the story’s sake, I’ve taken creative liberties with both. Other aspects of the book are invented whole cloth, including: Southern West Virginia Coal and Natural Gas, Coalmount, Atipax, and of course the existence of Bellows.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Here is a truth about a novel (and perhaps especially a debut): The author’s name is emblazoned on the jacket, but the story within is a kind of topographic map of his past and his heart—and neither of those things can formed in isolation.
I’m grateful to many, many people for their guidance and companionship in creating my particular map. Here are their names, with a few special explanations at the end.
Bridgeport: Scott Faris, Brendan Gibat, Heidi Griffith, Charles and Joanna Kovalan, Amy Lohmann, Alice Rowe, and Jeff Toquinto.
Family: Everyone, but especially my grandparents (Bobbie and Jack Crouse, Tom and Louise Martin), my wonderful second family (Rick, Abbie, Will, and Billie Layne, and Bill and Jeanne McNamara), my siblings (Matt, Molly, and Patrick), and my uncle Jimmy, who inspired my love of fear in the first place.
Film school: Ted Ferris, Jordan Kerner, Laura Hart McKinney, Bill Mai, Joseph Mills, Tom O’Keefe, Laura Hauser O’Keefe (who is also a talented designer/illustrator who helped me with my website), Dale Pollock, Ron Stacker Thompson, and Andrew Young. Most of all here, though, I owe a profound thanks to Dona Cooper, whose generosity of spirit and wisdom shaped my understanding and love of storytelling.
At HarperCollins: Alessandra Balzer, Molly O’Neill, Viana Siniscalchi, and Jon Smith.
Misc. people who have been nice/inspiring to me: Pilar Alessandra, Leo Babauta, Brene Brown, Brook Bishop, Jack Canfield, Father Harry Cramer, Paula Friedland, Seth Godin, Michael Hyatt, Harry Knowles, Robert McKee, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Carson Reeves, Anthony Robbins, Craig Skistimas, and Gary Vee.
New Leaf Literary & Media: Danielle Barthell, Kathleen Ortiz, Pouya Shahbazian, and Suzie Townsend.
Winston-Salem: Tom and Sarah Jane Bost, Tanya Gunter, Caleb and Emily Masters, Ed and Pat Mayfield, Michelle Reed and the Bagel Station Crew, and Jamie Rogers Southern.
Writer friends/supporters: Bryan Bliss, S.A. Bodeen, Joshua Ferris, Ridley Pearson, Stephanie Perkins, Carrie Ryan, R.L. Stine, and Nova Ren Suma.
YouTubers who inspired and/or supported me: Ed Bassmaster, Elmify, LiveLavaLive, BertieBertG, Link Neal of RhettAndLink, and the VlogBrothers.
And, especially:
My editor, Donna Bray, who I think is literally ingenious. Donna’s insights, patience, and unbelievable care made me transcend everything I’d allowed myself to hope The End Games could be. Thank you so much, Donna.
My mom and dad, Kim and Mike Martin, whose steadfast support of my writing gave me the strength to fight monsters in my stories (and my self).
My little brother, Patrick Martin. The “Michael and Patrick” in this novel are not us, but being the older brother of an awesome kid who loved zombies as much as I did made The End Games possible. You rule, Bub.
My agent and best advocate, Joanna Volpe, who is a voice of calm in times of writer-y confusion, and who understood The End Games from the beginning and did so much to make this dream become true.
Sara Zarr, whose kindness and friendship changed my life, and whose mentorship led me toward the endgame of this novel. Here is another truth: Without SZ, there would simply be no novel.
And finally, more than anyone else, I want to thank my wife, Sarah Louise Martin, whose “Sarahpo” artwork delights me and whose love fills my life with light and hope. There can be no overstating this: Having Sarah in my life is a miracle, and I love her with my whole heart.
About the Author
T. MICHAEL MARTIN is a novelist and screenwriter who holds a BFA in filmmaking from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was inspired to write his debut novel, The End Games, by his own younger brother, Patrick, and their mutual love of zombie movies. He and his wife, Sarah, live in West Virginia. You can visit him online at www.tmichaelmartin.com.
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Credits
Cover art © 2013 by Jon Smith
Cover design by Jon Smith and Ray Shappell
Copyright
Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
The End Games
Copyright © 2013 by T. Michael Martin
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Martin, T. Michael.
The end games / T. Michael Martin. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: “In the rural mountains of West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Michael Faris tries to protect his fragile younger brother from the horrors of the zombie apocalypse”— Provided by publisher.
ISBN 978-0-06-220180-5 (hardcover bdg.)
EPUB Edition MARCH 2013 ISBN 9780062201829
[1. Survival—Fiction. 2. Zombies—Fiction. 3. Brothers—Fiction. 4. West Virginia—Fiction. 5. Science fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.M36422End 2013
2012038108
[Fic]—dc23
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13 14 15 16 17 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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Table of Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
After the End . . .
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Credits
Copyright
About the Publisher