After escaping a stalled elevator into a zombie apocalypse, Emily must learn how to trust people again or risk losing everything in this terrifying world. ***** For Emily, every day of the last two years have been a blur. She keeps her head down, takes her college courses online, and only goes out to work at her mandatory internship. But all that changes on the day the office elevator breaks down, leaving her trapped when the screams begin. And when the doors finally open, revealing a dystopian world ruined by bloody teeth and disease, Emily is launched into a terrifying run for her life, caught between the strangers she's not sure she can trust and the man-eating monsters that hunger for her flesh. Now she must learn not only how to survive in this new and dangerous world, but also how to overcome her own inner demons before they cost her something more precious than her life. [[Wattys' Shortlist]] [[Promoted by AMC]] Content and/or Trigger Warning: The story contains some gore, violence, strong language, and dark themes. [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Abe Barrett is surrounded by ghosts - some of them are even his roommates! But now Abe's visions show something dark coming, and it wants Abe dead. ***** When Abe Barrett's family died, he started seeing ghosts. Soon he was living with three of them, and it turns out ghosts are just as eccentric as people. Abe is bothered by the ghosts constantly since he doesn't want to solve their murders, avenge them or do much of anything. He just wants to do his job and relax. His dreams, however, have been getting darker as people in town start to disappear. Soon Abe realizes there is something hunting him, and that same threat was involved with his family's deaths. A legacy of darkness is chasing Abe Barrett, and his supernatural roommates may not be enough to save him. [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

Antique store owner Liz brings home a Victorian taxidermy hound from auction, unwittingly unleashing dark forces on her wife and son. ***** Nat Loman has finally married the love of her life, Liz, and is getting used to her role as stepmother to Liz's 5-year-old son, Liam. The Loman family runs a bustling antique business so they attend a sale where a striking, black taxidermied hound is up for auction. Liz picks it up for the business, but it ends up being stored in their home, where Nat notices strange things occurring. She quickly discovers the past residents had died violently. Then she hears from a friend about the myth of "the devil's dog", a hound that perches in the shadows, tearing families apart from the inside. Soon, people around the Lomans are dying, and Liz is changing, darkening. It's up to Nat to save the woman she loves from the darkness closing in, and to save Liam from danger no matter what she has to sacrifice. [[Winner of the 2018 Wattys "Hidden Gems" category]] [[word count: 60,000-70,000 words]]

When Gwen, desperate to feel something, kills someone, she quickly learns that one kill is never enough. Can Gwen stop before she turns on her own family? **INCLUDES BONUS BOOK - A CHILD CALLED WENDY** ***** Gwen wants to see beauty in the moment of death. For that, people have to die. It was just an experiment. Simply kill one person to see what it felt like. See if it filled the void within her. It didn't. Nor did it the next time. Or the next. Gwen is an ordinary person. Wife to Amanda. Mother to Grace and Alexandra. Suddenly, she is no longer ordinary as she finds herself battling her urges and demons before she hurts those closest to her. But is it already too late? ### **WATTY 2021 SHORLIST!** A multiple Wattpad Featured Story #1 in Fiction #1 in Homicide #1 in Killing #1 in Scary #1 in Serial Killer #1 in Terror #1 in Death #1 in Murderer #1 in Creepy #1 in Adult #6 in LGBTQ #1 in girlxgirl

Emmy's life is going just as she'd planned: She's living in her own apartment, dancing every day and is just leaps away from being named her company's next Prima ballerina. And she's only 17. But all of Emmy's plans come to a screeching halt when the FBI shows up at her door to let her know that she's being stalked by a serial killer. Suddenly, the safe, insulated world she created for herself is riddled with violence, fear...and a growing pile of dead bodies. At first Emmy wants nothing more than to forget her chilling new reality - but her admirer isn't finished with her yet, and before she knows it, Emmy's stuck in a nightmare she can't dance her way out of. Content and/or trigger warning: This story contains detailed scenes of murder, rape, torture, sex and stalking, which may be triggering for some readers. [[word count: 80,000-90,000 words]]

Red Zoned follows the story of a young lesbian trying to survive in the homophobic, post-apocalyptic America after the U.S. attempts to create a super solider and, in turn, creates the start of a Zombie apocalypse. When convicted for murder, Charlie is given a choice: public execution or the Red Zone. Despite the Red Zone being known for providing a slow and painful death, she opts for the chance to fight for her life instead of facing public execution and it becomes clear quickly that her only chance of survival rests in the hands of others. However, when she develops relationships with the others in her new home, she learns there's more to be afraid of than the flesh eating monsters outside. Trigger Warnings: Themes of sexual assault and suicide.

Tyler is being hunted by the Grinning Man and flees to Marble Springs, where he teams up with Serling and Price, real estate agents who sell haunted houses. ***** After his brother disappears and a burial mound explodes, high school student Tyler Graves starts having strange visions. His brother warns him that something is coming for him. Soon, Tyler's entire family is slaughtered, and he's being hunted by an otherworldly entity known as The Grinning Man. Fleeing to Marble Springs, he meets Serling and Price, real estate agents who specialize in selling haunted houses. It's up to this unlikely trio to stop a madman from destroying the world - by literally unleashing Hell on Earth! (Sequel to Apartment 239.) [[word count: 100,000-150,000 words]]

Each day she wakes up in a different body, not knowing who she is, and each night that body dies. She is the Reaper Syndrome, and she's desperate to know why. ***** She doesn't know what's happening. Each day she wakes up in a new body, not knowing who she is. She has to pretend to be the person, and at the end of the day her new body dies. The media have a name for these deaths: the Reaper Syndrome. No one believes it's a person jumping from body to body, until Joe. He's a conspiracy theorist, but she can make him listen. He trusts her, and he can also see the mysterious man, Samael, that's following her. Why is this happening to her? Who can she trust? Every day it takes her to end the Reaper Syndrome, another person dies. She doesn't want the last victim to be her. *2021 Wattys Shortlisted*

Headless bodies start appearing in the streets, so cunning Detective Rashida Heyes and her partner have to stop the killer to prevent the apocalypse ***** After bodies start appearing in the middle of the streets, hollowed and headless, Detective Rashida Heyes and her partner, Travis Virgil, are given the case. However, once they dig deeper, meeting the emotionally broken Victor Eccelstone, and realize how heavily the church is involved, Rashida has to acknowledge that this case might be bigger than she had ever imagined. These crimes aren't the act of one man - they're the beginning of the end of the world [[Winner of the 2017 Wattys Storysmith Award]] [[word count: 150,000-200,000 words]]

After a mysterious vehicle runs them off the road, Alex and his bandmates must fight for their lives to escape a vicious pack of wolves who bear unsettling similarities to the other band they are touring with. ***** Alex is the lead singer of the up-and-coming rock band Make Them Scream. Despite the fact that the insomnia he's fought with since he was a teenager has been worsening, the band have found themselves in the express lane to stardom. But, when a mysterious vehicle knocks their tour bus off the road in the middle of upstate Montana, the bandmates are left stranded with no cell service. When poor decisions lead them toward the dark woods, things go from bad to worse. If the elements don't get them first, their own demons might devour them alive. Some monsters only come out in the dark, and some reality is scarier than nightmares. ***** WATTYS 2021 WINNER WEREWOLF ***** Content Warning: This story contains mature language, violence, gore and reference to alcohol and drug use.