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]]

Blake Turner has one goal: survive the next eighteen months, get her diploma, and disappear. Everything else-her boyfriend, her friends, her once-perfect life-is already gone. All that's left is endurance. Eighteen more months of keeping quiet. Of hiding the truth about what happens behind closed doors. Of pretending everything is fine when nothing is. She can make it. She has to. Liam Cole doesn't do attachments. Not when loyalty to his crew is the only thing that's kept him alive these past two years. Dragged into gang life too young, his world is built on violence, loyalty, and nights that end with no names exchanged. His past haunts him. His future? Already decided. His heart? Off-limits. Hardened. Untouchable. But when he crosses paths with the school's most hated outcast-the quiet girl everyone whispers about-everything he thought he knew begins to unravel. But some secrets refuse to stay buried... And when the truth finally breaks free, it leaves no one untouched.