When a deadly plague spreads like wildfire, 17-year-old Bren Watts is trapped at Ground Zero of a global pandemic. ---- Bren and his classmates are stranded in New York City, now filled with thousands of murderous infected and desperate survivors. Forced into an unlikely alliance with his school bully and former friend, Logan Hardy, the two boys must find a way back home, traversing through the ravaged landscape of the United States. With their odds stacked against them, Bren has no choice but to use the skills taught by his ex-Navy SEALs father to fight and survive. But the path ahead is bloodied and broken, and if he wants to reunite with his family, Bren must tap into his darkest heart for not only the infected are capable of hatred and violence. The Bren Watts Diaries tells a dark and gritty account of the end, all narrated in the survivor's own voice as a first-hand witness to humanity's end. The story will cover the first year of the Apocalypse, depicting the beginnings of the disease, society's war against the pandemic, and the eventual collapse of civilization. [[Current word count: 450,000 - 500,000 words]] ----- The series portrays an LGBTQ+ protagonist and numerous other characters. Violence, like any medium of zombie stories, is described in detail.

The pandemic was just the beginning. After an unknown virus sweeps across the globe, Aurora and two other survivors seek out safety in a bomb shelter with enough supplies to last a few years. Just as she starts to adapt to her new way of life, she is suddenly abducted by those responsible for introducing the disease, and is taken farther from home than she's ever been before. She doesn't know what they want from her, but she soon discovers the truth: about her captors, the universe, and who she really is--a reality that leaves her breathless. B O O K / 1 Previously Titled The Scarlet Effect