The birds that hadn’t flown south swooped and congregated on the roadsides, in the trees, on the disused telephone poles lining the roads. Squirrels, rabbits, chipmunks, foxes, even the occasional cat or dog darted across the road ahead of them. Without people around to spoil it, nature had reclaimed the earth. In several places the gravel was shot through with weeds even the blacktop was cracked by sprouted plants. She pedaled in grim silence, her eyes constantly strafing the woods and fields. Even though the roads were gravel and somewhat of a grind, he resolved to travel on bike whenever he could, exposure to predators be damned. Aside from being more expedient than slogging the eight miles on foot, biking brought with it the subtler pleasures he’d forgotten about, the breeze ghosting over his face, the edifying sensation of the handlebars in his grip, the gratifying blaze in his quadriceps as he worked the pedals. Every time Dez had ridden as an adult, he wondered why he didn’t do it more often. They must infiltrate the vampires’ stronghold and face unspeakable terrors.īecause death awaits them in the fortress. To save them, Dez and his friends must risk everything. The bloodthirsty creatures have transformed a four-story school building into their fortress, and they’re holding Dez’s ex-girlfriend and Iris’s young daughter captive. Now Dez’s ex-girlfriend and Iris’s young daughter have been taken hostage by an even greater evil, the dominant species in this hellish new world: Dez would never have survived the battle without Iris, a woman he’s falling for but can never be with because of the monster inside her. Within months, nearly every man, woman, or child was transformed into a monster…or slaughtered by one.Ī rare survivor without special powers, Dez McClane has been fighting for his life since mankind fell, including a tense barfight that ended in a cataclysmic inferno.

They awakened the bestial side of humankind: werewolves, satyrs, and all manner of bloodthirsty creatures.

Three years ago the world ended when a group of rogue scientists unleashed a virus that awakened long-dormant strands of human DNA.

Children of the Dark by Jonathan Janz