Apocalyptic Psychological Thrillers

The RATS were the first sign. If only they would listen. Maggie De Luca recently relocated to New York. Working as a medical detective in her new position, she is called in to investigate a mysterious death. The red rings on the lungs were alarming enough, but then she hears the word plague. Now, the clock is ticking. And the death count is rising. Maggie tries to trace the origin of the disease, but is always one step behind. Then she starts seeing things...the victims...reaching out from the grave. But ghosts aren’t real, right? Meanwhile... Microbiologist Michael Harbinger believes he ...

It begins with a reality TV show. Twelve contestants are sent into the woods to face challenges that will test the limits of their endurance. While they are out there, something terrible happens—but how widespread is the destruction, and has it occurred naturally or is it man-made? Cut off from society, the contestants know nothing of it. When one of them—a young woman the show’s producers call Zoo—stumbles across the devastation, she can imagine only that it is part of the game.

Jodi McDonald and her family have escaped from the Helios cult. But their freedom has come at a heavy price. Now, grief-stricken and fractured, they are once again on the road. As they search for a new sanctuary, Jodi is driven by one need above all others: to protect her family at all costs. Every person has their breaking point, and Owen McDonald has reached his. To cope with unbearable loss, he fixates on finding a new home—a fresh start. But his obsession with reaching the coast could have deadly consequences.

When the unthinkable happens, Seffy faces the worst apocalypse she could ever imagine. Will her friends force her into an off-brand solution that brings only the illusion of peace from heartbreak? Or will she follow in the footsteps of her namesake and get her second chance after all?

Zombies, reapers, and more monsters. In a world where so many dark things go bump in the night, terror awaits around every corner as these authors take horror stories to the next level. Discover ghosts, demons, and your worst nightmares. Read at your own risk. Featuring 19 stories by the following 17 authors: Michael Raff, Antoinette McCormick, Matthew Ross, Charles Kyffhausen, Andrew McAuley, B.F. Vega, Douglas Allen Gohl, Toni Mobley, Barend Nieuwstraten III, E.B. Hunter, Constantine E. Kiousis, Alexis Cunningham, Katie Jordan, Maya Moes, Jodie Francis, Lori Gaudet, and J.E. Feldman.

Everything Elka knows of the world she learned from the man she calls Father, the solitary hunter who took her under his wing when she was just seven years old. He has taught her how to shoot, track, set snares, and start fires - all the skills she needs to survive in a frozen, lawless land where civilization has been destroyed and men are at the mercy of the elements and each other. But the man Elka thought she knew so well is harboring a terrible secret. He's a killer. A monster.

Jack Murphy thought he’d found the perfect escape for his family from a world gone horribly mad. He thought wrong. Matthew Costello’s Home begins mere minutes after the terrible sacrifice Jack made to save his family at Paterville Camp in Vacation. Barely escaping, Jack’s wife, Christie, and two children, Kate and Simon, must accept that their lives and their future have changed forever. In this intimate and human survivalist horror story, the three of them will face even greater dangers....

It’s the hottest winter on record, but Raymond’s demanding, bedridden mother doesn’t mind. She likes it warm. Lately, however, control over the thermostat has become a nasty struggle. And each morning that she’s still alive is a suffocating new challenge for Raymond. How high can the mercury climb before he boils over?

Asleep in Armageddon delves into the recesses of human imagination as Ray Bradbury crafts a mesmerizing narrative set against a backdrop of impending cataclysm. In this thought-provoking short story, Bradbury explores the complex interplay between dreams and reality, challenging conventional notions of existence. As the world hurtles toward an uncertain fate, the protagonist grapples with the surreal landscape of their own subconscious, blurring the lines between nightmare and actuality. Bradbury's poetic prose and evocative imagery converge in this tale, creating a vivid exploration of the human psyche in the face of existential turmoil.

In late 2024, Daybreak, a movement of post-apocalyptic eco-saboteurs, smashed modern civilization to its knees. That story, along with Heather O'Grainne's, was told in Directive 51. Now Heather's story continues in Daybreak Zero. In the summer of 2025, she leads a tiny organization of scientists, spies, scouts, entrepreneurs, engineers, dreamers, and daredevils based in Pueblo, Colorado. Both of the almost-warring governments of the United States have charged them with an all but impossible mission: find a way to put the world back together.

For more than a year, Heather O'Grainne and her small band of heroes, operating out of Pueblo, Colorado, have struggled to pull the United States back together after it shattered under the impact of the event known as Daybreak. Now they are poised to bring the three or four biggest remaining pieces together, with a real President and Congress, under the full Constitution again. Heather is very close to fulfilling her oath, creating a safe haven for civilization to be reborn. But other forces are rising too.

Brace yourself for a heart-stopping journey as Dr. Allison Hayes battles an ancient evil disguised in the most innocent of melodies. Your pulse will race. Your skin will crawl. Reality itself will warp around you as you plunge headfirst into a world where every whispered note could spell doom. This cosmic horror will infect your mind, leaving you breathless, exhilarated, and forever changed. Forget everything you thought you knew about the power of music.

When the flood hits, America's East Coast is evacuated by every means possible. Brooklyn paramedic Travis Cooke had dreamed of reuniting his family, but not like this. Escaping New York with his son and the ex-wife he still loves - and her new husband - they find themselves evacuated on the luxury cruise ship, the Festival of the Waves. Hours later, the Festival lies dead in the open Atlantic: no power, no communications, and nowhere near enough food.

Jon Keller was on a trip to Switzerland when the world ended. More than anything he wishes he hadn't ignored his wife Nadia's last message. Twenty people remain in Jon's hotel. Far from the nearest city, they wait, they survive. Then one day, the body of a girl is found. It's clear she has been murdered. Which means that someone in the hotel is a killer....

April and her family have returned to the place where her nightmare began. It’s bad enough that she feels trapped by a building, a virus, and the upcoming winter, but the indistinguishable whispers in her head hold her captive, as well. For April, remembering is reliving the events in her life every day - good and bad. When she discovers that the voice in her head is Cecil’s, she turns to her parents for a solution.

Lost in the rubble of a society long dead, a small group of survivors forages for what supplies are left to be found. Their explorations will lead to a fatal confrontation as their paths cross with one young man with a death wish. The story of what drove him to that place on that day is one that will change their outlook forever on their increasingly bleak existence on the landscape of a newly alien world.