Apocalypse Z, The Beginning of the End

249 Pages·2012·1.26 MB·English

by  Loureiro Manel

The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to
real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Text copyright © 2007 by Manel Loureiro
English translation copyright © 2012 by Pamela Carmell
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.
Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End was first published in Spain by
Dolmen. Translated from Spanish by Pamela Carmell. Published in English by
AmazonCrossing in 2012.
Published by AmazonCrossing
P.O. Box 400818
Las Vegas, NV 89140
ISBN-13: 9781612184340
ISBN-10: 1612184340
Library of Congress Control Number: 2012910422

When there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth.
—Dawn of the Dead, 1978
CONTENTS
THE BLOG
ENTRY 1
ENTRY 2: HOLIDAY HANGOVER
ENTRY 3
ENTRY 4: GETTING WORRIED
ENTRY 5: SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT
ENTRY 6
ENTRY 7: NEW IDEAS
ENTRY 8: MORE NEWS
ENTRY 9: TIPPING POINT
ENTRY 10: TIPPING POINT, PART II
ENTRY 11: TIPPING POINT, PART III
ENTRY 12: BREAKING POINT
ENTRY 13: BIRDS FALL FROM THE SKY
ENTRY 14: ... AND THE RIVERSWILL RUN RED WITH BLOOD
ENTRY 15
ENTRY 16
ENTRY 17: BOILING POINT
ENTRY 18
ENTRY 19
ENTRY 20: AT THE GATES OF HELL
ENTRY 21: THE STUPIDITY OF MANKIND
ENTRY 22
ENTRY 23
ENTRY 24
ENTRY 25
ENTRY 26
ENTRY 27: RIVERS OF SULFUR
ENTRY 28
ENTRY 29
ENTRY 30
ENTRY 31
ENTRY 32
ENTRY 33
ENTRY 34
ENTRY 35
ENTRY 36
ENTRY 37
THE JOURNAL
ENTRY 38
ENTRY 39
ENTRY 40
ENTRY 41
ENTRY 42
ENTRY 43
ENTRY 44
ENTRY 45
ENTRY 46
ENTRY 47
ENTRY 48
ENTRY 49
ENTRY 50
ENTRY 51
ENTRY 52
ENTRY 53
ENTRY 54
ENTRY 55
ENTRY 56
VIGO
ENTRY 57
ENTRY 58
ENTRY 59
ENTRY 60
ENTRY 61
ENTRY 62
ENTRY 63
ENTRY 64
ENTRY 65
ENTRY 66
ENTRY 67
ENTRY 68
ENTRY 69
ENTRY 70
ENTRY 71
ENTRY 72
INFERNO
ENTRY 73
ENTRY 74
ENTRY 75
ENTRY 76
ENTRY 77
ENTRY 78
ENTRY 79
ENTRY 80
ENTRY 81
ENTRY 82
ENTRY 83
ENTRY 84
ENTRY 85
ENTRY 86
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR

ENTRY 1
Friday, December 30, 8:40 a.m.
Today’s going to be insane. When I got up this morning, it was pouring down
rain. It was still raining as I fixed myself a cup of coffee. I took a shower with
the news blaring on the radio.
Some things never change. One day Spain’s broke, the next day it’s not.
Today I have a meeting that could mean the difference between living like a king
for the next six months or fighting with stockholders who have no idea what’s
best for them. It’s their money, not mine, but if the merger goes through, I could
kick back and live on my commission for the next few months. I need to relax,
motor around on my little Zodiac, and do some scuba diving in the Ria
Pontevedra...
I drank my coffee and looked out the window that opens on to the garden.
This house was a good buy, but so many things still remind me of my wife. She
chose it, she decorated it, she...I guess that doesn’t matter now. I thought my
doctor’s advice to “unburden myself” to others would help me get over her, but
time goes by and I still feel her presence everywhere. “Write a blog,” my
psychologist told me. “Talk about anything you want, any topic. Just talk.” Well,
that’s what I’m doing right now, but it’s not doing much good. What the hell. I’ll
give it a try.
The garden is green, damp, lush, and overgrown. It’s been raining nonstop for
three weeks here in Galicia. The humidity has permeated everything. If this rain
keeps up, I’ll have to cut the grass and clear the vines off the garden walls. It
was her decision to surround the house with these high stone walls; water’s
trickling through them now. “We need privacy,” she said. Now she’s gone, and I
feel like I’m living in a fortress.
I straightened my tie, grabbed my briefcase, and turned off the radio. The
newscaster was talking about an explosive situation in a former Soviet republic
in the Caucasus Mountains, someplace with a name ending in -stan. Something
about a rebel group attacking a military base where Russian troops were