The Life After Series

The Life After series is a collection of new adult horror fiction by American author Bryan Way. The series consists of two novels and five short stories, most of which are self-published by Way on Amazon via CreateSpace with the exception of Life After: Consequences, which appeared in All Things Zombie: Chronology of the Apocalypse.

Conception & Writing
Way began writing zombie fiction shortly after his introduction to Resident Evil II and Dawn of the Dead in 1998, contributing his earliest work to the Homepage of the Dead fiction section in November of 2000. Way's 2003 winter break following his first semester at Temple University coincided with the basic training holiday furlough of his best friend John Henderson. Once reunited, Way introduced Henderson to his zombie fiction catalog on Homepage of the Dead. Intrigued by what he'd read, Henderson suggested they write a story together; while he ended up producing several pages, Way took the idea much further, quickly turning what was to be a short story into a nascent novel.

Way began crafting the narrative without determining the scope of the project, unwittingly echoing George R. R. Martin's process of allowing the story to develop over time. Though the first draft was completed in July of 2004, Way had previously considered that the story was larger than one book and didn't believe his writing abilities to be sufficient for publication, so he began the second novel in January of 2005, simultaneously reshaping the first book as he wrote the sequel. The combined effort expended on both books increased the writing time by a factor of six as Way continued to alternately plow forward and procrastinate; his worst stretch of writer's block lasted an entire year, during which time he finally settled on Life After as the series title. Way finally finished the first draft of the second book on September 24th, 2008, quickly completing a second draft of the first book, now officially titled Life After: The Arising, in November of 2008. A second draft of the sequel followed in January of 2009, coinciding with the release of Life After: The Phoenix on Homepage of the Dead.

On August 4th 2011, Way definitively decided that his next drafts would be crafted with publication in mind. By November of 2012, Way completed a fourth draft of his first book and began querying agents and publishers. On January 23rd 2013, he definitively decided to self-publish, following a friend's suggestion to use CreateSpace.

  

Style
When originally conceived as a joint writing venture between Henderson and Way, both aged 18 at the outset, the latter struggled with how to divide the labor before settling on the idea that they would each write their own account of the same story: while Way would craft the overall plot, he and Henderson would each write first-person characters based on themselves. As a result, protagonist Jeff Grey would be a self-styled collegiate zombie expert and, had Henderson continued with the project, he'd have written the first-person account of Pennsylvania National Guardsman John Anderson.

To aid in what was originally intended to be a mutual continuity between two separate stories and put more emphasis on the details of a catastrophe, Way determined that the story's chapters would correspond to fixed, successive dates, effectively committing the story to a speculative alternate history in which the zombie apocalypse begins on October 9th, 2004. He similarly set the story in his hometown of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania and sought to keep the geography and locales more or less intact to ease the burden of the parallel continuities. Characters were initially drawn from shared acquaintances of Way and Henderson before the former realized that the story was quickly becoming a much larger solo venture.

Early on, Way decided to embrace the conceit of Night of the Living Dead, starting the plot with the beginning of an apocalyptic scenario where the dead rise and proceeding forward. Rather than recycle this seminal storytelling approach that had already been copied innumerable times, Way canonized the existence of zombie pop culture within the world of the story, believing that occasional references to movies and books on the subject would lead to a fresher approach. He also felt this would lend the characters and story more relatability; attempting to embrace the vitality of his personal experience, Way sought to create strong, complex teenage characters and focus on their exploits, highlighting their bravery and ingenuity as well as their recklessness and naivety. Feeling that George A. Romero's approach to the undead was unimpeachable, Way aimed to capture the nuance of Dawn of the Dead, which fluidly alternates between horror, action, comedy, and drama. He also decided to leave the origin of the zombies a mystery, and having recently seen 28 Days Later, he incorporated both walking and running zombies, but it wasn't until much later in the writing and editing process that Way realized he'd failed to put a personal stamp on the creatures beyond presupposing concepts he'd seen in prior books and movies. This led directly to the creation of the Undeath Syndrome Surveillance and Diagnosis report.

In December of 2009, Way read Earth Abides by George R. Stewart and finally recognized the shape and scope of the story he wanted to tell: prior to this point, Way was essentially writing something he'd find entertaining, but going forward, he would attempt to imbue the story with more thematic depth by embracing the apocalyptic scenario as a metaphor for teenagers experiencing the adversity of adulthood. The more movies, books, and television Way consumed in the following years, the more he would amass influences; a particular distaste for The Walking Dead helped coalesce his desire to avoid most zombie media in the genre's pop culture explosion of the mid '00s and early '10s, drawing more inspiration from the characterization and dialogue of shows like Six Feet Under and Breaking Bad.

Novels
Novels in the Life After series are written exclusively in the limited first-person perspective of series protagonist Jeff Grey, generally following his daily activities and interactions over the course of a few weeks. Though the ellipses in the novels themselves are extremely limited, Jeff pens an epistolary synopsis of events which occurred after the preceding release in the opening pages of the following release.

Life After: The Arising
Jeff surprises his girlfriend Julia Marino by showing up to her performance in a marching band festival at Thomas Massey high school, his alma mater. When the proceedings are interrupted by a swarm of zombies, Jeff rushes the field to rescue Julia, attracting a small following that he unwittingly leads to the green house on the school's roof. As the situation goes from bad to worse, Jeff is astonished that his lifelong friend Anderson survived a skirmish with the undead, having been previously deployed by the Pennsylvania National Guard. Anderson's primary goal is reattach himself with the guard and get his friends into protective custody.

The group abandons the school under duress, thereafter travelling the area to find supposed check points and safe houses abandoned; Anderson finally admits that his cause is futile and ratifies a three-way leadership of himself, Jeff, and local indigent Rich McKnight. After they've scoured a nearby hospital, the group decides to return to TMHS, reasoning that it would be the last place anyone would go in their predicament. Over the following week, they sleep in the nearby Gauntlett Center by night, fortifying the grounds of TMHS by day while clearing any remaining undead presence, and ultimately find Jeff and Anderson's classmate Colin Mursak, who entreats them to help rescue his younger sister Elena. Though successful, the group discovers that the undead appear to be returning to the area. Following a harrowing escape from the Gauntlett Center, the group prepares for a possible siege with the approaching undead.

Life After: The Void
Two months after the events of Life After: The Arising, Jeff, Anderson and Rich have settled their band of survivors into a new life at the freshly fortified high school. With the group tensions seemingly diminished, Jeff records the group's recent history in a journal. Having spent several weeks cooped up in TMHS, Jeff proposes that he, Mursak, and Anderson travel to their former domiciles to collect computers and personal effects. They ultimately go and return safely, though not without several distressing indications that the surrounding region is rife with danger.

Over the ensuing days, tensions among the survivors slowly come to a boil due to rampant paranoia, personal grudges, and perceived slights, culminating in a tribunal where it will be decided whether they stay put or attempt to leave. Shortly after the former argument prevails, a military surveillance outfit arrives to gather data on the graveyard where the dead came to life. Though the military departs without incident, the group is attacked later in the evening, engaging a group of marauders in a brutal firefight that ends when they kidnap two group members. Though Jeff's rescue effort is a success, the emotional and psychological wounds of being forced to kill other people slowly take a toll on him and the rest of the survivors.

During the following days, it becomes clear to Jeff that several of his friends halfway across the state will not survive the winter without help, so they begin to plan yet another sojourn to absorb their group. While the rescue effort is a success overall, several more people die along the way, and when they return to TMHS, they discover that the school is in the throes of a siege by the undead. The attempt to rally and push them back results in a grievous injury to Jeff, who thereafter convalesces, only to find that the group will now be forced to safeguard their largely untested defenses against thousands of zombies.

Short Stories
Like the novels of the Life After series, the short stories follow a unique structure: shorts are written in a limited third-person perspective from characters who either receive mentions in the novels, provide backstory to events witnessed therein, or have tangential relationships with the main characters. Each short is designed to serve as a stand-alone story while simultaneously enriching a larger network of characters and situations related to the apocalypse that begins in Life After: The Arising.

Life After: The Cemetery Plot
Holt Prendergast and his wife Judy prepare for the funeral of her brother; though Judy mourns his death, Holt is more concerned with the cost and any possible leftover inheritance. On the day of the funeral, their niece discusses the discord Holt's miserly tendencies have sewn, but on this occasion, Holt is right: the cemetery seems to have been duping customers by not using burial vaults when putting their clients to rest. During the wake, Holt gathers Judy's family to insist they take legal action, but they spurn Holt's overtures as posturing. A passing remark sees Holt ditch the wake under the vague pretext of preparations for construction project at TMHS.

Holt returns to Brookwood cemetery on the night of the marching band festival at TMHS, determined to dig up William's grave and prove his coffin was not placed in a vault. After several hours of digging, Holt discovers that his suspicions were correct, but when he hears sounds in Holt's coffin, he slices through it and gets bitten. Panicked, Holt makes a run for it, but his feet subside into several sinkholes, one of which sees him suffering a severe bite wound to his leg before he makes it back to his truck, racing out of the cemetery as he speeds to the hospital. As a result, Holt sets off a series of catastrophic accidents.

Holt barely regains consciousness in a hospital, overhearing two nurses discuss his dire circumstances, both in health and with the law. The ward struggles with an influx of patients from the local high school, and as Holt's health fails, he entertains a notion that he will survive moments before he passes away.

Life After: The Basement
Two months after the zombie outbreak in Newtown Square, Eric Matthews and Mia Muxworthy believe they're on the verge of unveiling a devastating truth: that the apocalypse was propagated by a multinational business conglomerate. While Eric is wholly convinced of the overarching conspiracy, Mia is less willing to draw conclusions from what she views as thin evidence; Eric is fixated on some indefinable yet definitive proof, but Mia argues that there may be nothing to give them a satisfying conclusion to their efforts.

The following morning, Eric and Mia are beset by a small horde of undead. Forced to improvise, they bumble onto the property of Mason Dantis, who quickly takes them in and offers them something to drink. Moments later, they both pass out. They wake up having been caged in dog crates in Mason's basement, finding Tracy Dantis chained to one wall and a female zombie chained to another. Eric quickly comes unraveled as he's taken into a back room by Mason while Tracy and Mia hatch a crude escape plan; when Mia frees the zombie, Mason reenters the room, setting off a massacre with numerous unintended casualties. Having been bitten in the chaos, Tracy escapes and attempts to rescue her son Jimmy.

Despite her weakened, emaciated state, Tracy follows Eric's instructions, carrying Jimmy for large portions of a trek toward DCCC. When passing in front of TMHS, several people on the second floor shout for her to come inside, ultimately offering her a chance to keep Jimmy safe.

Life After: The Phoenix
Adam Wilent drives toward a 24-hour supermarket at which his ex-girlfriend Shar Antosky works; despite the fact that she's dating someone else, both she and Adam have been unable to let go of their relationship. On Shar's break, Adam's disdain for their situation coalesces around Shar's recently acquired tattoo: Shar insists that her rudimentary phoenix will eventually include a design chosen by Adam, but he insists this will occur only if they reconcile.

When they part ways, Shar returns to work and Adam passes out in his car, only to be awakened by an EAS klaxon over his radio; in short order, both encounter zombies. They link up in and run through the supermarket, and when they finally have a moment to collect themselves, Shar rebukes Adam, leading them into a furious argument where they take turns blaming each other for their failed relationship; Adam feels that Shar is incapable of telling the truth while Shar believes Adam is placing too much of the burden on her.

After the police try and fail to help, their only recourse is to keep their backs pressed against a door as zombies try to break it down; when Adam concludes that they are about to die, Shar sobbingly indicates that he'd rather be right about her faults than be happy before insisting that Adam escape through a window while she holds the door. They kiss, and a badly injured Adam makes it out just as the door bursts open.

In-World Documents
In-world documents encompass anything canonical inside the Life After universe.

Undeath Syndrome Surveillance and Diagnosis
A joint venture between the CDC, HICPAC, USAMRIID, and WHO as conducted by the United Nations, the report details a presumed outbreak of an unknown pathogen, termed Undeath Syndrome, which begat the spontaneous reanimation of human corpses interred at the Brookwood Cemetery in Newtown Square, Pennsylvania.

Part I details the incident at TMHS on October 9th, 2004. Very little cumulative data was gathered, but it became clear in the early hours of October 10th that local law enforcement and PANG suffered a complete and total failure of containment, leading to the dissolution of their check points. By the afternoon of October 11th, martial law had been declared throughout Delaware County and all disaster relief efforts fell under the aegis of FEMA. By October 14th, cases of Undeath Syndrome were being reported throughout Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, Maryland, and Delaware. By October 19th, martial law had been declared throughout the entirety of the United States.

Part II examines the known scientific data surrounding those bitten and the undead, including transmission, treatment, symptoms, generalities on mobility where it concerns the fast-moving and slow-moving zombies, their hunting patterns, vulnerabilities, and lifespan. Part III details a series of recommendations regarding interaction, deterrence, attack, evasion, termination, and destruction where specimens are concerned, in addition to suggestions regarding shelter and supplies for unaffected individuals. Part IV offers projections on global dissemination and potential future population trends. Part V offers a temporary conclusion indicating that the epidemic has yet to be studied in full.