Blood on the Sand (Z Plan #1)
by Mikhail Lerma
Published July 23rd 2014 by Permuted Press
Kindle Edition, 193 pages
Blurb:
Cale was sent to Iraq with the usual thoughts any Soldier going to war might have; being lonely away from his family, not wanting to take another human's life, and above all, the fear of never returning home. Although well trained, nothing could have prepared him for the horror he was about to face.
Cale never thought the thing that could keep him from ever seeing his wife and daughter again would be a zombie apocalypse. As he and a handful of fellow Soldiers escape their base after a massive zombie attack, becoming deserters in order to survive, he begins the long and unexpected journey home through the harsh terrain of the desert; a barren landscape now swarming with not only undead cannibals, but also the enemy he was originally sent to fight.
The newly formed group plans to travel west, find a boat and maybe, with a bit of luck, make it back to America. Cale is tested beyond his imagination and brought to the brink of insanity as he loses friends while fighting the flesh eating masses. He risks his life for weeks, focused on holding his wife and daughter in his arms again. It seems all hope is lost when he finds himself alone and adrift at sea ... but is hope really lost?
Inspired by my experiences as a U.S. Army Soldier in Iraq, BLOOD ON THE SAND delves into the idea of not just surviving a zombie apocalypse but making the seemingly impossible trek home. It is the first book in the Z PLAN series.
/
Excerpt:
It was Cale's friend who convinced him to join the army.
"We'll be truck drivers, dude," Chris said. "All we'll do is drive. No big deal."
Cale had no intentions of being a .50cal gunner. Nor did he ever feel the need to shoot anyone. Chris was the one who talked him into it, but when the time came, Chris backed out, leaving Cale to go to war with strangers. Luckily, he made friends quickly.
Besides, it was just as much his fault as it was Chris' for his being here. But that was all pointless to argue now, given his current situation. It didn't matter how he got here, just how he'd get back.
Cale walked to the vehicle and opened the door. The breeze was chilly and the rain drops that hit his face were cold. Cale climbed into the driver's seat and started the engine. It turned over easily, and the heater worked. He checked his mirrors; it was definitely time to leave. In the rearview, he could see he'd drawn the attention of what was left of the neighborhood. Twenty, maybe thirty approached the back of the vehicle. The wind had pushed their scent away from Cale, masking their approach. He put the vehicle into gear and pulled away. He watched as the village disappeared in the rearview mirror.
My Review:
I received a free copy of the book from the author for my honest opinion.
When Cale was shipped off to Ft. Bragg for training his baby girl was only three months old and she will be over a year old before he will see her again. Cale is a soldier in the U.S. Army and when he joined the army he signed up to drive trucks. He wasn't sure if he could take the life of another human being or not. But he did join the army and that is what soldiers usually do when they are deployed to Iraq for his tour of duty. But it doesn't matter how you feel about killing someone when you join the army they are going to put you through training and one of the things they teach you is how to shoot. But Cale knows that sometimes in life you have to do what you have to do to survive. Out in the desert there is not much to do when you are on your own time, free time or actually it is probably more like rest time because you are probably never on your own time as long as you fighting in a war for the army. But when Cale and his partner Zack are not driving GT112 trucks or doing laundry they are playing Halo on X Box. Cale and Zack are two of the best players in their group. Of course you do have a lot of time to think I guess when you are resting up for you next mission. Cale thinks a lot about his wife Lauren and his baby girl Marie about how much he misses them and about all of the first things that he is missing out on seeing his little girl do like when she takes her first step or when she speaks her first word. But he is not the only one that misses his family of course his best friend Zack misses his wife Jo too. He thinks a lot about her and when he is going to see her again. Cale and Zack heard reports of the virus and how it was effecting people on the tv. There were reports of the virus in Africa and it had also spread as far as Los Angles and New York as well as several other cities across the world. People were starting to act crazy attacking anybody or anyone who tried to help them. The symptoms of the virus are cold sweats, nausea, vomiting of blood, cramps, and hypothermia the lady on the tv said. She was also warning people not try and help anyone with the reported symptoms to stay as far away from them as possible and if they came in contact with anyone with any of the symptoms to run from them as fast as possible. The next day everyone is called out for formation and is told that people are trying to get into the base camp and they were being put on high alert. All of the platoons were told to grab their weapons and form a line around the base along the fence. Before long a siren starts going off the people outside the base finally managed to break through the fence somehow and that is when all h3ll broke out. The people who had broken through the fence started attacking the soldiers. They had no weapons that they could see. Cale was told to take them out if they got to close but just as Cale started to squeeze the trigger someone else fired his weapon and hit their target. The guy had no pulse so the medic started cpr and a few minutes he started to move and opened his eyes. His month was moving but the medic couldn't hear what he was saying so leaned down so he could hear him and the dude just bit him on the neck. A lot of the soldiers then started to panic and everything went crazy. Cale, Zack and some of the other soldiers kept their cool and made it to safety. Everyone was in shock at first not having any idea what was going on with everybody but they finally realized that the dead was coming back to life or that now they were zombies. After everything sort of died down Cale, Zack and all of the ones who had made it to safety with them knew they couldn't stay where they were for long. One of the reasons being that the walls around them were not going to hold the zombies out for much longer. Cale, Zack and some of the other soldiers decided it was time to leave and find better accommodations. They were all worried about the rest of the world and their families. Were they still alive? So Cale, Zack and a couple of their buddies decided on a plan. Their plan was they would start out toward the Mediterranean Sea and go up the coast into Europe and then across Europe find a boat and then make their way home back to America. So they load up GT112 the truck that Cale signed up to drive when he joined the army and head out on their long journey across a country that they knew nothing about. They were in a land where zombies wasn't the only thing they had to worry about. Nope they had to worry about the humans as well because with them being in a country and with people that were their enemies as well, people that they were at war with before the zombie outbreak. If anyone knows me or follows my blog then they know by now that I love zombies. They know that I love reading about zombies and when I watch tv 99% of the time I am watching zombies. Everybody in my family knows not to call me or come to visit when The Walking Dead is on. If you know this about me then you have some idea as to how much I loved reading the Z Plan. You can't hang on to the edge of you seat with this because it will blow you right out of it. The zombies in Z Plan are so different than zombies in other books that it is mind blowing. I loved the world that Mikhail Lerma built for Z Plan: Blood on the Sand. It was created with the friendship and bonding of soldiers and not with a man and a woman falling in love during a zombie apocalypse. Now don't get me wrong I don't mind a little romance thrown in but sometimes we need to just try a new flavor once in a while. Nothing wrong with that. We read different genres. I can't wait to read the next book in the series Z Plan: Red Tides. I can't wait to see the Z Plan series on the big screen one day. We need more tv shows like the Z Plan.Favorite Quotes ~ Z Plane: Blood On The Sand:
It was like the whole world had gone insane. It started with breakouts of some new form of rabies. Mass acts of violence, murder, and suicide. Most people were calling it an End of Days, the Apocalypse, or Armageddon. Cale thought it was ridiculous what the superstitious freaks thought of. He believed it was a virus of some kind, nothing magical. Hell hadn’t filled up. Somewhere, someone fucked up. They didn’t wash their hands or something.
“Their people will become like walking corpses, their flesh rotting away. Their eyes will shrivel in their sockets, and their tongues will decay in their mouths. On that day they will be terrified, stricken by the Lord with great panic. They will fight against each other in hand-to-hand combat”
-Zechariah 14:12
Red Tides (Z Plan #2) by Mikhail Lerma
Published August 26th 2014
by Permuted Press
ebook
Blurb:
After barely escaping the Middle East alive in Z PLAN:BLOOD ON THE SAND, Cale finds himself on a journey not many men could endure. When he deployed to Iraq he never could have known the world would soon be overrun by a deadly virus, turning the human race into a walking nightmare. His story picks up right where it left off in BLOOD ON THE SAND. After days of drifting alone in the open sea, he is sure the chance of rescue is hopeless. His thoughts nearly drive him mad until finally a voice crackles over the boat radio. Only his rescue isn't quite what he imagined it would be. Cale will have to trust his instincts, and let his wits aid him as he continues his grueling mission to make it home. Follow Cale as he travels land and sea in book two of the Z PLAN series.
/
About The Author:
Mikhail Lerma was raised in the small town of Holdrege Nebraska. In the third grade he wrote his first short story, in which the main character was a monkey. Not taking his career as a writer too seriously after that, he finished his high school years by joining the army when he was only 17. He spent 10 years in the army starting as a truck driver and eventually becoming a combat medic.
While deployed to Iraq in 2007 he spent missions in a turret as gunner. In his free time he began writing a story having nothing to do with monkeys. Only time will tell if this was a good career move. With encouragement from his friends and family he decided to start taking his writing seriously. Storytelling has become a passion of his, with a strong interest in horror and science fiction. He is currently going to school to become a paramedic, and finishing his first series for Permuted Press.
He lives in Iowa with his wife and three daughters. He does not have a pet, but if anyone would like to donate a male dog to level out the hormones in his house that would be much appreciated.
0 comments:
Post a Comment