Adrian's Undead Diary (Book 5): Wrath
ADRIAN’S UNDEAD DIARY
Chris Philbrook
Book Five
WRATH
Adrian’s Undead Diary: Wrath
Copyright © 2012 Christopher Philbrook
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission of the author. Your support of author’s rights is appreciated.
Published in the United States of America
First Publishing Date June, 2011
All characters in this compilation are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Cover design and interior layout by Alan MacRaffen
For Douglas Adams, Kirk Allmond, Clive Barker, Nathan Barnes, Max Brooks, Tom Clancy, Mark Clodi, Warren Ellis, Neil Gaiman, Tracy Hickman, Joe Hill, Stephen King, Robert Kirkman, C.S. Lewis, Tim W. Long, H.P. Lovecraft, Jonathan Maberry, George R.R. Martin, Richard Matheson, Ian McClellan, D.J. Molles, David Moody, John O'Brien, Don Pendleton, Anne Rice, John Ringo, J.K. Rowling, J.R.R. Tolkien, Margaret Weis, and all the other writers who cracked open their heads, and let us a take a read at what was written inside, me especially. We owe you all a debt of gratitude.
-Chris
Also by Chris Philbrook:
Elmoryn - The Kinless Trilogy
Book One: Wrath of the Orphans
Coming Soon:
Book Two: The Motive for Massacre
Book Three
Adrian’s Undead Diary
Book One: Dark Recollections
Book Two: Alone No More
Book Three: Midnight
Book Four: The Failed Coward
Book Five: Wrath
Coming Soon:
Book Six: In the Arms of Family
Book Seven: The Trinity
Book Eight: Cassie
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Auburn Lake Preparatory Academy map
Foreword by Kirk Allmond
Foreword
I became friends with Chris Philbrook via the modern joy known as Facebook because I was such a huge fan of Adrian’s Undead Diary. One day about a year into my first journey through Adrian’s Journal, I sent him a message. It took me three days to work up the nerve to do it. “Hey Chris. I’m thinking about writing a book. Would you read it and let me know what you think?”
Now that I have 9 books published, I can tell you I get this message two or three times every day. And every time I get one, I think about Chris’s response to me. “Absolutely, man. Send it over.”
I am eternally grateful to Chris for his support and encouragement in launching my own career as an author. So I am doubly honored to be writing a forward for this book. First, because I am a super-fan. Secondly, because Adrian’s Undead Diary inspired me to write my own series of novels, “What Zombies Fear,” and started me on a career as an author.
For me, it all started on October 23, 2010; when my friend John said to me in the chat over on my website ZombiePreparedness.org, “You gotta check out this story, mate. He’s only got like four chapters up, but so far it’s amazing.” Then he pasted the link www.adriansundeaddiary.com. That’s the moment I was hooked. I clicked the link and started reading the story of Adrian and Otis.
Adrian Ring hooked me right away. A fantastic character, who over the course of some twenty-bazillion journal entries, transforms from the hero we had into the hero we deserved. Adrian’s development, trials, tribulations, and his overall need to survive intrigued me. Then we met Abby.
The addition of Abby into Adrian’s life started a string of events that no one could have predicted. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to have a man and woman surviving together, weathering all of the storms of a post-apocalyptic world, without having sex. There is no doubt that Adrian grows to love Abby, and she him. Their relation is perfectly crafted and detailed through Adrian’s journal entries. She’s his little sister, and he’s her big brother. And together, they are almost unstoppable. Then, along comes Gilbert.
Gilbert is my favorite of all the AUD characters. He’s the rock. He’s the hard place. He’s Adrian’s advisor, mentor, father-figure, and drinking buddy. He’s a man’s man with a heart of gold, but like everyone, he’s made some tough decisions. There are two books in the entire world that have made me cry, Old Yeller, and Adrian’s Undead Diary.
I’ve read the entire journal seven times. It is a joy to read one journal entry after another all day for weeks at a time. The first time I read it was when it was ‘live’. I’d read an entry and then have to wait two or three agonizing days to find out what happened next. At least a year of my life was spent agonizingly waiting for the twenty minutes of reading, before the wait until the next chapter started. You, dear reader are in for a treat. You don’t have to wait. But, before you go on to chapter 1, I’d advise you to take a trip to the grocery store. Stock up on your favorite caffeinated beverage and your favorite quick snacks. Because once you pass Chapter 1, you won’t want to put this book down.
Kirk Allmond
Author “
What Zombies Fear
”
May 2011
May 1
st
I am now fairly certain I have brain damage.
Some days the damage seems minor, and other days it seems pretty major. For example yesterday I was not a drooling mess. Today however, my brain has shat the bed. At least I think so, based on the looks I’m getting from what constitutes as my friends and family here at Auburn Lake Preparatory Academy.
More on my failings as a thinker later.
We had our version of Grand Central Station here yesterday. More people on campus alive and kicking than we’ve had here in a long time. What was the roll call? Abby, Gilbert, Patty, Gavin, Mike, Lisa, Mallory, Siobhan, Sarah, Jenna, Hector, Chris, Ollie, Melissa and me. That’s like an entire country’s worth of people nowadays.
The four people who had come to help out for a day or two were meant to return back to Westfield yesterday afternoon, but Mike changed the plan up and drove his people out here. He had awesome news to share.
Westfield is now plus a little boy. Jeffrey Daniel Langston, born on April 28
th
at about 3pm. Name sound familiar at all? She named him after the late Lt. Daniels. I am very, very happy with that. I hope I can get to know little Jeff a lot better than I got to know the man he was named after. Mommy Jeannette is doing well, and Mike reports (out of earshot of Lisa) that Lisa performed everything without flaw.
In terms of morale, I find this to be an enormous victory for everyone. The fact that a new person, living and whole, came into this world safely gives us hope. He smiles, burps, farts, cries, and makes us feel like there’s a reason to keep doing what we’re doing.
Everyone from Westfield that arrived yesterday had the biggest smiles on their faces all due to him. Today, everyone here has the same smile. It’s like the sun came out.
The joy of a new birth notwithstanding, I am still very goddamn sore. My entire right side from armpit to waistband is covered in various assortments of unnatural colors. I’ve got blues, some purples, a few red blotches, a couple nice accents of black, and I think there might be a magenta touch in a few places.
Saying it’s tender is a major fucking understatement.
Lisa gave me a quick once over yesterday while we were all at lunch together and officially said I would live. The looks on everyone’s face when I pulled up my shirt to show her were fucking priceless. Reminded me of those reaction videos you’d see online when someone would watch something fucked up like two girls one cup, or lemonparty, and they just video the faces of those people. Lots of gasps of ewww…
Just for the record, I would like to say that I have never watched, or visited either of those aforementioned subjects. I’m only aware of them due to the reaction videos I’ve seen.
Honest.
I guess that's the upside of the apocalypse. It's a temporary moratorium on fucked up internet finds.
After telling me some light exercise to do, Lisa also took the time to check out Melissa. That whole prenatal care thing I was talking about. From what I can recall, she gave her and the little one inside her a clean bill of health. A huge lunch with all of us present was a real treat. It felt like our version of an Easter dinner, though a few days late. I kind of forgot about Easter. Not a holiday I celebrated much before… well, you know. I do kinda miss the candy though. Those little fucking chocolate eggs with the thin candy shell were the shit. I could eat those by the motherfucking trough.
Sigh.
With all the extra hands and good weather, we hit the field and worked together to get fence in the ground. Well, Gilbert and I operated the water jugs and watched from a very comfortable set of lawn chairs. He and I polished off the last of the Johnny Walker Blue, which I didn’t care for much until the second glass. After that, it was fucking delicious.
I have no idea where the hell we got enough fencing already, but the entire athletics field is now sealed off. Ollie yanked up some of the unneeded fencing around campus to lay it out in a more useful pattern, which may explain where we got the inventory. He’s also mixing concrete to shore up some of the posts that need a little oomph.