Thunk Crood

"Ugh... what the hell?" My skull felt like it was being used as a drum in some heavy metal concert. Every throb behind my eyes promised a full-blown explosion. And then it hit me—right. I drank way too much last night. Bits of memory came rushing back: a nightmare workday, my jackass boss dragging me to an “after party,” one drink turning into ten. Couldn't say no, not when a bonus—or respect—was on the line. I groaned and rubbed my temples. This wasn’t just a hangover. Something was wrong. My voice—raspy and strange—escaped without permission. I froze. That was my voice… but it didn’t sound like mine. I sat up too fast. The world tilted. And then—trees. Everywhere. What the—? I lived downtown. This was a forest. I staggered up, legs barely cooperating. The air was too clean, too fresh. Like sixth-grade camping-trip fresh. Then something moved. A lump of earth? No. It floated. Floated. Ding! A chime echoed in my head like a glitch in a video game. "What the hell..." Nothing around me changed—except a woman standing nearby. Calm. Like this was normal. She turned and raised an eyebrow. “You coming in or not?” Still dazed, I nodded and followed. Ding! “ShapeShifter ability added to the shop.” Shop? Then a robotic voice boomed in my head, smug and cheerful: “Welcome to the Distrust System, dear host. Your mission: gain distrust. The less you trust, the more you earn. Bonus: every time someone lies to you, their power is copied.” I caught one word. Money. My confusion snapped into interest. If there was cash in this madness, I was all ears. The woman finally glanced back, unimpressed by my staring. “Lost?” she asked, tone like velvet hiding a knife. “Me? Nah,” I said, smirking. “Still right here… looking at you.” Her eyes narrowed. Later, she stood in front of an empty table, once stacked with food. All gone. She hissed. “Was he fasting for ten years?!” Her stash—gone, devoured by me. Murder was now top of her to-do list. She glanced at me, slumped with a bloated stomach and snoring softly. “Disgusting human,” she muttered, already pulling a hidden blade from behind the wall. She crept into the room, raised the knife— Thunk. Right into the blanket. No scream. She yanked it back. Pillows. Her eye twitched. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” A voice murmured behind her, smug as hell: “You know, for someone planning murder, you’re really predictable.”

Zombies been on top of the food chain. You can get one bit or even as an one scratch, you turn will soon turn into one of them. The outbreak of the virus didn't just kill you but dynamic your corpse and gave it an instinctive need to feed on human flesh. Over the course of the past eight months America was thrown into a state of turmoil, as the leaked government files flooded the internet and news stations around the world. Revealing a level of unprecedented corruption. The current President- despite not having anything to do with the massive conspiracy or the Archangel Program, made the decision to stand down and let the country elect a new leader. Civilization rebuild the rejoice what's lost as the world they used to know for several years now, there being new threat in town. The first appearance of a zombie was laughed by many people finding it a big joke. A warning shot was made to doing the real thing. Witnessed few roam a bit tripping over the bloodied rotren corpse Awaited them to get up to shoot them between the eyes, went down with a thunk and a dash of splat. There was shaking and ground rupture a few ripples beneath the people feet from series of miles distance away. Thousands of people. Hundreds of thousands, maybe a million. A swarm of people like the world had never seen. And the people were all running. They were running as fast as they could go. The swarm of crazed people was rushing toward them. Went radio silence New York becoming a dead city. Everything went empty dead quiet. Leaving one unfortunate rookie injured cop the put a stop to it. Does he have what it takes? To save the human race?

Keegan Croode, a notorious pirate of the High Seas. He is the definition of a criminal, running amok through the seas of the country and causing havoc. Ambushed at sea by his long time enemy, Keegan is killed and the nation is spared of his haunting presence. Keegan subsequently wakes up in an unfamiliar place, a place filled with much more than he knew, a place where all possibilities might come true.

This is Book 2 in the Larry Bottem monogy. Make sure to read LBSS first: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w?ean=9780578933634 For generations, a few Bands of wild cats have shared the forest according to laws that somebody arbitrarily instituted at some point in the past. But some of them are in danger as a series of highly improbable and incredibly stupid events occur! Oh no, who woulda thunk? In the midst of the turmoil appears a "cat" called Crusty, who is senile and dumb. A tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss.

Imagine, for a moment, you die. This is an unfortunate thing, but you managed to get lucky and draw the lottery ticket of Reincarnation! Woo! Isekai Dreams, right? But, get this, you aren't some Legendary Hero or Cheat-Swordsman, you don't even get a unique skill- You just get some scuffed serf class like "Farmer" or "Writer"... Well doesn't that suck! Well, it'll be fine. Even if people can already do those things, you can just do it better, so you can make one hell of a killing! Yeah, this'll be a relatively easy life- *thunk* *thud* A journey to live in a world where you're already dead.

A dragon is born and begins a journey that he never expected. After hundreds of years inside his egg in a cave no modern human even knows exists, he hatches into an era he never thought possible. Follow this young dragon, as he grows and matures into his true self. Through all his ups and downs, and 'who woulda thunk it's', as he grows into something he didn't know he was capable of.