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Countdown:

In the summer of 2014, Colorado Cancer Research Center's Dr. Daniel Wells feels great as he and his team have achieved a major breakthrough in the fight against all types of cancer. However, one of his young patients Amanda Amberlee dies in a car crash leaving a grieving angry mom, Suzanne, whose lungs happen to be host to the Marburg Ex19 cure.

Also in that fatal summer in Reston, Virginia, Dr. Alexander Kellis and his virology medical research team have made a humongous breakthrough in finding a cure for the common cold without a need for a vaccination. However, free press reporter Robert Stalnecker makes up a story that Kellis violated scientific protocol. His phony report leads to the Mayday Army breaking into Kellis’ lab to destroy the place, but they inadvertently release Alpha RC007 from its secure locale into the lower stratosphere. Soon a perfect biological storm occurs when the infectious Alpha RC007 meets the powerful Marburg Ex19. Soon the question many ask is "When will you Rise? as the end of the world as we know it has begun.

Previously available only on-line, this is a terrific prequel to the Newsflesh Trilogy (see Feed, Deadline, and Blackout ) as Mira Grant provides the exciting biological missteps that led to the zombie apocalypse and 2014 is the year that has gone down in infamy.

The fast-paced storyline grips fans from our first visit to the two labs and a few other locations in spite of knowing what happened to civilization by 2040. The key cast is fully developed; for instance fans will feel Amanda's anguish, Wells' euphoria and grief, and Alexander's torment as he knows what the idiots released onto the world though he remains clueless as to the specific biological disaster. Mira Grant writes a superb novella.

Apocalypse Scenario No. 683: The Box:

For fifteen years, the six friends have met every Friday evening playing the Apocalypse Game. The three males and three females rotate who will derive the latest end of the world scenario. Number 683 is Cole Evan's turn to tell. She only missed two sessions in all these years and those were due to pneumonia. However, Cole, who works mysteriously for the government, is not coming this time. Instead she sends a digital response that her five mates increasingly fear is apocalypse now as she leaves them with a frightening choice.

This is an entertaining short story that may or may not mean the end of the world has begun. The storyline is well written because the audience can sense the changing attitudes of the five participants as they increasingly fear their missing in action participant sent them the real thing. Although there is a loose link with the Apocalypse now scenarios, the well written Apocalypse Scenario No. 683: The Box feels like padding to the strong prequel feature Countdown.