John Ringo - Black Tide Rising - eARC

BLACK TIDE RISING - eARC

Edited by John Ringo & Gary Poole

Advance Reader Copy

Unproofed

TOP NAME WRITERS ENTER THE REALM OF JOHN RINGO'S BLACK TIDE RISING ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE SERIES!

A collection of all-original stories set in the Black Tide Rising series of novels created by multiple New York Times best-selling author John Ringo Stories by John Ringo, Eric Flint, John Scalzi, Dave Klecha, Sarah Hoyt, Jody Lynn Nye, Michael Z. Williamson and more.

The news that humanity had been dreading for ages had come true. Zombies are real. Worst of all, we created them. The apocalypse was upon us, and every man, woman and child had to answer a simple question of themselves: What do we do now? For a group of neighbors in the Chicago suburbs of Northern Indiana, it was work together or die...and figure out how to live on top of oil storage tanks to keep the zombies at bay. For the Biological Emergency Response Teams in New York City, it was how long can we fight off the infected before it's too late...as well as having to fight other groups all out to claim a dwindling stock of supplies and safety. And for a group of cheerleaders, it was about the end of their world. And about what happens when you get a group of physically fit young women really, really angry.

Featuring original stories from some of the brightest stars in the science fiction universe: John Ringo; Eric Flint; John Scalzi; Dave Klecha; Sarah Hoyt; Jody Lynn Nye; Michael Z. Williamson; Kacey Ezell, a cheerleading coach, veteran, and helicopter pilot; and more.

BAEN BOOKS by JOHN RINGO

BLACK TIDE RISING: Under a Graveyard SkyTo Sail a Darkling SeaIslands of Rage and HopeStrands of Sorrow Black Tide Rising (edited by John Ringo & Gary Poole)

TROY RISING: Live Free or DieCitadelThe Hot Gate

LEGACY OF THE ALDENATA: A Hymn Before BattleGust FrontWhen the Devil DancesHells FaireThe Hero (with Michael Z. Williamson) Callys War (with Julie Cochrane) Watch on the Rhine (with Tom Kratman) Sister Time (with Julie Cochrane) Yellow Eyes (with Tom Kratman) Honor of the Clan (with Julie Cochrane) Eye of the Storm

COUNCIL WARS: There Will Be DragonsEmerald SeaAgainst the TideEast of the Sun, West of the Moon

INTO THE LOOKING GLASS: Into the Looking GlassVorpal Blade (with Travis S. Taylor) Manxome Foe (with Travis S. Taylor) Claws that Catch (with Travis S. Taylor)

EMPIRE OF MAN (with David Weber): March Upcountry and March to the Sea (collected in Empire of Man) March to the Stars and We Few (collected in Throne of Stars)

SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES: Princess of WandsQueen of Wands

PALADIN OF SHADOWS: GhostKildarChoosers of the SlainUnto the BreachA Deeper BlueTiger by the Tail (with Ryan Sear)

STANDALONE TITLES: The Last Centurion Citizens (ed. with Brian M. Thomsen)

To purchase these and all Baen Book titles in e-book format, please go to www.baen.com.

Black Tide Rising

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Copyright 2016 by John Ringo & Gary Poole

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original

Baen Publishing Enterprises

P.O. Box 1403

Riverdale, NY 10471

www.baen.com

ISBN: 978-1-4767-8151-8

Cover art by Kurt Miller

First Baen printing, June 2016

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10020

Printed in the United States of America

As always

For Captain Tamara Long, USAF

Born: May 12, 1979

Died: March 23, 2003, Afghanistan

You fly with the angels now

Thanks to Star for believing

in me for two decades.

A path traveled together

overcomes all obstacles.

Foreword

Gary Poole

When I was first approached about co-editing this anthology, after working with John through the first four books of the series, my initial thought was, Well, this could be fun. Then again, some people consider running with the bulls in Pamplona fun, so theres no accounting for taste.

Its been said assembling an anthology is akin to herding cats, except not as easy. And as it turned out, it was indeed quite fun, all cat-herding aside. I was able to not only work with a number of writers whose work I have long admired (and luckily can count many of them as friends), but I was also able to work with a fresh group of writers who are in the early, bright stages of their careers. To use a baseball analogy, I felt like the manager of a team made up of experienced all-stars and a crop of talented rookies, all ready to go win the World Series.

What can I say, Im a baseball fan.

But was really an eye-opener to me was seeing the many different ways that writers can look at the same situations and come up with very different takes on the prevailing theme of the Black Tide universe. Which, basically, is Okay, the zombie apocalypse has happened, most of the population is either dead of infected, civilization has fallen, the survivors are horribly outnumberedso now what?

The what happens next theme is what I find, both as an editor and a reader, the most interesting. Can civilization be rebuilt? And if so, what kind of civilization will it be, and could it even possibly be a better one? Or could it be even worse?

Post-apocalyptic themes are all the rage these days, and have been for some time. There is something about the destruction of civilization that connects with the modern reader. But, at least to me, far too many of these stories are all about the fall and not about the rebirth.

Human beings are the most resilient species on the planet. You can wipe out ninety percent (or more) of the population, and the survivors will regroup, rebuild and emerge stronger than before. It has happened many times in history and look aroundwere still here and better than ever.

At least on most days, that is.

So when John originally proposed the idea for the series, a what happens after the apocalypse concept, I was hooked. I was intrigued to read about what people, in many cases just regular people, would do to keep humanity not only alive, but figure out how to make the race prosper once again. If you, like me, greatly enjoyed what John created in the novels, Ill hope youll be just as entertained with what John and the rest of the writers have come up with themselves. These arent superheroes and superhumans; these are regular people making the best (or the worst, in some cases) of the situation.

That said, as interesting as I find the Black Tide world, would I like to live in such a place? Of course not. Take away my smartphone, tablet and my broadband Internet connection and I am not a happy camper. But I do believe in humanity as a whole, and am certain that even if I and my neighbors would perish in such a world, the race itself will continue.

And maybe, just maybe, if the apocalypse does indeed come to pass in reality, these books might help to keep a few more people alive and headed on the right path.

One can always hope.

Just make sure you have plenty of ammunition and a good melee weapon.

Never Been Kissed

John Ringo

Skipper, got a question, Hocieniec said as they were stripping down their M4s for cleaning.

The Harpers Ferry Class Landing Ship Dock Oak Hill was returning to Mayport from successfully clearing the CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln which had been spotted aground off the coast of Guyana. It had been a hairy bitch finding the few remaining two hundred survivors in the bowels of the listed Nimitz Class supercarrier. They were due for some downtime but First Lieutenant Faith Marie Smith had already gotten the word there was a priority clearance in Baltimore. And since they didnt have Trixie along that meant another fucking air assault like LRI. Joy. At least theyd already Subedeyed Baltimore so they infected levels should be down.