There is a complete reading list in the back of this book.

So, that brings us to Still of Night.

This story takes place a few weeks after the events of Dark of Night. The book is made up of three short stories and one novella. There is a solo Rachael Elle/Warrior Woman story written entirely by Rachael Lavin. There is a brand-new Joe Ledger story. And there is one reprint called “Fat Girl with a Knife”, also by me, which ties into the events of the novella. Then there is the novella, which is another full collaboration between Ms. Lavin and me.

You don’t need to have read any of the previous novels or short stories in order to read this, but it’s kind of fun to take the whole trip. It goes through some weird territory and over a lot of bumps. A few deadfalls, too.

So, buckle up and enjoy the ride!

PART ONE

HOT TIME IN THE OLD TOWN TONIGHT

JONATHAN MABERRY

DURING THE OUTBREAK

— 1 —

NOW

Ever been in a helicopter crash?

There is no way to brace. There is no way to deal with any part of it. Your only hope is to get right with Jesus as fast as you can and hope that he isn’t playing golf with Buddha, with his phone switched off.

In the split second the pilot yells that he has a dead stick and that you’re all going down hard, you become acutely aware that a helicopter is a small metal box. It’s filled with sharp edges and a lot of incidental shit that’s suddenly going with you into an industrial dryer. The world spins and you can feel the subjective floor beneath you drop away. Gravity whispers bad promises in your ear. Adrenaline speed-bags your heart. You hear grown men and women—all of them tough and hardened—begin to scream. Through the windows you see the world whip around like a tilt-a-whirl.

You know the ground is waiting for you and it loves to kill things. Consider all of the billions of dead whose bones rest in the ground. It’s a hungry thing and it is never satisfied.

All of this is bad. All of this is absolutely fucking terrifying.

But any bad thing can get worse. Much, much worse.

Like when the guy strapped into the seat next to you on that falling helicopter is trying to bite you. Not out of fear, but because he has a hunger so deep that nothing, not even death, is going to stop it.

That’s how we fell.

It’s why we fell.

— 2 —

SIX HOURS AGO

It started in another aircraft. A plane. One of those big-ass air force C-5m Super Galaxy transport jobs bringing my team back from a base in Japan to LAX. We were alone in the plane, having dropped off the rest of the human luggage in Hawaii. Just me, Top and Bunny, sitting in shocked silence as we watched the news unfolding on our laptop screens.