Just One Day

by Jacob Prytherch

The engineer awoke to the sound of the failing air conditioning, knowing four things above all else. He knew who would be beating a monotonous rhythm on the door, he knew that he had to kill them, he knew that they would already be dead and rotting, and he was painfully aware that they would not be alone...

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Amazon, Science Fiction, Time Travel, Short Stories

34 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 3, 2013

About the author

Jacob Prytherch has been making up stories since he was a child, even when he should have been paying attention in school. His influences include Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, and Neil Gaiman. His first novel The Binary Man, published in 2012, has since gone on to be the #1 cyberpunk bestseller on amazon.co.uk on two occasions. He currently lives in Birmingham with his wife and two daughters.

Reviews

[Netanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zombies, space ships, and a recycling day of horror mark this zombie short as one of the better ones I've read in a while. Bravo!

[Bandit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love story. With zombies. In space. Prytherch made good enough impression with Carnival, but this story didn't work for me at all. Decently written enough, but something about it just didn't hold my interest at all, to the point where I'm not even entirely sure what happened. Good thing it was so short. It is entirely possible this was a perfectly good story that I just was really not in the mood for.

[Rorek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Decided to just sit and read something short, and was pleasantly surprised by the effectiveness of the writing. I was drawn in instantly. I had already pieced out the plot and had guessed a lot of what would happen within the first few pages, but that didn't stop me from really loving this.

Out of the countless short stories I've read, this one will probably stick out for a long time.

[Desiree Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

I promise, everyone has half an hour minutes to spare for this book. Its only 32 pages long, but it has easily restored my faith in the zombie apocalypse.

[Kay Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Several epic elements make up this story and combined with the excellent writing of a talented author, it was a great short read. I was hooked from the start and this story never loosened it's grip on me.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a nice short read and was good all around.

[Laura Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story reminds me of the movie Ground Hog Day.

A man relives the same day over and over. Except this goes on for years!

Trapped on a space station overrun with flesh eaters, the engineer begins each day the same as the one before. He navigates obstacles and zombies, trying to keep more people alive each time.

While he knows he’s repeating the same day all over again, the other survivors don’t and it doesn’t seem to help when he explains it to them. Each morning he begins again.

“His calm demeanor was the resignation of the damned.”

Each time he anticipates what he learned the previous time, making it a bit further towards safety and keeping more people alive.

“It was just one day, one more, then it would be over. How many times has he said that?”

But the engineer begins to doubt whether he can do what he wants. Whether he can get most of the people to the escape pod and safety. He’ll just have to keep going through it until he reaches an end, if there is one.

For a short story this has a lot going on. Black holes, time travel, and space zombies!

The beginning is a calm introduction to the engineer and what’s going on. Then it quickly becomes a nail biting adventure with people screaming and fleshies gnawing on the poor saps that don’t survive that day.

It’s hard to find a zombie story with a unique spin on it. Kudos to the author for doing just that, plus giving me an ending that had me reading it twice. I wanted to be sure I got it right.

[Ethan Spier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent read! It is extremely well written and pulls you into the story from the very beginning. As the tale progresses, it gradually dawns on you that the protagonist is experiencing a much greater horror than initially revealed and from that point on I was hooked. Zombie horror with a very clever and original twist.

[Holly Cook · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly enjoyable, fast paced with a simple yet effective plot. Great use of descriptive language despite being a short story. I find all too often in short stories that authors don't set the scene enough or give enough background, yet in Just One Day this was not the case. I look forward to reading more from Jacob Prytherch.

[Randy Harmelink · Rating 5 out of 5]

What's not to love about this one -- a fun little mix of spaceships and zombies, with a Groundhog Day twist. For me, it started out as just another free zombie book I downloaded, but I read it right away because it was a short one. And loved it.

[T.R. Raven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic story where the real horror isn't the shambling hordes of hungry undead, but instead the looping hell the main character is trapped in. Nice blend of horror/sci-fi and a worthy read for anyone who enjoys either.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Something Special Zombies, a doomed spaceship, and a Groundhog Day bent should be cheesy, but in the author's hands, this short story becomes something special.  The characters are all well-drawn out, and the technique for giving us the back story was both clever and effective.

[FeedZChildren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Traveling in a zombie infested spaceship, the engineer wakes up every morning knowing and dreading what’s to come.
For the full review go to: http://feedthezombiechildren.org

[Pedro Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best "twisted plot twists" I've ever read.

And do not read the other comments! Everyone is spoiling the story!

[Tracey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good read

Fast paced, full of action and slightly sad. You keep rooting the characters on, hoping it all works out in the endm