Annihilation: A Zombie Short Story

by K. Bartholomew

A tourist is bitten by a rare monkey whilst on safari in Kenya. She is flown home, but later dies from the infection. Soon after, the hospital is on lockdown following an incident with a patient. Within hours, the city of Leeds is being attacked by hordes of people who appear drugged up and deranged. Days later, the north of England undergoes rioting and cannibalism for unknown reasons.

Meanwhile, David Sterling, the British prime minister, struggles to take a lead on the developing situation gripping his country. Zombies are supposed to be a thing of Hollywood, yet here they are in England, ravaging their way across the nation.

Annihilation shows the zombie apocalypse from the point of view of a typical incompetent prime minister. Pray he’s not in charge when the day of the inevitable apocalypse comes.

Genres: Zombies

Audible Audio

First published May 29, 2013

About the author

Zombie author K. Bartholomew. I live in Leeds, UK and I write zombie fiction for real fans of the genre.

Reviews

[Olethros · Rating 3 out of 5]

Política y zombis.-

Género. Novela corta.

Lo que nos cuenta. Relato de un brote zombi en el Reino Unido, de los sucesos que desencadena y, principalmente, de la gestión de gobierno británico, con su Primer Ministro como protagonista, de la situación de caótica resultante.

¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:

http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...

[Netanella · Rating 3 out of 5]

K. Bartholomew is an interesting zombie author, to say the least. He writes interesting zombie stories, in a variety of different styles. In all of them, he is well written, articulate, and thoughtful in the telling. In "Zombie Takeover," the ZA is shown through the lens of press reports and the characters of a number of incompetent politicians, primary among them the Prime Minister of England. When an outbreak occurs in the north of England, the PM is incapable of doing much more than posing for pictures, meeting foreign dignitaries, and opening a Twitter account. In the meantime, the za spreads to most of England. Nice ending, too.

[Chrystal Roe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow

This story was quite interesting as it focused on the political side of an Apocolypse. And the politicians behaved just like real ones.

[Debra Schwitzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

tongue in cheek comedy

Funny story of Britain decimated by zombies. Of course all the blame is on the Prime Minister! Seemed professionally edited.

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

What is this?

Self-proclaimed 'Zombie Author' K. Bartholomew presents us with a short story set in the UK, post 2012 at least, that's on the brim of the apocalypse. A woman stereotypically is bitten by an animal and boom! zombie apocalypse within forty-eight hours. The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom leads its country into doom and then short story is over.

The story seems more of a chance for Bartholomew to vent about his political views than a true zombie fiction. Zombie Takeover focuses on Zacharias Sterling, the Prime Minister and his reaction to the riots and cannibalism that is in fact the start of the zombie apocalypse. Sterling is more concerned with the upcoming election, the impending break with Scotland and scoring points with the public to boost his image. In fact, he's playing basketball with the American President and some inner city children, a scheduled event, when the first riots occur. Sterling's opponent is always talking to the media and seems to be one step ahead of him. And Sterling concludes, like most politicians, that if his rival agrees with it than he has to come up with a different plan of action. This of course leads to action coming too little too late. In the end, Sterling, along with the Royal family escape the country to safety and leave the citizens of the UK to fend for themselves. This, of course, is what would happen if any country went through a massive disaster or invasion.

The characters are all a bit one-sided. It's a bit disappointing. Sterling only cares about gaining popular favor. Warburton, the PM's political rival seems on the surface to care about the safety of the UK while poking a jab at Sterling. The various cabinet members are eager to please the Prime Minister but know he's not quite up to the job. The news reporters are always shocked by the zombies and yell 'Oh God!' a lot. Then there's the refreshing General Wall, who's urging the PM to do what the reader wanted to do in the first place: kick some zombie ass. There is a glimmer, however. There is a brief scene where Sterling comes home dinner, abet very late and he and his wife talk. It was a nice scene and we get to see this difference side, a little life of the Prime Minister besides the politician. I wish the author had expanded on this.

The ending just sort of happens. There's rioting, rioting, rioting aka the middle of the story. Then we have meeting where Sterling announces that he'll leave the country if the takeover gets too bad. And here we are at the end with a FOX news broadcast of the final battle of Britain, with the news anchors joking about the oncoming zombie apocalypse. How appropriate.

What bothers me the most about Zombie Takeover is the flow or the presentation of the story. I couldn't tell very well between the news articles, the video news reports and the daily conversations with the PM. Everything flowed together with little or no break. This lack of break and distinction between scenes makes it a little hard to read.

This story ends at 75% on my Kindle. After that it's mostly previews of Bartholomew's other books.

I'd recommend this to people who are interested in fictional political satire. It is a quick read, so despite the fact that I really didn't like it, you can give it a shot.

[Julie Baswell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a zombie takeover from a political view. It was too much politics for me to enjoy it. Of course as stupid as the British Prime Minister was, and he was the main character, you knew how it was going to end...and you were glad when it finally did.

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

different indeed, good read but has a political plot to it. Zombies start it and politics get involved hmmm dont know where it could go from there. the books goes from the political view to the reporters view. like i said different but a really good read.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an interesting take on the zombie genre!
A surprise ending. Maybe I enjoyed it more as I live in Hull (Yorkshire!)
This was funny and thought provoking. Yes, political, but not in a boring or difficult to understand way.

[Jenn Swanson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a good, short story. Looking forward to reading more by this author.

[Mbickerton · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, needed more action and the end could have been expanded. This book could be made into a longer version.