What do you think?
Rate this book
Z-Altitude #1
Z-Altitude: Outbreak Unfolding
Outbreak Unfolding
Book One of the Z-Altitude Series by D.C. Wolfe
A routine flight. A global outbreak. A race for survival at 35,000 feet.
When Flight 472 departs Dubai, its crew and passengers expect nothing more than a long-haul trip back to the UK. But thirty minutes after takeoff, chaos erupts onboard—a passenger falls violently ill, then attacks. In minutes, the infection spreads. Blood. Screams. Silence.
Captain James Morgan and his multinational crew fight to contain the nightmare midair, only to discover the world below has already begun to fall. Borders are closing. Communications are failing. And every runway is a risk.
Forced to make impossible decisions with lives on the line, the crew diverts toward an old Soviet airbase in Eastern Europe. But the horrors awaiting them on the ground make the skies look merciful. As the undead rise and alliances fracture, survival hinges on trust, instinct—and the hope that someone, somewhere, still has a plan.
Outbreak Unfolding launches the Z-Altitude series with pulse-pounding suspense, cinematic action, and a global-scale apocalypse unlike any you’ve seen before. Buckle up. The dead don’t need passports.
Book One of the Z-Altitude Series by D.C. Wolfe
A routine flight. A global outbreak. A race for survival at 35,000 feet.
When Flight 472 departs Dubai, its crew and passengers expect nothing more than a long-haul trip back to the UK. But thirty minutes after takeoff, chaos erupts onboard—a passenger falls violently ill, then attacks. In minutes, the infection spreads. Blood. Screams. Silence.
Captain James Morgan and his multinational crew fight to contain the nightmare midair, only to discover the world below has already begun to fall. Borders are closing. Communications are failing. And every runway is a risk.
Forced to make impossible decisions with lives on the line, the crew diverts toward an old Soviet airbase in Eastern Europe. But the horrors awaiting them on the ground make the skies look merciful. As the undead rise and alliances fracture, survival hinges on trust, instinct—and the hope that someone, somewhere, still has a plan.
Outbreak Unfolding launches the Z-Altitude series with pulse-pounding suspense, cinematic action, and a global-scale apocalypse unlike any you’ve seen before. Buckle up. The dead don’t need passports.
- GenresHorror
453 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 22, 2025
120 people are currently reading
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 17, 2025
One star purely for having a South African character (since I'm South African). Minus one star for the absurd amount of times the words "froze" and " frozen" are used. Multiple times in the same paragraph even. There are other words that could be used instead.
Other than that, this is an interesting zombie tale, doesn't waste much time in kicking off. The plane setting adds another dimension of stress and threat. There isn't too much of depth to the characters - only info about James and a little drips and drabs about a few others. Note that the book does end on a cliffhanger. (and I hope something I think is going to happen, doesn't).
Theres a few instances of lazy writing which does irk me:
- The entire plan of escape was discussed the night before, the next morning they go over it again and Petrov asks, "a window for what?". Come now.
- When they enter the plane again, Bri asks, "Where the hell is James?". Knowing full well that James ran in first to head to the cockpit. You know, where'd you want your only pilot to be.
- Later on Jenna runs to the cockpit to warn James, he says to her, "You made it.". well, she was right next to you on the way there and held the door open behind you.
Other than that, this is an interesting zombie tale, doesn't waste much time in kicking off. The plane setting adds another dimension of stress and threat. There isn't too much of depth to the characters - only info about James and a little drips and drabs about a few others. Note that the book does end on a cliffhanger. (and I hope something I think is going to happen, doesn't).
Theres a few instances of lazy writing which does irk me:
- The entire plan of escape was discussed the night before, the next morning they go over it again and Petrov asks, "a window for what?". Come now.
- When they enter the plane again, Bri asks, "Where the hell is James?". Knowing full well that James ran in first to head to the cockpit. You know, where'd you want your only pilot to be.
- Later on Jenna runs to the cockpit to warn James, he says to her, "You made it.". well, she was right next to you on the way there and held the door open behind you.
January 12, 2026
I read a lot of zombie fiction and a lot of it kind of sucks, I went into this with that expectation (and that I'd likely be learning ALOT more about planes) and honestly this book really surprised me! Don't get me wrong, it still has certain hallmarks of self-publication and lack of an editor that is typical of the genre(at one point "he" was misspelled and the most egregious: after an entire night of discussing their plans of escape, the military colonel asked "What window?" when told they need to leave when the window is there. like????? are you stupid?) but other than minor nit-picky things it was really well written.
It was actually in third person omniscient point of view, which I feel like you just don't see as often! Admittedly this did lead to some confusion on my part with some of the names being so similar (James and Jenna, Varga and Vega) and could have had a little clearer transitions at times but honestly if I paid more attention with reading that would be less of a problem. But it allowed for an interesting angle on showing the audience what was happening without being concerned over if the POV character was present of not. We also knew everyone important's name the second they were introduced which was interesting.
He did something with the structuring of his lines which I really loved, where for I guess emphasis (that's what I got out of it at least, maybe to keep the pacing purposeful?) he would just got to the next line instead of continuing in a paragraph. Only in certain parts and sparingly enough to where it didn't lose effect. It was more reminiscent of poetry and I really liked it, here's and example from page 244 with his line breaks:
"And then it smiled.
Not a snarl.
Not a growl.
A slow, broken-toothed grin, wide and wet, as if it
remembered how to mimic joy,
but not what it meant.
Jenna froze."
Like altogether it looks like how poetry implements line breaks and punctuation and I love the effect that it gives!
Also his writing style lended to the zombies pretty well I think. Descriptive enough to create quite a visceral image in certain places but leaving just enough to the imagination at the same time. And honestly the part where he was describing the grinning zombie (above lol) honestly did creep me out a bit like gosh how creepy. I couldn't quite decide on the intelligence level of the zombies in here, or if it would vary on the individual. And honestly before they started watching videos of attacks on the ground, based on the ones we had seen so far, I didn't think they were going to be fast zombies.
Honestly I was gong to give the book five stars until the last 20 pages, killing Ethan off in such a stupid and needless way and THEN ending it on such a cliff hanger made me fully decide to give it four stars, honestly that was a personal offense.
It was actually in third person omniscient point of view, which I feel like you just don't see as often! Admittedly this did lead to some confusion on my part with some of the names being so similar (James and Jenna, Varga and Vega) and could have had a little clearer transitions at times but honestly if I paid more attention with reading that would be less of a problem. But it allowed for an interesting angle on showing the audience what was happening without being concerned over if the POV character was present of not. We also knew everyone important's name the second they were introduced which was interesting.
He did something with the structuring of his lines which I really loved, where for I guess emphasis (that's what I got out of it at least, maybe to keep the pacing purposeful?) he would just got to the next line instead of continuing in a paragraph. Only in certain parts and sparingly enough to where it didn't lose effect. It was more reminiscent of poetry and I really liked it, here's and example from page 244 with his line breaks:
"And then it smiled.
Not a snarl.
Not a growl.
A slow, broken-toothed grin, wide and wet, as if it
remembered how to mimic joy,
but not what it meant.
Jenna froze."
Like altogether it looks like how poetry implements line breaks and punctuation and I love the effect that it gives!
Also his writing style lended to the zombies pretty well I think. Descriptive enough to create quite a visceral image in certain places but leaving just enough to the imagination at the same time. And honestly the part where he was describing the grinning zombie (above lol) honestly did creep me out a bit like gosh how creepy. I couldn't quite decide on the intelligence level of the zombies in here, or if it would vary on the individual. And honestly before they started watching videos of attacks on the ground, based on the ones we had seen so far, I didn't think they were going to be fast zombies.
Honestly I was gong to give the book five stars until the last 20 pages, killing Ethan off in such a stupid and needless way and THEN ending it on such a cliff hanger made me fully decide to give it four stars, honestly that was a personal offense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 27, 2025
Be prepared. For Sentence. Fragments. For emphasis.
I may go back and re-evaluate this review at a later date. I just finished the book and I was pleased with a couple of things: super interesting premise, one of the elements of a zombie outbreak that you don’t really think of, the author clearly knew his shit when it came to flying and that was evident in the detail.
The book went off the rails a bit with the multiple short sentences. It got old really fast. The characters were well-written but very trope-y, and do people change quickly or slowly from a zombie bite? There was no consistency there except when the plot required it one way or another.
Book ended on a cliffhanger and I’m not going to read the second one because it was a bit of a chore to read this one with the writing style. Was an interesting premise but lost steam with annoying writing.
I may go back and re-evaluate this review at a later date. I just finished the book and I was pleased with a couple of things: super interesting premise, one of the elements of a zombie outbreak that you don’t really think of, the author clearly knew his shit when it came to flying and that was evident in the detail.
The book went off the rails a bit with the multiple short sentences. It got old really fast. The characters were well-written but very trope-y, and do people change quickly or slowly from a zombie bite? There was no consistency there except when the plot required it one way or another.
Book ended on a cliffhanger and I’m not going to read the second one because it was a bit of a chore to read this one with the writing style. Was an interesting premise but lost steam with annoying writing.
September 10, 2025
Fear of Flying…
This book is definitely an A+. Overall, it is well written and builds suspense inexorably. There are a few grammar errors that could have been fixed by more careful proofreading, but those are minor issues. I was very pleasantly surprised by the book as it is a high cut above most of the ZA horror being written. I’ve read a lot of ZA fiction and have to put this book in the top tier.
This book is definitely an A+. Overall, it is well written and builds suspense inexorably. There are a few grammar errors that could have been fixed by more careful proofreading, but those are minor issues. I was very pleasantly surprised by the book as it is a high cut above most of the ZA horror being written. I’ve read a lot of ZA fiction and have to put this book in the top tier.
December 6, 2025
Interesting premise but hard to read
Great plot idea. Some decent characters but not really any character development due to there being too many characters. Hard to read due to formatting and unrefined writing style.
Great plot idea. Some decent characters but not really any character development due to there being too many characters. Hard to read due to formatting and unrefined writing style.
December 10, 2025
Author takes the cringe out of Zombie Air and makes it literature.
The author has a wonderful writing style—vivid language and descriptive. This writer knows aviation and can make it relatable to the average reader while he unfolds the apocalypse.
The author has a wonderful writing style—vivid language and descriptive. This writer knows aviation and can make it relatable to the average reader while he unfolds the apocalypse.
January 12, 2026
Griping
A spine-chilling narrative seizes my imagination, holding me captive with its relentless intensity. I find myself involuntarily engaging with the pages, muttering and gasping as the story unfolds.
A spine-chilling narrative seizes my imagination, holding me captive with its relentless intensity. I find myself involuntarily engaging with the pages, muttering and gasping as the story unfolds.
November 23, 2025
A brilliant read. Completely different and a nice change to zombie books, cant wait to read the rest of the series.
January 3, 2026
Zombies on a plane
I really enjoyed a fresh setting for the genre. It added another layer of fear with the plane. I look forward to finishing the series.
I really enjoyed a fresh setting for the genre. It added another layer of fear with the plane. I look forward to finishing the series.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews