ZHackers is from what I understand, an ongoing net serial by David Jordan. The premise of the storyline is an unknown infection is ravaging the nation and three college students, Daniel, Richard and Samantha happen to be lucky enough to react to it. The story opens with the three walking to their respective classes and going about their business as if it were the standard school day and nothing was amiss.
But, and you knew this was coming or there wouldn’t be any kind of suspense.
The shit totally hits the fan. Not just hits it but smothers that puppy with creamy goodness.
Dan and Samantha get their first exposure to the infection when fellow student Cho stumbles out of the restroom missing body parts and followed by another patron of the porcelain palace missing far more. Making split second decisions and weighing the options on the fly, Dan and Sam make a run for Richard who is in a different building. Watching the horror show unfold as unsuspecting students and instructors succumb to the flesh eating monstrosities, they come up with a plan to use one of the dorm buildings as shelter and fortify it as best they can.
What I find to be interesting about this series is that it deviates from the normal, if there is even a normal in this genre, and tosses out the idea of heading to a mall or Wal-mart. Not pointing any fingers but there has been several, almost too numerous to count, authors who have thrown in the old ‘hey, let’s all head to Wal-mart or to the mall’. Seriously, does anyone actually thing they’re the first people to think of that?
Jordan’s ZHackers is definitely a series to watch out for. It takes a more intelligent look at legitimate means to survive on a college campus amidst a zombie outbreak. The main characters show intuitiveness that moves the story along at a brisk pace with no lag time at all. The chapter breaks are about all the reader will get to catch their breath. The pacing is fast, frenetic at times but doesn’t lose the reader in any way. The writing is descriptive enough to suck in the unsuspecting and make them part of the drama and suspense that is well penned by Jordan.
Not to give anything away but in the first installment we have the fight or flight mental moments, the chaos of not knowing what is happening, the disruption of a normal school day, the total airhead moment when someone sees a friend and thinks that they are only injured and not infected, and the rapid planning to survive in a world now infested by rabid devourers of the flesh.
If you’re looking for more than the usual zombie story, take a look at David Jordan’s ZHackers, it’s a step up from what is normally found in this genre.
