Apocalypse Gate Trilogy Read online

  Apocalypse Gate Trilogy

  “Portal Zero” – Book 1

  “Worlds Merge” – Book 2

  “Ruin Prevails” – Book 3

  EDDIE PATIN

  Full Trilogy Set

  Copyright

  “Portal Zero – Apocalypse Gate Book 1”

  “Worlds Merge – Apocalypse Gate Book 2”

  “Ruin Prevails – Apocalypse Gate Book 3”

  “Apocalypse Gate Full Trilogy Box Set”

  Copyright © 2018, Lost Woods Publishing LLC

  To Join Eddie Patin’s Fiction Mailing List and see other titles, go to:

  http://EddiePatin.com

  EBooks are not transferable. All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission.

  Published in the United States of America by Lost Woods Publishing LLC, 2018

  Table of Contents

  Apocalypse Gate Trilogy

  Copyright

  Table of Contents

  Book Introduction by Eddie Patin

  - Book 1 – Portal Zero -

  1 - Chad Murray

  2 - Arthur Kline

  3 - Kayleen Lugo

  4 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  5 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  6 - Megan McKinney

  7 - Chad Murray

  8 - Kayleen Lugo

  9 - Arthur Kline

  10 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  11 - Megan McKinney

  12 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  13 - Kayleen Lugo

  14 - Arthur Kline

  15 - Megan McKinney

  16 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  17 - Chad Murray

  18 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  19 - Megan McKinney

  20 - Kayleen Lugo

  21 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  22 - Arthur Kline

  23 - Chad Murray

  24 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  - Book 2 - Worlds Merge -

  25 - Arthur Kline

  26 - Chad Murray

  27 - Megan McKinney

  28 - Kayleen Lugo

  29 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  30 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  31 - Chad Murray

  32 - Megan McKinney

  33 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  34 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  35 - Arthur Kline

  36 - Kayleen Lugo

  37 - Chad Murray

  38 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  39 - Megan McKinney

  40 - Arthur Kline

  41 - Kayleen Lugo

  42 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  43 - Chad Murray

  44 - Arthur Kline

  45 - Kayleen Lugo

  46 - Megan McKinney

  47 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  48 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  - Book 3 - Ruin Prevails -

  49 - Arthur Kline

  50 - Megan McKinney

  51 - Chad Murray

  52 - Kayleen Lugo

  53 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  54 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  55 - Chad Murray

  56 - Arthur Kline

  57 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  58 - Megan McKinney

  59 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  60 - Kayleen Lugo

  61 - Chad Murray

  62 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  63 - Arthur Kline

  64 - Kayleen Lugo

  65 - Megan McKinney

  66 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  67 - Chad Murray

  68 - Tommy and Jody Shelton

  69 - Arthur Kline

  70 - Kayleen Lugo

  71 - Megan McKinney

  72 - Officer Harvey Swanson

  Special Offer - Want a Free Book Related to this Series?

  Please Review!

  So What Happens Next?

  About Eddie Patin

  More Books from Eddie Patin

  Enjoy this Excerpt from “The Wyvern in the Wilderlands”

  Book Introduction by Eddie Patin

  Sometimes, things go horribly wrong.

  In the arena of worldwide politics and major scientific research, projects can be so big and all-encompassing that the little things can be missed.

  And when certain details are not anticipated—like the burst of a massive Electromagnetic pulse being an unforeseen side effect of the activation of an inter-dimensional portal—there may be unintended consequences.

  Especially when that EMP blast leaves the scientists disabled, and their new open gateway creates an out-of-control chain reaction of other portals to random dimensions and far-off places throughout the universe popping up all over Earth—each accompanied by their own EMP bursts as well…

  A whole world can change because of the little things.

  Worlds can collide…

  Entire pieces of a world can be lost into the dark, unknown spaces in between…

  These are the stories of everyday Americans trying to survive on an Earth devastated by the total collapse of electronics and man-made power, and ravaged by the otherworldly dangers that emerged from the Apocalypse Gate…

  Do you love guns, tactical realism, and monsters? Are you a fan of cosmic horror and dark fantasy / sci-fi? Love the Mist and Cabin in the Woods? Lovecraft? Doom? Stranger Things? EMP and Prepper Survival? This story is full of terror, suspense, and bad language. If you can dig it, strap in for a ride to Hell!

  Want a FREE BOOK related to this series?

  Join my Fiction Mailing List, and I’ll send you a FREE NOVELLA related to the Apocalypse Gate series—something not sold in bookstores and only available to my fans! As a member of my mailing list, you’ll receive occasional updates about upcoming books, and you’ll get more free goodies from time to time as well. I won’t spam you—I promise.

  Click Here to Download “The Sniper and the World Eaters”

  Now on to the book...

  - Book 1 – Portal Zero -

  Where were you when the lights went out and the monsters came?

  In the near future, a government experiment out of control opens gateways to other worlds and dimensions all over planet Earth, plunging everyday people into a nightmare of grim survival against the horrific and bizarre...

  Portal Zero. The beginning of the end.

  - In Colorado Springs, CO, young family-man Arthur can't find his wife and young sons when all electronics and vehicles in the city are disabled. But the EMP is the least of his worries. When the city quickly turns to looting and anarchy, he sees much darker dangers in the shadows with glowing blue eyes...

  - In Geneva, Switzerland, Chad is a naive cameraman working for a news network filming the opening of Portal Zero, mankind's first experiment with 'Dimension Drive'--an attempt at inter-space travel. Barely out of his internship, Chad is forced to survive the terrifying creatures that emerge from the gateway when everything goes wrong. When the slaughter in the deep-underground lab begins, how will he survive, trapped and isolated from the surface?

  - Meanwhile, in Zion National Park, UT, Megan is a fit and self-made woman on vacation with her boyfriend when a mysterious thunderclap kills all of the electronics in the park. When a strange, golden obelisk appears in the middle of the park, a mysterious and unseen force begins transforming the tourists around her.

  - Harvey is an alcoholic, disgraced police officer in Las Vegas, NV, recently imp
risoned after failing at his spree of vigilante justice on the unpunished. But when the city's power fails and the precinct over his cell is breeched by an army of nightmares, it seems that Hell itself is invading the city of sin, and the Strip is burning.

  - Kayleen is a young college student and art major at PSU in Portland, OR. She doesn't really care about much more than Veganism and the boy she secretly has a crush on. But when a weird, alien environment follows an EMP-induced city-wide blackout one night while she's at an off-campus party, what will Kayleen find out about her values when everyone's focus turns to survival?

  - Tommy and Jody are two young children in Flagstaff, AZ, living with their mom and dad and enjoying a stable childhood, when a town-wide power outage becomes a call for concern when it's not fixed by the next morning. When the family hears the police fighting against invading monsters in the business district nearby, and they are all forced to evacuate their home because of a spreading wildfire, the children have no idea that their lives are about to change forever...

  In a year much sooner than you think, while scientists and politicians argue about global warming and lack of resources, the United Nations has reorganized itself into the UEA, the first serious attempt at a world government. “Dimension Drive” is being developed for wormhole-based space travel in Europe by the UEA to expand human civilization into the stars. But the UEA development team responsible for Dim Drive has no idea that they’re about to lose control of the portal they’re trying to harness because of a massive, unforeseen EMP, ushering in the end of the world as we know it.

  In America, one of the last superpowers holding out against joining the United Earth Alliance, several individuals across the country are going about their lives, unaware that UEA scientists are quietly conducting the first real test of their new Dimension Drive technology that will change everything...

  1 - Chad Murray

  UEA Science Research Lab, Geneva, Switzerland

  Portal Zero sat pristine and dormant before the team of UEA scientists, soldiers, and an international news crew. No one had no idea that everything they perceived as reality was about to be mangled and turned upside down by the infinite horrors of the cosmic unknown...

  “So we’re not actually doing it live,” Chad said, tightening the pivot points of the tripod.

  Looking at the bright digital display, he tilted and pitched the camera little by little until the composition was just right. Melinda adjusted her shirt, her bra, and the lapel microphone tucked into her bright red blazer. She moved a strand of medium-length dark hair out of her face, back to the side where the makeup team intended it to stay.

  “No, Chad. This is for later.” She pressed her ruby red lips together and glared at him. The anchorwoman gave him that look—the look he’d seen plenty in these last two months that spoke volumes of resentment and annoyance.

  Too young, her eyes said. Just a dumb kid. A skinny little hipster playing with the big dogs. Even though Melinda had known Chad for several years when he was in high school and throughout college, even though she was a family friend, the young man couldn’t shake the feeling that she hated him for getting a hand-up in the network. It wasn’t his fault that she'd agreed to take him on when his uncle asked her to.

  Melinda could have said no. Chad would have understood and started as an intern like everyone else.

  There were no other twenty-two year old technicians working for senior anchors, after all.

  Later, looking back on this moment as he sat on the irradiated ground of the California wasteland, Chad would laugh at how none of it mattered; how his worrisome little house of cards would soon be ripped to pieces like the rest of the world...

  But for now, here he was, deep underground in a secret research facility for the United Earth Alliance, surrounded by soldiers and scientists, shooting something super-important for one of the largest media networks on the planet.

  No pressure.

  “This is Melinda Ballard reporting live at the UEA’s Science Research Lab under the UEA Office in Geneva, Switzerland.” She smacked her lips. “Geneva, Switzerland. Switzerland.” Melinda was looking at the camera even though Chad wasn’t recording, repeating bits and pieces of her introduction as if warming up her tongue. Chad knew that she’d been one of the senior anchors for the United News Association for what ... six years now? But even still, this particular gig must be a big deal for her too.

  He wondered if she ever got nervous.

  With a perfectly manicured hand, Melinda reached over to the table out of view of the camera and grabbed a bottle of water with a straw. She carefully pursed her lips and took a drink.

  “Then why do you keep saying live?” Chad asked. He scratched at his scruffy face and felt his man bun to make sure his hair was still in place.

  She smirked at him, her crow’s feet barely showing under the makeup.

  “Because, kiddo, it’s for the viewers. Makes them trust the news if it's live. We'll still have to edit this later.” She put the bottle back on the table and composed herself, adjusting her ear piece. “This is Melinda Ballard reporting live at the UEA’s...”

  The camera was pretty-much good to go. Chad had positioned Melinda a third into the frame, and behind her, viewers could clearly see parts of the desks and computer terminals, the scientists or technicians (whatever they’re called these days, Chad thought) working at their individual tasks. In the center of the shot was the gate, up at the front of the room.

  Gate. Portal. Whatever.

  The room wasn’t very large. Chad and Melinda were set up in the back on the left, and the floor sloped down to the far wall—toward the gate—with three rows of technician terminals and equipment along the way that reminded Chad of a college classroom. There were three long rows of desks, with a central walkway down the middle. The difference between this deep, underground science lab and a small university classroom was that up at the front of the class—where a professor might normally stand at a whiteboard or something—there was only the gate...

  Portal Zero.

  When Chad was a kid, he'd watched a movie called Stargate. That movie had a huge portal mechanism with a great, big runway and a large, rotating ring-thing full of Egyptian glyphs. Whenever the characters—the soldiers and such—walked into the portal, it was a huge deal: walking up that runway, rolling up their massive pallets of equipment...

  There was certainly no shortage of techno-stuff in this room, but this place and its coming big test was rather lackluster compared to Hollywood’s version. The portal itself was a large ring about seven feet in diameter, just like in the movies, made of steel or some sort of metal alloy, but there were no fancy glyphs or runes or other decorations to make it look magical and cool.

  It was just a big metal ring. Columns and cases of electrical equipment and sensors were attached to it on the outside of both sides, bolted onto the heavy steel frame. There wasn’t any sort of magical field inside, humming and buzzing and waiting. There was no black hole, or even a fancy, twisting aperture. On the other side of the ring was just the back wall of the room, about two feet behind it: a solid concrete wall painted UEA baby blue. A huge array of wiring was connected to the hardware on the outside of the ring, all neatly gathered into two thick tentacles of Cat 5 Ethernet cables, power cables, and other wires that Chad didn’t recognize at a glance. The bundles were zip-tied together every twelve inches or so and led to the various technicians' desks and terminals. Both of the thick, collected cordage bundles were attached firmly to the concrete floor with black duct tape.

  There was no Hollywood bullshit—no regular pointless beeping machines, no holograms, no big laser maps of space with radar stuff or whatever...

  It was just the gate ... and a bunch of computers.

  That wasn't to say that it wasn’t impressive...

  This was definitely the first real, live inter-dimensional portal Chad had ever seen—the only portal he’d ever seen that wasn’t on TV or in a video game.

  If
it worked...

  Not actually live, Chad corrected himself in his head.

  “Alright, ready to do the intro segment?” Melinda asked.

  “Sure.”

  The senior anchor loosened up her shoulders. Chad looked around at the scientists, all calmly working on their computers, occasionally getting up to talk to a neighbor nearby, or the project director, standing at the back of the room behind them. Four UEA soldiers stood quietly near the entrance of the room behind the news team, two on either side of the sliding glass door, each holding what Chad assumed was some sort of machine gun. They were dressed in blue-grey jumpsuits, wore some sort of ... torso armor full of pouches and gear, and had the UEA-colored pale blue helmets on their heads.

  Melinda took a breath and smiled. “Are my tits okay?”

  Chad’s eyes glanced down then up again. He nodded, and signaled her to go.

  The anchorwoman stood smiling for a while after the red light turned on, then came alive with energy.

  “This is Melinda Ballard reporting live at the UEA’s Science Research Lab under the UEA Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Today we’ll be reporting from the UEA buildings of both Switzerland and from the UEA Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, because scientists and organizations all around the world are coming together for the first ever test of the newest technology to advance humanity as a whole. That’s right—I’m talking about the UEA’s new Dimension Drive technology, ‘Dim Drive’ for short.

  “Behind me is a team of talented UEA technicians all under the direction of UEA Science Director Dr. Stefan Freudenstein, one of Germany’s top scientists, who has been working on this technology for the last two years." Melinda smirked. "And what is Dim Drive you ask? When faced with the irrefutable evidence of man-made climate change and resource scarcity of the twentieth century, as proven by UEA and United Nations scientists of the time, ten years ago the newly formed United Earth Alliance announced its United Pilgrimage Initiative, declaring its focus on finding habitable worlds for humankind and the development of fast and reliable deep space travel to get us there...”