Love & Decay series Season 1 by Rachel Higginson (#1-12)

Rachel Higginson is the creator of The Star-Crossed Series, Love & Decay Novella Series, The Starbright Series, The Siren Series, Bet on Us and the soon to be released, The Five Stages of Falling in Love! She is also the co-creator of the podcast "Zach & Rachel Take Over the World." She was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days raising four amazing kids. In the few spare moments she has to herself, she is either reading for hours on end or writing her own stories.
Genre: Horror | Zombie Apocalypse | Dystopian

Love and Decay, Vol. One (Love and Decay Season 1, #1-6)
Love and Decay, Volume One, is a compilation of the first six episodes in a twelve episode season. It is a Dystopian Romance Novella Series about Zombies, the end of the world and finding someone to share it with. Zombies- as if that wasn’t enough to ruin any girl’s dream of a happily ever after. A vaccination gone oh so wrong and a huge portion of the world’s population was turned into Zombies. Reagan Willow is forced out of her home when her parents become casualties of the horrid Zombie Apocalypse. With the help of her best friend Haley, they’ve become somewhat of experts on surviving the dangers of a world thrust into chaos and decay. Reagan and Haley are on a vague mission to find somewhere safe to live out the remainders of their terrifying life when they stumble upon the Parkers, a pack of brothers that seem to have the survival thing down in a much more efficient and successful way than Reagan could ever have imagined. They are also protecting their eight year old sister, Page, and will do anything to keep her safe. The brothers decide that Reagan and Haley need help with being kept safe as well, and as a group they set off to find the Zombie-free utopia Reagan is dreaming of. Zombies are a daily problem, constantly threatening the lives of their group, but they’re not the only peril on the journey ahead. Militia groups of power hungry men are also a constant concern. And settlements of paranoid, suspicious people turn out to be just as hazardous. Danger looms over every inch of the way, but Reagan, Haley and the Parkers are determined to get to their goal and remain together. Soon the Parkers become more to Reagan than just traveling companions and more than friendship starts to develop between her and Hendrix, the second oldest brother. But at the end of the world, nothing can be as simple as life and death. Now, Reagan is going to have to schedule falling in love between hunting and surviving. Hopefully she can last long enough to find out if true love can still exist when everything else has started to fall apart.

Episode 7
Reagan and crew are making their way through Oklahoma, still heading south and still trying to survive. They are low on food, without any firearms and fresh from a week of walking around in the midst of aggressive, intellectual Zombies. They are exhausted and more than a little bit nervous about their current situation. But that all seems to turn around when they not only find a van big enough to hold them all comfortably but a safe place to stay for the night. The girls take time to pamper themselves and bond and Reagan and Hendrix get close with some much needed alone time. When they decide to loot a gun emporium, they hope for the best but find the worst. They have to fight their way through hordes of Zombies, praying the reward is greater than the risk. And that they all make it out alive.

Episode 8
Tyler Allen was a victim of the Zombie Apocalypse just like everybody else. But unlike most people, Zombies were just the start of her personal hell. As Feeders ran wild in every other part of the country, she lived a relatively Zombie-free life, but one in which the infection threat was traded for the loss of her freedom and the man she loved. Tyler’s dad is Matthias Allen, leader of The Colony. And a man Tyler would do anything to escape. When she hitched a ride with the Parkers, she knew it would be temporary. Like her dad, she knew how to use a means to get to a better end. She would learn to survive from them, learn to fight, but in the end she would take her brother and leave. They weren’t part of her bigger picture. As the group takes their time in Tulsa, stocking up on supplies and resting for a bit, Tyler reluctantly begins to feel attached to Page and her brothers as well as Reagan and Haley. If it weren’t for her dislike of Vaughan, her life would be as close to perfect as it had been in a long time. Still she’s wary to trust people and anxious to be on the run again. When Feeders wander too close to home, Tyler learns just how much she’s grown to care for this brave group of people and how much hope and belonging a few trustworthy souls can make her feel. Until an unwanted visitor shows up, desperate for help and needing refuge. The group agrees to help him, because what else can they do? But Tyler has to wonder if she can ever really escape the nightmare of her past.

Episode 9
After a night of horror and bloodshed in Tulsa, Reagan and crew are back on the road traveling south. Their van is armed with weapons and loaded with supplies. If it weren’t for Kane Allen casting a dark shadow on their trip, things would be looking up. But Kane is there, and he’s badly injured.
Reagan falls into the role of caretaker in order to protect everyone else from Kane and his disturbing ways. She will do anything to protect those she loves, even if that includes fighting a battle of wits and words against the mysterious force that is Kane Allen. But even Reagan doesn’t understand what she’s up against yet. Kane isn’t the only danger on the road though. When the van screeches to a halt in front of an army of Zombies, the group will have to get creative in order to fight their way free. And just when they’re about to escape, someone Reagan cares about more than anything is thrown into the dangerous melee of Feeders. Reagan must risk everything in order to keep her group whole. But in the end will it be enough to save all of them?

Episode 10
Reagan and crew have finally found some place permanent to stay. Tyler’s childhood friend Gage runs a storage facility turned apartment complex and has offered them shelter, safety and a permanent residence for however long they want it. It sounds too good to be true. The problem with living in the Zombie Apocalypse is that most things that sound too good to be true usually are. And among concerns about Tyler’s crazy dad, Matthias Allen, stopping over for a visit, Reagan still has to deal with Kane. When Kane becomes a difficult prisoner, Reagan is sent to deal with him. A few unlucky circumstances later and Reagan must learn to trust Kane with not only her safety, but also her life. On the run from a horde of Zombies, Reagan and Kane must fight together to stay alive. But before they’re out of danger, Reagan is going to have to compromise parts of herself she didn’t know were up for debate. Can Reagan get back to Hendrix alive? Or worse, without Kane marking part of her heart?

Episode 11
After a night in the bunker with Kane Allen, Reagan is panicky with fear and doubt. The Zombies haven’t let up their attack on the bunker door and the darkness of the small space is oppressing. But none of that compares to the overwhelming presence of Kane. By the time Hendrix shows up to rescue her, Reagan fears the damage is already done- Kane and her have bonded before she could pull herself together and protect her heart. Now she wonders if maybe he’s not such a bad guy. Or maybe he has been manipulating her by using her fears and insecurities to get her to open up.
While the Parkers decide how to best solve the Allen problem, Matthias has already arrived and demanded his prisoners go back with him- the Parker brothers and Reagan that escaped his Colony and found amnesty with Gage. Gage takes their side, refusing to let Matthias have his way. But what does that mean for the storage complex? Meanwhile, Reagan and Hendrix find some much needed alone time and try to work beyond the damage that Kane has inflicted.

Episode 12
In the final installment of Love and Decay, Season One, Reagan and the Parkers are forced to face Matthias and his unrealistic demands that they return to The Colony with him as his prisoners. Gage takes their sides and an argument breaks loose. When Tyler and Miller are dragged into the middle of the tense fight, aggression is unleashed and the struggle to survive in a Zombie Apocalypse takes on a new meaning. Reagan must fight her way out of the fray, but not everything is as easy as gun shots and knife wounds. Kane holds a power over her heart that she doesn’t understand and doesn’t have the time to examine. Reagan must protect her heart and those she loves all while trying to get rid of Kane and his father once and for all.