The Ugly Beginning

The Ugly Beginning by TW Brown, is the first book in the Dead series. The book was published in 2011.

Dedication
"Ronni, Cody, and Alex ... They are May and December"

Description
''The unthinkable has happened. The dead are walking! Humanity's fragile thread may be reaching its bitter end. Individuals and groups struggle to survive...some at any cost. Will there be anybody left? Or, is this just...The Ugly Beginning?''

Chapter 1 - The Ugly Beginnings
Bill Wright calls Steve to tell him Zombies are on YouTube, Steve thinks its a joke and hangs up. The next morning a zombie is at the door and eventually breaks in, eating Pluck. Steve escapes the apartment and obtains a utility truck shortly before rescuing Thalia from a pack of zombies that killed her mom.

Steve and Thalia stop at a gas station for fuel and supplies. Steve loots the gas station for food and medical supplies and kills a zombie cop in the parking lot obtaining his gun. After they leave the gas station an attractive girl in a sports car stops and asks for help from Steve. After the pretty girl shows Steve she is bitten she attacks Steve. Steve shoots her and leaves her to be eaten by zombies as he drives away.

List of Characters
Steve - Main Character

Pluck - Dog owned by Steve

Bill Wright - Steve's friend

Ed (The Zombie) - Utility worker that died and attacked Steve

Thalia - Mexican child found by Steve after her mom was killed by zombies

Ed's Partner - Utility worker stuck on a light pull after zombies killed Ed and Steve drove off in the work truck.

Villa la Puerta
A small 30 unit apartment complex that Steve and Thalia lived in before the zombies.

The apartments I called home for over a decade were not the greatest: leaky faucets; poor insulation; and cheesy carpet from an era that was long out of style way before I moved in.

Gas Station
''A fully lit service station was perched at the top of the off-ramp. You know the kind; the min-mart disgused as a gas station with a garage added as an afterthought that was good for nothing beyond a tire change.''

Steve looted this gas station for food and medical supplies. Two zombies were stuck in the cooler.