The Infects — Sean Beaudoin

Zombrule #4: Survival is for the ruthless. Everyone else is a hippie poet.

Stuck in the wilderness with a bunch of other juvenile delinquents on an "Inward Trek," it doesn't seem that things could get worse for seventeen-year-old Nick "Nero" Sole. But they do. Overnight, Nero's counselors have turned into flesh-eating maniacs and are now chowing down on his fellow miscreants -- like a monster movie come to life. And as in any classic monster flick worth its salted popcorn, colossal carnage sends survivors rabbiting into the woods while the mindless horde of "infects" shambles, moans, and drools behind. These kids have seen the movies; they know the rules. Unfortunately, knowing the rules isn't going to be enough.

Serving up a cast of irreverent, slightly twisted characters, an unexpected villain, and an ending you won't see coming, Beaudoin simultaneously skewers, pays tribute to, and elevates the horror genre, creating a work that's at once a delight to read and an incisive commentary on the evil that lurks within each of us.