Undead Marine

The Undead have been blooded in combat. Now it's time to prove their value. The huge cost and effort to reanimate them must be worth it. With no rights of their own, their very existence depends upon their return on investment. But as the Undead are finding their footing and discovering how to best fight the war with the Tucanan invaders, the aliens are not standing still. They are experimenting with their evolutionary past to create new ways to fight humanity's military forces. It's become an arms race. Which species can stay ahead of the other? Which one can gain the advantage? For every new innovation, there is a counter, and when the Undead's secret base on Opal-3 is attacked by the Tucanans, is that just a coincidence? Or is it an effort to wipe out the Undead Marines before they can establish themselves? With pressure from the bean counters to prove their value on one side and the Tucanans' invasion on the other, the Marines could be snuffed out before they ever really establish themselves as the premier fighting force of humanity.

As more and more special operators are resurrected with their mycelia and joining the Undead, the powers that be begin to "borrow" the Marines for missions beyond their stated scope. Particularly galling to Sergeant Paxton Alejo is when they're assigned a mission against supposed human traitors, especially when the reek of politics belies the integrity of the missions. He might be uneasy, but all of this is above his paygrade, so Pax marches on, doing his duty. There are continuing rumors of "androids" in the press that seems to focus on the Undead, so the Marines in the brigade are surprised when they're tasked to train Internal Security Agency operators to conduct joint military ops. The ISA's mission is to ferret out internal threats to the League of Humanity. How can the Undead maintain their secrecy while working so closely with them? Meanwhile, there's that small issue of a galaxy wide war with the alien Tucanans, and the Tucs seem to be closing the net around the Undead. All Hell breaks loose when the enemy strikes, and the Undead, along with the still untrained ISA operators, have no live ammunition to fight back with. As the Tucanans close in on them, loss feels inevitable. The Undead experiment could be over, and all of Humanity could follow and shatter. But a Marine never gives up. Especially a dead one.

As more Undead are created, a second battalion is formed. Pax becomes a team leader as the Marines are developing new tactics, but the Tucanans aren't standing still, either. And they seem to have targeted the Undead. High on their list of priorities is to figure out what makes the Undead so dangerous, and they'll go to any length to get their foot-arms on a few of them. Pax has to ensure their military mission is accomplished while blocking the Tucanans from taking Undead prisoners to face a fate worse than death-even multiple deaths. Between the Tucanans, public outrage and alarms, and unpredictable command decisions, Pax and the Undead must navigate complicated and increasingly dangerous waters in their mission to save humanity.

A derelict Tucanan ship, floating in space. An intel bonanza that can help turn the tide of the war . . . or a trap? The only way to find out is to send in the Undead. As the Tucanan war machine continues to evolve and try new tactics, all of humanity must evolve as well, and the Undead seem to be the guinea pigs for each dangerous mission. It isn't just the alien Tucs who are a danger. Rumors of unholy science still bandy about social media, and when battalion counter-assaults on Chinook to take back the planet, one of the Marines is killed and recovered by the locals. When they perform an autopsy, they discover . . . they don't know what it is, only that it isn't normal. With their secret about to be exposed, and with the threat of death or mindwipe, just how far will Pax and the rest of the Undead Marines go to protect their secret? Perhaps more pertinent, how far will their puppet masters back at Cape Town go? Follow Pax, Olivia, and the rest of the Undead as they face danger from two fronts. The entire Undead project, and possibly the war with the Tucanans, hangs in the balance.

The end of the Undead could be upon us. The Undead continue to take the fight to the Tucanan invaders, but it's difficult to achieve such notable success without attracting attention. Rumors continue to surface about clones and zombies, sparking protests. Irrefutable proof surfaces that at least one of the Undead was previously declared KIA and buried with honors, and then an insider goes public, sparking uproar and calls for official investigation. The Undead are trapped between the proverbial rock and a hard place. On the one hand, the Tucanans are targeting them, and on the other, humanity has turned against them. The public thinks they're monsters, and the government wants not only to shut down the program but to take action to make the Undead problem disappear forever. Without legal status, the Undead have no rights, and there is little they can do to stand against society's hatred. Now they must navigate human persecution while still fighting to save humanity from the Tucanan threat. What will become of them when the dust settles? Who will survive? Witness the conclusion to the Undead Marine series from USA Today Bestselling authors J.N. Chaney and retired Marine Col. Jonathan P. Brazee. The epic showdown to the bestselling series has arrived.