If you loved Simon Clark's Blood Crazy and you're looking for thrills of the same vein on the printed page, then you might want to check out Gregg Hurwitz's Last Chance this fall. Set in a world where adults become bloodthirsty killers, the follow-up novel to The Rains hits shelves in hardcover on October 17th from MacMillan's Tor Teen line, and as a special treat for Daily Dead readers, we've been provided with an exclusive excerpt and a look at the cover art for Last Chance.

You can check out the exclusive excerpt and cover art below, and to learn more about Last Chance, visit the book on Macmillan's official site.

Last Chance synopsis: "The New York Times bestselling author of the thrillers Orphan X and The Nowhere Man returns with his next chilling young adult page-turner: LAST CHANCE (Tor Teen, On-sale: Oct 17, 2017), which continues the pulse-pounding alien-zombie mashup begun in last year's The Rains.

What happens when all the adults you know are trying to harm you… literally? In one terrifying night, the peaceful community of Creek’s Cause turned into a war zone, as Chance and Patrick Rain watched all the adults he knew and loved turned into violent, inhuman beings, controlled by some kind of alien parasitic force spread through spores. Holed up in the local high school, frightened kids and teenagers struggle to survive--at least until their eighteenth birthdays.

Now a need breed of predatory creatures has spawned and is spreading across the world, devouring everything in its path. The Rains brothers may hold the key to humanity's survival--but how far will they have to go to save everyone and everything they care about. Battling an enemy not of this earth, Chance and Patrick have become humanity’s only hope for salvation.

School Library Journal praised The Rains as: "an edge-of-your-seat test of survival... Refreshing and surprising.” And Booklist said, "Readers with a 5th Wave-shaped hole in their sf-loving hearts will rejoice. Best-seller Hurwitz has proven he knows how to hook an adult audience. Expect his YA debut to have the same effect on teens.”

​GREGG HURWITZ is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen thrillers, most recently Orphan X and The Nowhere Man. His novels have been short-listed for numerous literary awards, graced top ten lists, and have been translated into twenty-seven languages. He is also a New York Times bestselling comic book writer, having penned stories for Marvel and DC. Additionally, he's written screenplays for many major studios and written, developed, and produced television for various networks. Hurwitz lives in Los Angeles.​"

Exclusive Excerpt

Entry 3

For a moment there was only blind panic. Pain brought me out of it. I realized that all my bucking and squirming just made the restraints dig deeper into my wrists and ankles. Sunbursts dotted my vision; I was light- headed from hanging upside down for so long. Freaking out certainly wasn’t helping things.

I was suspended from a sturdy branch, carried through the woods like a field- dressed deer dangling from a sapling. My shoulders throbbed like you wouldn’t believe. I craned my ach-ing neck and peered up at the nearest Drone. All I saw was my own pale face reflected back from the dark- tinted face mask.

I tried to calm myself. What would Patrick do? I pictured him with his half squint, staring out from beneath the brim of his black Stetson. He’d take whatever was coming. Spit in the mask of the nearest Drone. Go down like a man.

I closed my eyes. Drew in a shaky breath. Released a shakier one.

Good- bye, big brother. You taught me well. I’ll try not to embarrass you now.

I thought about Alex wearing her fiercest scowl, the one she used to reserve for the ice- hockey rink. I’d seen her shoot her own father after he’d transformed. I’d seen her almost take the head off a Host with her hockey stick. I couldn’t imagine her bowing down to anyone.

I took another breath, this one steadier.

Good- bye, Alex. You were part of what kept me going. If I couldn’t be with you, at least I could be near you. Because of you I always wanted to be more than I am. I’ll try to be that now.

My exhale, smooth as a saddle horn.

I hope you guys were together at the end.

I opened my eyes.

See you soon.

For the first time, I let my muscles relax. I lolled from the branch, swaying hypnotically. We crossed the parking lot, heading for the cannery and the foundation beyond. The Drones that were gathered around their dead Queen grew closer with every step. Several paces beyond at the corner of the foundation, a cracked- open meteor the size of a Volkswagen rested on a nest of shattered concrete.

As I was carried across the front of the factory, some of the kids cried out from their cages. A girl sobbed hoarsely. Tiny fists pounded bars. I heard my name called— a survivor from Creek’s Cause?—but couldn’t turn my head far enough to see who it was.

We passed the cannery, nearing the foundation. A stench wafted over on the breeze. The putrid smell, I realized, came from the floating Husks—more precisely, from the Hatchlings growing inside them.

My captors paraded me before the other Drones, showing off their prize. I hung there, observed by all those face masks, and braced myself for whatever was coming.

I pictured the dying Rebel hiding with me in the dark core of the massive tree. The guttering glow of his mask. His hand resting on mine. No matter what, they must never find out who you are. Do not let them take you. We will contact you when we can and tell you of your mission. Until then you have one job: Stay alive.

One job. And I’d failed.

The dead Queen’s armor lay beneath me. The jagged hole in the helmet looked like a mouth. There was only blackness beneath, an empty suit. The armor still held her form, taller and more slender than that of the Drones. One of her arms tapered into a stinger that she’d plunged into the bellies of countless kids and teen agers. I shuddered off the memory. Then I stared up at the rows of face masks.

“Well,” I said. “Let’s get this over with.”

They gazed back blankly. A faint breeze carried the stink of the Hatchlings. I could hear them inside the Husks, straining the flesh, the wet sucking noises making my stomach roil.

My peripheral vision caught a movement. Mr. Tomasi, lumbering over. His work slacks were missing one leg from the knee down, and bone glittered through a wound in his thigh. He wielded a box cutter.

Extending the slender blade, he crouched, a black silhouette except for the two holes where the light shone through. His shadow darkened my face.

I confess, I might have closed my eyes.

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.