The Fear (2011)

The Fear is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by Charlie Higson. The book, released by Puffin Books in the UK on 15 September 2011 and by Disney Hyperion is the third book in a planned seven-book series, titled The Enemy. The Fear takes place in London, a year after a worldwide sickness has infected adults, turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies.

Series

Puffin Books released the first novel in the series, titled The Enemy, in the UK on 3 September 2009; Disney Hyperion released it in the US on 11 May 2010. Puffin Books released the second novel in the series, titled The Dead, on 16 September 2010; the third novel, titled The Fear, on 15 September 2011; the fourth novel, The Sacrifice, on 20 September 2012; the fifth novel, The Fallen, on 12 September 2013; the sixth novel, The Hunted, on 4 September 2014; and the final book, The End, on 10 November 2015. Disney Hyperion released Higson's short story companion book in the series, titled Geeks vs. Zombies, on 5 June 2012; it portrays an exclusive scene from The Fear, on World Book Day.

Summary

The Fear starts a few days before Small Sam and the Kid arrive at the Tower of London, at the end of The Dead, and another few days before the events of The Enemy (with both books merging near the middle). A prologue introduces a new zombie called "The Collector", a massive father who collects "toys" (kids), plays with them until they break (tortures them until they die), and eats them. He finds two children and adds them to his "collection", as described in the prologue of the book.

The real story begins at the Tower, where DogNut is growing restless of his confinement and is annoyed that he has been kicked from second in command by Ed. He plans on heading out to find Brooke and the others from the Tesco truck, whom they lost contact with during the fire of South London and the Battle of Lambeth Bridge. Although his intentions are to find everybody, he also has on Brooke. He discusses this with Ed (as seen in "The Dead") and they agree. DogNut assembles a team consisting of Courtney (who wants to find Brooke, but also secretly has a crush on DogNut), best friends Marco and Felix (who were with DogNut at the Imperial War Museum), Finn (who is looking for old friends), Al (who is looking for his sister Maria), youngster Olivia (who is looking for her older brother Paul) and Jessica (who has recently broken up with her boyfriend Brendan).

After a quick but difficult row upriver, they end up at the Houses of Parliament, where they find a girl named Nicola and her group. Nicola tells them none of their friends are at the Houses of Parliament, but lets them know about David taking residence at Buckingham Palace. The group decides to travel to the palace, thinking that their friends might be there. During the journey, the group is attacked by the 'gym bunnies', a group of zombies who, due to their good physical condition, are harder to kill; the gym bunnies corner DogNut's crew. About to go in for the kill, they are saved by a brutal group of hunters led by a boy named Ryan. Ryan's group guides DogNut's crew to the palace, where Al is reunited with Maria. David claims that he does not know where their friends are, but the group later realize he isn't all that he seems; mainly, he's lying about their friends, who are staying at the Natural History Museum. They head to the museum at night, without Al, who stays with his sister and Jessica, who is too scared to continue .

As night draws closer, zombies come out and chase the group to a house where they think kids are living, which is primarily due to Marco believing an arm sticking out of a container on a table (with an upright kids body next to it) was waving at them to come in. Instead, it turns out to be the Collector's lair, and the group encounter the large monster. They make a run for it, unaware that they've left Olivia behind. She kills herself before the Collector can get her by jumping off a high balcony to her death. The group later arrives at the Natural History Museum where they find Brooke and the others, and meet Robbie (their Head of Security), Justin (the leader), and Paul (Olivia's brother). Paul asks for Olivia, but Courtney explains that Olivia was killed by the Collector. Paul goes hysterical after learning about Olivia's death, and he becomes determined to kill the Collector. DogNut's group, Robbie, Jackson (a friend of Robbie's), Ryan's hunters, and several others from the museum all join with Paul to kill the Collector. The large group coaxes the Collector out of his lair onto the road, where they savagely beat him to death. Jackson, one of the girls from Ryan's group, ultimately finishes the job by stabbing a spear through the Collector's neck.