Most of humanity has turned into raging killers overnight. At a small university in east Texas, a few professors, students, and maintenance workers are fighting to stay alive. Mark, one of the professors, has had recurring nightmares about his estranged brother, a high-powered attorney in Dallas. Convinced his brother's family is in danger, and worried his brother may actually be part of that danger, Mark decides he must travel to Dallas and try to help them, if he can. The other group members must also make a decision: will they go with Mark or stay and hole up? After gathering supplies, Mark and a small group set off for Dallas. Finding the highways jammed, they must travel by boat up the Trinity River, not knowing how many zombies they'll meet on the river, or what they'll find when they reach Dallas. Zombie Apocalypse Now is a character-driven novel. Among the more memorable personalities are: - Lauren, a student working her way through college as a bartender, who battles zombies with a softball bat; - Kitchen, a hip young grad student who has seen every zombie movie ever made and wields a crowbar like the hero in Night of the Living Dead; - Blodwyn, a literature professor who quotes bits of Shakespeare as she brains zombies with an industrial mop handle; - Taylor, a senior maintenance worker who tries to keep the group together as things begin to fall apart; and - Woody, a maintenance worker who sees the apocalypse as a chance to get some of the things he's never had.