The Rot & Ruin Zombie Series Features Despicable Villains that Will Get Under Your Skin

I feel that the Rot & Ruin book series written by Jonathan Maberry is one of the best zombie stories ever made. This is kind of like another version to the franchise of 28 Days Later, but instead, we follow the story of 4 kids who are thrown into the zombie apocalypse. I thought the series was going to be mainly for teenagers to become interested in, but the author throws a huge curveball, by focusing on young adult audiences instead. 

While we do follow the point of view of 4 kids, the series does not hold back on the journey of what these poor kids go through. They face against some of the worst villains I have ever seen in any sort of zombie horror media. The humans depicted in the series are all so disturbing in multiple ways, to the point where I actually got scared of what was going to happen to these poor kids. 

They face against a huge gang in the first two books, that were filled with all kinds of evil monsters. Each gang member had their own malicious intent with their victims, and I was so scared when they had discovered the kids, because you never know what to expect with the people in the series. 

Even soldiers that were trying to end the zombie apocalypse were showing disgusting intentions towards the main cast, and it doesn't hesitate to make you uncomfortable. The kids also run into a cult toward the last two final books, and this cult kills anyone who stands in their way, believing that they are giving people a 'mercy' to leave the end of the world. 

And yes, these villains are freaking awful, but they were nothing compared to one group that the kids run into during a side story that was turned into a comic book. 

A comic book that I am never going to read again. 

And it was all because of how vile the villains were in this story. 

If there was ever a possibility of the series becoming a tv show or movie franchise, there is no way that they can get away with bringing this comic book story into the live action format. 

In the comic book, the kids are traveling together, and come across a random group of people that seem a bit weird. The kids agree to stay over, since they were saved by a pregnant woman from the community, and are given refuge from the dangers of the outside world. 

But the kids are introduced to the barn…that is hiding a disturbing secret. 

The kids learn that the community uses woman as breeding tools, and hire any man who is willing to help with the reproduction of the human race. 2 out of the 4 kids were young girls…and so the community kidnaps the 2 girls…can you see why this comic book mentally broke me???

Luckily, the 2 girls are able to escape with the other 2 kids, and they notice a zombie horde is headed in the direction of the community. The kids consider leaving the doors to the community open to get the monsters who live inside killed, but they close the doors last minute, because the kids know they are not monsters like the people who kidnapped them. 

I went through a lot of emotions while reading this comic, and I was so mixed on the ending with this story. While the monsters who run the show inside of the community deserved to die, I would have felt so sorry for the other innocents who were brainwashed by these monsters. 

This is one of the few authors who did not hold back on the villains. 

Maberry wrote some of the most raw and realistic villains during an end of the world scenario. Villains that I am really going to hate if we ever get a live action story of this series. 

And Maberry proves that humans are always ten times worse than the dead.

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn