Dead Ends is a work of interactive zombie fiction by Nate Piekos.
It follows the story of a young delivery boy named Eddie Beames who finds himself in the middle of a zombie apocalypse when strange meteors begin falling from the sky one night. With each new chapter comes new twists and turns, new allies and enemies, and new danger.
This series provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Foxy can kick some serious ass even when she has a gun pointed at her head.
- Anyone Can Die: Sure enough, by the end of each chapter the number of remaining survivors can usually be counted on one hand.
- Blatant Lies: If Ralph tries this on Ephram he'll be shot and left for dead...
- Buried Alive: Worse. In chapter 2 Eddie and Foxy are trapped underground in a room that Ms. Dorrance has just informed them is the place she buried the girls she murdered. Needless to say, this is not a good place to be during a Zombie Apocalypse.
- Crazy Survivalist: Several appear from chapter 3 onwards. Many are antagonistic, but a few are more then willing to help.
- Creepy Basement: St. Ingrids basement. Mostly because its full of murdered teenage girls who come back to life as zombies.
- Face–Heel Turn: Ephram in chapter 3 and Franklin in chapter 6
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: All of the undead have glowing red eyes. This leads to some serious horror whenever the characters are in a dimly lit area. Just read the beginning of chapter 2.
- Grave Clouds: Early in the story Eddie finds himself walking down a lonely road in freezing cold weather. As he is making his way through the darkness he happens to stumble upon a cemetery. Cue the Rain.
- Green Rocks: The cause of the zombies.
- Heel–Face Turn: Ralph in chapter 5
- Luck-Based Mission: Early chapters have randomized consequences for choices, which means that it is possible to exhaust every option and still end up dead due to poor luck. Fortunately, this feature seems to have disappeared in the more recent chapters.
- Men Are the Expendable Gender: Averted. By the end of the first chapter alone an entire girl's school (except for one of the main characters) is zombified along with their head mistress.
- Mercy Kill:
- Zeke Sr and Zeke Jr
- Eddie has the option of doing this to a dog in the first chapter. It gets him bitten and infected.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Ralph averts this my pulling a Heel–Face Turn before he did something he'd regret.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: In chapter 3, and its a big one...
- No Fair Cheating: "The dead do not reveal their secrets!"
- No Periods, Period: Averted by Foxy, who gets hers in the middle of the story... It ends up having zero effect on the overall plot.
- Oh, Crap!: Usually at least a couple per chapter, but the best example happens at the very end of chapter 1
- Revolvers Are Just Better: Not just any revolvers... DOC HOLLIDAY'S REVOLVERS!!!!!
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Ephram
- Ruptured Appendix: The victim gets to the hospital just in time. Unfortunately, the recent outbreak prevents the operation from happening, leaving her to die a slow, painful death while her husband is powerless to do anything to save her.
- Sassy Black Woman: Foxy
- Sealed Room in the Middle of Nowhere: A lethal version occurs in chapter 5 if you make a poor choice...
- Snow Means Death: Snow conceals a massive pile of zombies in chapter 4 that the heros notice a little too late...
- The Many Deaths of You: Some of which can be easily overlooked due to some chapters having a randomization factor. A choice that led to safety last time could result in death the next time.
- Tragic Monster: Eddie's grandma
- Undead Child: Quite a few actually...
- Unwinnable: If you lie to the Cruikshank family in chapter 3 you might as well close the window. All the choices lead to death.
- Wham Line: "Mary...the other runaways...I buried them all in there..."
- Zombie Infectee: This occurs to Eddie if you make a bad choice.
