The Fear (Higson novel)

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.[3] 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;[4] and the final book, The End, on 10 November 2015.[5] Disney Hyperion released Higson's short story companion book in the series, titled Geeks vs. Zombies, on 5 June 2012;[6] it portrays an exclusive scene from The Fear, on World Book Day.[7]

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 into each other 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 down 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 that went missing, he also wants to go because of the crush he has on Brooke. He discusses this with Ed (as seen in "The Dead") and he agrees with him. 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 in large numbers 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 Collectors neck, where she also stabbed him there before, but not to the extent of killing him.

Upon returning, Justin gives DogNut a tour of the place. He shows DogNut the experiments they've been carrying out to investigate the disease and to find a cure - which included taking samples from three zombies they've locked up in the Tesco lorry. Justin tells DogNut about the large number of zombies residing in the museum's basement, where the group obtains their test subjects. They have found out so far that UV light (sunlight) rapidly increases the speed of the disease, causing a sicko to die if exposed to too much sunlight (As shown with Nick in "The Enemy"). However, they've also found that sickos can build up a resistance to sunlight, through exposure to a fixed amount of sunlight each day until they are fully able to roam about in the daytime. Afterwards, Paul loses his mind and starts to threaten and blame everyone for Olivia's death. Brooke eventually calms him down, and DogNut decides to head back to the Tower first thing the following morning but is persuaded by Justin to stay longer, to write his and his group's story into a book which a bookworm named Chris (previously and originally starring in "The Dead") is writing in the library. During a chat where DogNut flirts with Brooke, she reveals that Courtney likes him (much to his surprise). DogNut talks to Courtney about this, where she explains that she thinks Brooke still has a crush on Ed, and when they return to the Tower with them, Brooke will start a romance with him. DogNut listens to Courtney and remembers what she says.

At the Palace, David and Nicola meet in secret. David proposes that the two groups form an alliance - a step toward implementing his maniacal plan to take over the entirety of London. Nicola is reluctant but ends up creating a deal that involves removing the 'squatters' at St James's Park, as they pose a threat to her group at the House of Parliament. Until then, she won't officially agree to the alliance. David accepts and immediately asks Jester to go and recruit children who can fight (which reveals this to be Jester's actual mission when he is found by the Holloway kids in "The Enemy"). David also has a crush on Nicola, which she teases him about until they are interrupted.

A loner named Shadowman (who has been spying on the Squatters) visits Jester in Buckingham Palace and is convinced to join the expedition to recruit fighters for the Palace. They are joined by a couple named Tom and Kate, and a boy named Alfie. Jester is initially mad of the small group that they have, and said that David only sent them "bloody civilians". The small group begin walking north until they encounter a group of zombies. They flee the zombies and end up at King's Cross Station. They fight off some zombies before Jester accidentally hits Shadowman, leaving him with a slight concussion. Jester, Alfie, Tom, and Kate abandon Shadowman, and then split into two groups with Jester and Alfie in one, and Tom and Kate in the other. Shadowman passes out, and wakes up to a huge pain in the head, and to one of the remaining grownups attempting to devour him. As the grownup cannot walk (due to broken spine) and Shadowman passes out upon standing up and at random intervals, a "nightmare version of hare and tortoise" occurs, in which the faster Shadowman crawls away from the slower grownup, but then passes out randomly, allowing the slower grownup to catch him. Finally, in a latch ditch effort, Shadowman kills the grownup using a steel rod he finds in a pile of scrap metal. He then succumbs in to his pain and tiredness, and passes out to a fight taking place between other grownups and a stronger group that takes him.

Jester and Alfie find refuge in a flat until a group of zombies find them and attempt to break in. In creating a plan of escape, Jester tricks Alfie and abandons him, escaping by himself. Alfie is then killed by the grownups after he finds out Jester ran away. His fingers gets cut off by the window where he jumps off (not explicitly stated, but most likely by the window falling down upon him, or less likely by the axe, which as mentioned earlier, by a grownup) where he then painfully stumbles into his fate. Jester runs and discovers the Morrison's supermarket but is denied entry. He then finds the Waitrose supermarket, where he is rescued by Arran's group (described in The Enemy) and convinces them to come to the palace.

Shadowman awakens and finds himself at the Emirates Stadium, being watched by Saint George's "Lieutenants" (who he nicknames Spike, Man-U, One-Armed Bandit, and Bluetooth). He learns that St. George is much smarter than the rest of the zombies, and he is creating an army in the stadium. Shadowman escapes the army of zombies when the fire lights up in the stands (most likely as part of Small Sam's escape, as told in The Enemy). Shadowman takes refuge in a nearby apartment building where he discovers boxes of weapons and food. He sees this as a sign to follow St. George's army and to learn about them before returning to London city. While watching their movement, he sees Tom and Kate being pulled out of a house they had taken shelter in, and they get killed by St. George's army. Dozing off to sleep, Shadowman is suddenly awakened by a group of zombies that have found his hiding spot, including One-Armed Bandit. He manages to kill them all and plans to slaughter every single one of St. George's remaining right-hand men, St. George himself, and Jester (for leaving him behind).

Meanwhile, DogNut, Courtney, Marco, and Felix are still at the museum, preparing to head back to the Tower. In a sudden surge of happiness, DogNut kisses Courtney. Finn decides to stay at the museum, whilst Brooke joins the group and prepares to head back to the tower. Robbie and Jackson join the group, but only to escort them part of the way. They set off toward the Tower until they are ambushed by the 'gym bunnies' again. DogNut, Courtney, Marco, and Felix are all killed whilst Jackson escapes with a wounded Robbie, and Brooke is saved by the Holloway kids (as described in The Enemy). She is taken to Buckingham Palace with the Holloway crew and is revealed that she is the bandaged girl in the sickbay. Jester and David both fail to recognize her due to her injuries, and as in The Enemy, Brooke wakes up and tells Maxie and Blue that David is a liar.

Meanwhile, Paul, who is still crazed, secretly leaves the museum for Buckingham Palace. He meets with David and Jester, who take advantage of his mental state and tell him a fake story that everyone at the museum was plotting against him. This causes Paul to want to take revenge on everyone who believes he killed Olivia, and David convinces him to return to the museum and release all the zombies who are in the basement. Paul agrees and returns to the museum.

Whilst Brooke and the Holloway children escape the palace (As shown in "The Enemy"), Paul kills a boy named Jamie and releases the zombies underneath the museum (revealing that he has been infected by a zombie bite all along), and Shadowman watches as Saint George's army kills Callum, burns Waitrose to the ground and marches on to the heart of the city (as seen in "The Enemy"), finally deciding to name them "The Fear".