Zombies "Chronicles of the Dead"

Mixing horror with science fiction, this is the introductory novel in a series which recounts the eerily gruesome tale of an average family of four who journey into an apocalyptic world which is anything but average.
Forced from their home by a plague of the undead, they battle their way south through hordes of zombies and a strange mix of maniacal humans, all seemingly bent on their ultimate demise.
As they fend off the living and the dead in their quest for safety, security, and survival, and as run-ins with zombies, cannibals, snipers, and pirates become more prevalent and vicious, they become more callous in their methods of exterminating the threats that constantly surround them.
Even as they are befriended by certain groups of survivors along the way, their fears, and suspicions, whether real or imaged, keep them on their southerly trek, always searching for a safe haven in the midst of a world that few will find survivable.
In the end, as hopelessness begins to overtake them, only their strong will to live, and their resolve to go down fighting, keeps them alive long enough for an unseen and unlikely ally to intervene, casting a new light on their ultimate ending, and sending them into a horrific place that no human would ever want to go.