‘You’ve seen what Hiro is.’
‘All I’ve seen is a fucking android.’
A shrug. ‘All things have souls.’
‘So is that what he is? A soul?’
‘In a sense.’
Jesus. ‘Can you please just give me a straight answer?’
Another infuriating smile. ‘Ask me a straight question.’
‘Okay… Did Hiro–the real Hiro–tell you why The Three, whatever the fuck they are, came here and took over the bodies of the kids?’
‘Why would they need a reason? Why do we hunt when we have enough to eat? Why do we kill each other over trifles? What makes you think they needed any more motivation other than to simply see what might happen?’
‘Hiro implied that they’ve been here before. I’ve also heard that from Jessica Craddock’s uncle.’
A shrug. ‘All religions have prophecies about the end of the world.’
‘So? What does that have to do with The Three being here before?’
Chiyoko makes a sound somewhere between a sigh and a snort. ‘For a journalist, you are very bad at thinking things through. What if they came here before in order to plant the seed?’
Elspeth starts. ‘No way. Are you trying to say that they came here thousands of years ago and set this whole thing up–just so that they could return years later and see if the so-called seed they planted causes the goddamned end of the world? That’s insane.’
‘Of course it is.’
Elspeth has had enough. She’s so tired the marrow in her bones aches. ‘Now what?’
Chiyoko yawns; several of her back teeth are missing. She wipes her mouth with her sleeve. ‘Do your job. You’re a journalist. You have found what you were looking for. Go back and tell them what you’ve seen. Write an article.’
‘You really think anyone’s going to believe me if I say that I’ve spoken to a goddamned android harbouring the… soul or whatever of one of The Three?’
‘People will believe what they want to believe.’
‘And if they do believe it… They’ll think… they’ll say…’
‘They’ll say Hiro is a god.’
‘And is he?’
Chiyoko shrugs. ‘Shikata ga nai,’ she says. ‘What does it matter?’ She stubs her cigarette out on the top of the balustrade and walks into the house.
Elspeth stands stock still for several minutes, and with no other option, she zips up her jacket and starts walking away.
HOW IT BEGINS
Pamela May Donald lies on her side, watching the boy as he flits with the others in the trees.
‘Help me,’ she croaks.
She fumbles for her phone. It’s somewhere in her fanny pack, she’s certain of that. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon. Her fingers stroke it, she almost has it… so close, you can do it… but she can’t quite seem to… There’s something wrong with her fingers. They won’t work, they’re numb, dead, no longer belong to her.
‘Snookie,’ she whispers, or maybe she only thinks she says it aloud. Either way, it’s the only word that comes into her mind before she dies.
The boy skips over to her, tiptoeing around the roots and wreckage. He looks down at Pamela May Donald’s body. She’s gone. Snuffed out before she could record the message. He’s disappointed, but it’s happened before and he was starting to get bored with this game anyway. They all were. It doesn’t matter. Even without the message, it always ends in the same way.
He sinks to his haunches, wraps his arms around his knees, and shivers. He can hear the distant thwupping sound of the rescue helicopters approaching. He always enjoys being hoisted up into the helicopter’s belly. This will be fun, no matter what.
But next time, he’ll do it differently. And he thinks he knows how.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Huge appreciation goes to Agent Extraordinaire Oli Munson of A.M Heath, who took one look at the synopsis, said ‘go for it’, and basically changed my life.
The novel would be far weaker without the outstanding editorial guidance of my super-hero editor Anne Perry who took a chance on me, made me a stronger writer, and taught me how to accessorise–all without losing her sense of humour. Many thanks are also due to Oliver Johnson, Jason Bartholomew and the fantastic team at Hodder; Reagan Arthur and her excellent team at Little, Brown; and Conrad Williams and all at Blake Friedmann.
The following folk kindly shared their expertise, personal experiences, dealt with my endless questions or opened their homes to me: Captain Chris Zurinskas, Eri Uri, Atsuko Takahashi, Hiroshi Hayakawa, Atsushi Hayakawa, Akira Yamaguchi, David France Mundo, Paige and Ahnika at the House of Collections, Darrell Zimmerman at Cape Medical Response, Eric Begala and Wongani Bandah. Thank you all for being so patient and generous. The responsibility for mistakes made and liberties taken (both geographical and factual) is mine and mine alone.
Christopher Hood’s superb academic text, Dealing with Disaster in Japan: Responses to the Flight JL 123 Crash was an invaluable resource and introduced me to the terms isho and izoku. I’m also indebted to the authors of the following non-fiction books, blogs, articles and novels which helped shed light on the issues I chose to deal with in the novel: Welcome to Our Doomsday by Nicholas Guyatt; God’s Own Country by Stephen Bates; Shutting out the Sun by Michael Zielenziger; The Otaku Handbook by Patrick W Galbraith; Quantum: A Guide for the Perplexed by Jim Al-Khalili; Train Man by Nakano Hitori; Are we Living in the End Times? by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B Jenkins; Understanding End Times Prophecy, by Paul Benware; Below Luck Level by Barbara Erasmus; Alzheimer’s from the Inside Out by Richard Taylor; sherizeee.blogspot.com; www.dannychoo.com; www.tofugu.com; ‘Apocalypse Now,’ Nancy Gibbs (time.com 2002). Many thanks go to the anonymous artists of asciiart.en.com for inspiring Ryu’s ascii.
The following generous people read the manuscript and gave insightful and honest feedback: Alan and Carol Walters, Andrew Solomon, Bronwyn Harris, Nick Wood, Michael Grant, Sam Wilson, Kerry Gordon, Tiah Beautement, Joe Vaz, Vienne Venter, Nechama Brodie, Si, and Sally Partridge. Eric Begala, Thembani Ndzandza, Siseko Sodela, Walter Ntsele, Lwando Sibinge and Thando Makubalo kindly weeded out the majority of my stupidity in the South African sections. Jared Shurin, Alex Smith, Karina Brink, ace photographer Pagan Wicks and Nomes helped keep me sane. You all rock.
Lauren Beukes, Alan Kelly (thank you for the naughty bits!), Nigel Walters, Louis Greenberg and my fellow porn elf Paige Nick went above and beyond with their support and feedback. I owe you guys big time. As usual, my friend and editor Helen Moffett pulled my arse out of the fire again and again (may your life be forever rich in artisanal baked goods).
And last but not least, my husband Charlie and daughter Savannah put up with hours of brain-storming, neuroses and plot-solving, and brought me coffee at 3 a.m. I couldn’t have written word one without you–thank you for always having my back.
SARAH LOTZ is a screenwriter and pulp fiction novelist with a fondness for the macabre and fake names. Among other things, she writes urban horror novels under the name SL Grey with author Louis Greenberg and a Young Adult zombie series with her daughter, Savannah, under the name Lily Herne. She lives in Cape Town with her family and other animals.
Also by Sarah Lotz
Deadlands
The Ward
The Mall
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Contents
COVER
TITLE PAGE
WELCOME
DEDICATION
HOW IT BEGINS
A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
EPIGRAPH
PART ONE: CRASH CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CH
APTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
PART TWO: CONSPIRACY: JANUARY–FEBRUARY CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
PART THREE: SURVIVORS: JANUARY–FEBRUARY CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
PART FOUR: CONSPIRACY: FEBRUARY–MARCH CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
CHAPTER 31
PART FIVE: SURVIVORS: MARCH CHAPTER 32
CHAPTER 33
CHAPTER 34
CHAPTER 35
CHAPTER 36
CHAPTER 37
PART SIX: CONSPIRACY: MARCH–APRIL CHAPTER 38
CHAPTER 39
CHAPTER 40
CHAPTER 41
CHAPTER 42
PART SEVEN: SURVIVORS: APRIL CHAPTER 43
CHAPTER 44
CHAPTER 45
CHAPTER 46
CHAPTER 47
CHAPTER 48
CHAPTER 49
PART EIGHT: CONSPIRACY: APRIL–JUNE CHAPTER 50
CHAPTER 51
CHAPTER 52
CHAPTER 53
CHAPTER 54
CHAPTER 55
CHAPTER 56
CHAPTER 57
CHAPTER 58
CHAPTER 59
CHAPTER 60
PART NINE: SURVIVORS: MAY–JUNE CHAPTER 61
CHAPTER 62
CHAPTER 63
CHAPTER 65
PART TEN: END GAMES CHAPTER 66
CHAPTER 67
CHAPTER 68
CHAPTER 69
CHAPTER 70
CHAPTER 71
CHAPTER 72
AFTERWORD TO THE FIRST EDITION
EDITOR’S NOTE: AFTERWORD TO THE SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION
HOW IT ENDS
HOW IT BEGINS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ALSO BY SARAH LOTZ
NEWSLETTERS
COPYRIGHT
Copyright
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2014 by Sarah Lotz
Cover design by Julianna Lee; art © Michael Turek/Gallery Stock
Cover copyright © 2014 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher constitute unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at permissions@hbgusa.com. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
Little, Brown and Company
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First ebook edition: May 2014
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ISBN 978-0-316-24292-9
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