The Twelve (The Passage, #2)

by Justin Cronin

The instrument was typically used on ships at sea, Michael explained, where the horizon was unobstructed, but it could work on land, too.

Michael had taught himself to use a sextant for that day when he would sail out to find, or not find, the barrier.

“Does anybody have anything to say?”

Flatlanders, Rise Up! The Last Days of the Redeyes Are at Hand! Join Your Brethren in the Insurgency! Every Act of Disobedience Strikes a Blow Against the Regime!

There’s someone waiting out there for you. Once you find him, don’t let him out of your sight. I made that mistake, and now look at the fix I’m in.”

Dani, did you ever think about just running away? Leaving your whole life behind and starting over?

I look at the two of you and I think, How perfect you are together. That little girl adores you. Dani, you’re the piece of the puzzle that was missing. “So what do you think?”

David, how do you think I feel, being dragged around to all your silly parties with your silly friends? I’m simply not going without her, like it or lump it.

“Bring ’em on!” one of the redeyes hooted, eliciting cheers and laughter.

I will drink those bastards dry. I will baptize myself in the blood of my enemy.

You’re nothing, his eyes said. You’re a character in a game of pretend that’s gone on far too long

Something official; it has nothing to do with me. At least, it better not

The package is in the garden shed at the edge of the courtyard. Look beneath the floorboards to the left of the door. The target is the senior staff meeting in the conference room, tomorrow 1130 hrs. Take the central elevator to the fourth floor, then the first hallway on the right.

Tell the guard that Guilder sent for you. Sergio lives

“I would like some … chocolate.” “Chocolate.” What was chocolate? “Where would I get that?” Lila stared incredulously. “The kitchen, of course.”

Goodbye, my child, how I love you, goodbye

I’m done with this, if you behave. “We’re not at all who you think we are. Now sit.” Reluctantly, Nina lowered herself to the snow. “I’m not going to tell you anything.”

I will despise you forever. You are not my mother and never were, and you know that as well as I

Today is the day I will marry Brad. Her hand fell to her belly;

That’s who you’ll be; that is who you are. I will name you Eva

They prepared the vehicles for departure. Alicia would drive Amy to the pipe, then rendezvous with the rest of Eustace’s men to continue to their fallback location. Now all they were waiting on was the weather—they needed snow to cover their tire tracks. It might be tomorrow; it might be a week; it might be never. An hour before sunset on the third day, a tantalizing dust of flurries began to fall. It stopped, then started up again, slowly gathering force, as if the weather had cleared its throat and spoken. Go now. They drove out, a convoy of nine trucks carrying forty-seven men and women. Alicia peeled away and aimed her vehicle north. The snow formed a dense, whirling mass in the truck’s headlights. Beside her, Amy, wearing an attendant’s robe, was silent. Alicia had warned her what she would be facing;

am going away. The girl you know will not be here when next we meet.

The era of suits and ties had come to an end for Horace Guilder.

What a shock it would be to historians of the future to learn that Horace Guilder, High Priest of the Temple of Life Everlasting, Rebuilder of Civilization, Shepherd of the Dawn of the New Age of Cooperation Between Human and Viral, had sanctified himself with a pair of curtain tiebacks.

I’m sorry, little girl. You didn’t deserve this; none of them did. I am the most selfish woman in the world. What I did, I did for love. I hope you can forgive me.

woman with short, dark hair

They retrieved their weapons: a pair of old revolvers, which they would use only as a last resort, and two blades, six inches long with curved steel pommels. The last of the crowd was being ushered into place. Greer marveled at the flatlanders’ orderliness, the numb submission with which they allowed themselves to be led. They were slaves but didn’t know it—or perhaps they did but had long since accepted the fact.

The gun was a .45 ACP with a cross-hatched wooden handle, twelve rounds in each clip.

these people were much too cowed

Amy, Amy, I am coming.

Louise, I will avenge you. You have not been forgotten. Louise, you, too, are my sister in blood.

He would know her, feel her; it could not be otherwise.

He was all the men in all the years of history who had violated a woman in this manner, and she would drive her blade deep into the dark heart of him and feel him die.

know you, his bland, arrogant face seemed to say. Don’t I know you? Don’t tell me, let me guess. I’m certain I know you from someplace.

I am Wolgast.

Help me.

Alicia, sister. Alicia, he is yours.

“Say it!” she yelled over the roaring in her ears. “Say her name!” His eyes sought to focus. Louise? And with these words, and all that she was, Alicia brought it down and drove it home, killing him in the ancient manner.

And Greer heard: I am Wolgast. I am Wolgast. I am Wolgast. Greer ran.

it said as much about the seer as the seen.

Amy, run. And: Father— And: I love you. And as Wolgast

But one of them had fallen.

For once in your little life, get your head out of the sand.

Michael didn’t care for heights. Not much else got to him, except for that.

Crisis Deepens as Death Toll Soars Worldwide Virus extends its deadly reach to all continents Ports and borders overrun as millions flee the spread of infection Major cities in chaos as massive blackouts darken Europe

causing many health officials to liken it to the Spanish influenza epidemic of 1918, which killed as many as 50 million people worldwide.

“I fear we are on the verge of losing control of the situation,” said Italian Health Minister Vincenzo Monti in an extended press briefing, during which coughing could be heard throughout the room. “I cannot stress enough the importance that people stay indoors.

With most of the globe now under some form of martial law, riots have engulfed hundreds of cities, with fierce fighting reported in Rio de Janeiro, Istanbul, Athens, Copenhagen, Prague, Johannesburg, and Bangkok, among many others.

Responding to the rising tide of violence, the United Nations, meeting in an emergency session at its headquarters in The Hague, urged the nations of the world to exercise restraint in the use of deadly force.

“Now is not the time for humankind to turn upon itself,” said U.N. Secretary-General Ahn Yoon-dae in a printed statement. “Our common humanity mus...