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BOOK I

Point of Infection

Sometimes you need lies to stay alive

--SHAUN MASON

The only thing we have in this world that is utterly and intrinsically ours is our integrity If we give that aethat battle is what loses the war There’s nothing worth that

--GEORGIA MASON

I got another interview request yesterday fro for a scoop and wants to kno I’ anyone thinks I’" There are days when I feel like I’ to walk throughShaun Mason, the Dude Who CopesCopes with a world filled with stupid people Copes with a life that doesn’t include the one person who ever really ," when the answer should be totally obvious to anyone with a brain

How aodda else…

Everything else is just details And those don’t really matter to me anymore

--Fro of Shaun Mason, February 17, 2041

One

Our story opens where countless stories have ended in the last twenty-seven years: with an idiot--in this case, Rebecca Atherton, head of the After the End Times Irwins, winner of the Golden Steve-o Award for valor in the face of the undead--deciding it would be a good idea to go out and poke a zombie with a stick to see what happens Because, hey, there’s always the chance that this tiht it would be different for e always told ht

At least Becks was being s a crowbar to poke the zoreatly ied to sink the clawed end under the zombie’s collarbone, which was really a pretty effective defensive measure The zombie would eventually realize that it couldn’t move forward When that happened, it would pull away, either yanking the crowbar out of her hands or dislocating its own collarbone, and then it would try coence of your average zoured she had about an hour before she really needed to be concerned Plenty of ti scene Woman versus zoround into our cultural DNA by this point And I didn’t give a dauine about the situation, maybe because he’d never been that close to a zombie before The latest literature says we’re supposed to call them "post-Kellis-Amberlee amplification manifestation syndrome humans," but fk that If they really wanted some fancy new term for "zombie" to catch on, they should have s, or at least made sure it formed a catchy acronym They’re zombies They’re brainless meat puppets controlled by a virus and driven by the endless need to spread their infection All the fancy na--the dude trying not to toss his cookies all over Becks’s dead friend--had never been a field-situation kind of a guy He was a natural Newsie, one of those people who areso about cause and motivation Unfortunately for hier stories, and that meant he needed to test for his Class A journaliset your Class A, you have to prove you can handle life in the field Becks had ben trying to help hi to think that it was hopeless He was destined for a life of sitting around the office co reports fro hard on hi realistic," Ias he turned in " I shook ets you ten he fails his practicals again"

"No bet," said Dave "He’s gonna pass this time"

I raised an eyebrow "Why are you so sure?"

"Becks is out there with him He wants to impress her"

"Does he now?" I returned my attention to the screen, more interested now "Think she likes hi skirts to the office…"

"Maybe," said Dave, judiciously

On the screen, Becks was trying to get Alaric to take the crowbar and have his own shot at holding off the zo deal, especially for someone as seasoned as Becks At least, it wouldn’t have been a big deal if there hadn’t been sixinto view on the left-handThey weren’tanother switch to turn on the tay intercom, I said, "Becks, check your peri about?" She turned to scan her surroundings, raising one hand to shield her eyes "Our peri closer by the second, she froze, eyes going wide "Oh, fk me"