The-Infinite-Sea-Pdf

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The pellet in its bed of blood. The awful stillness of the trees and the clinching cold and the fog that curls between branches like fingers interlacing. And Zombie’s voice in my head: You think too much. I tuck the pellet between my cheek and gums. Stupid. I should have wiped it off first. I can taste the kid’s blood.
4 I AM NOT ALONE. I can’t see him or hear him, but I feel him. Every inch of my body tingles with the sensation of being watched. An uncomfortably familiar feeling now, present since the very beginning. Just the mothership silently hovering in orbit for the first ten days caused cracks in the human edifice. A different kind of viral plague: uncertainty, fear, panic. Clogged highways, deserted airports, overrun emergency rooms, governments in lockdown, food and gas shortages, martial law in some places, lawlessness in others. The lion crouches in the tall grass. The gazelle sniffs the air. The awful stillness before the strike. For the first time in ten millennia, we knew what it felt like to be prey again. The trees are crowded with crows. Shiny black heads, blank black eyes, their hunched-shouldered silhouettes reminding me of little old men on park benches. There are hundreds of them perched in the trees and hopping about the ground. I glance at the body beside me, its eyes blank and bottomless as the crows’. I know why the birds have come. They’re hungry. I am, too, so I dig out my baggie of beef jerky and only-slightly-expired gummy bears. Eating is a risk, too, because I’ll have to remove the tracker from my mouth, but I need to stay alert, and to stay alert, I need fuel. The crows watch me, cocking their heads as if straining to hear the sound of my chewing. You fat asses. How hungry could you be? The attacks yielded millions of tons of meat. At the height of the plague, huge flocks blotted out the sky, their shadows racing across the smoldering landscape. The crows and other carrion birds closed the loop of the 3rd Wave. They fed on infected bodies, then spread the virus to new feeding grounds. I could be wrong. Maybe we’re alone, me and this dead kid. The more seconds that slip by, the safer I feel. If someone is watching, I can think of only one reason why he’d hold the shot: He’s waiting to see if any more idiotic kids playing soldier show up. I finish my breakfast and slip the pellet back into my mouth. The minutes crawl. One of the most disorienting things about the invasion—after watching everyone you know and love die in horrible ways—was how time slowed down as events sped up. Ten thousand years to build civilization, ten months to tear it down, and each day lasted ten times longer than the one before, and the nights lasted ten times as long as the days. The only thing more excruciating than the boredom of those hours was the terror of knowing that any minute they could end. Midmorning: The mist lifts and the snow begins to fall in flakes smaller than crows’ eyes. There’s not a breath of wind. The woods are draped in a dreamlike, glossy white glow. As long as the snow stays this light, I’m good till dark. If I don’t fall asleep. I haven’t slept in over twenty hours, and I feel warm and comfortable and slightly spacy. In the gossamer stillness, my paranoia ratchets up. My head is perfectly centered in his crosshairs. He’s high in the trees; he’s lying motionless like a lion in the brush. I’m a puzzle to him. I should be panicking. So he holds his fire, allowing the situation to develop. There must be some reason I’m hanging out here with a corpse. But I don’t panic. I don’t bolt like a frightened gazelle. I am more than the sum of my fear.
Page 3 and 4: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS Published by
Page 5 and 6: Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Ch
Page 7 and 8: For Sandy, guardian of the infinite
Page 9 and 10: THE WHEAT THERE WOULD BE no harvest
Page 11: BOOK ONE
Page 14 and 15: “Because bad thoughts do what?”
Page 16 and 17: 2 UNDIMMED, THE STARLIGHT sears thr
Page 18 and 19: 3 BY SUNRISE, I reach the southern
Page 22 and 23: It isn’t fear that will defeat th
Page 24 and 25: I scan the woods but don’t hear o
Page 26 and 27: 7 I FEEL HIM THEN, the one standing
Page 28 and 29: “Here’s how the bishop moves, T
Page 30 and 31: 9 I SEE THE CHOPPERS closing in thr
Page 33 and 34: 11 FROM THE TIME I could barely wal
Page 35 and 36: A lead ball of silence the size of
Page 37 and 38: I looked at her for a minute. “Le
Page 39 and 40: to do was sit back and let the stup
Page 41 and 42: I shook my head. He didn’t unders
Page 43 and 44: ack, hitting the edge of the mattre
Page 45 and 46: Up to now, I always thought that th
Page 47 and 48: helpful was the fact that the Walke
Page 49: 14 I STEPPED INTO the lobby, our br
Page 52 and 53: 16 HE WOKE TO PAIN. Blinding pain i
Page 54 and 55: she floated in the water stained pi
Page 56 and 57: 18 GRACE’S STATION WAS an old, on
Page 58 and 59: 19 HE WAITED UNTIL her footfalls fa
Page 60 and 61: 20 NIGHT HAD FALLEN by the time Gra
Page 62 and 63: 21 WHEN IT WAS DONE, he crawled to
Page 64 and 65: 23 AT DUSK, the lights of the Ferri
Page 66 and 67: 24 THE CAR’S UNDERCARRIAGE agains
Page 68 and 69: 25 LATER THAT EVENING on the day th
Page 70 and 71:
“It would be like one of them fal
Page 72 and 73:
naïve, kind, cruel, soft as down,
Page 74 and 75:
29 FOR OVER FIVE YEARS he’d relie
Page 77 and 78:
30 THE BOY STOPPED talking the summ
Page 79:
ate all his baby brother’s mac an
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deer-in-headlights look, like You g
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His lips moved and a word leaked ou
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34 I STAYED WITH HIM till dawn. Sit
Page 88 and 89:
“Oh. Good.” He seemed relieved.
Page 90 and 91:
That’s when the girl appeared, st
Page 92 and 93:
He rubbed his chin. I rubbed my nec
Page 94 and 95:
the lip for an eternity. Before ete
Page 96 and 97:
“That doesn’t answer my questio
Page 98 and 99:
I wasn’t holding up well. He was
Page 100 and 101:
lowered her carefully onto Evan, le
Page 102 and 103:
41 “IT’S A TEST,” Evan said.
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42 OH, BROTHER. Guys. I tossed Bear
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“No, and you want to know why? Be
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44 THEN DUMBO, with perfect timing,
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“Evan, I’m not even sure I unde
Page 112 and 113:
“Don’t be an idiot!” he shout
Page 114 and 115:
47 THE SPOTLIGHT HIT NEXT: Brillian
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48 I PAUSED FOR a half second at th
Page 119 and 120:
49 HE DIDN’T LIKE being around th
Page 121 and 122:
from melted snow, rising up, floppi
Page 124 and 125:
50 I’M SITTING ALONE in a windowl
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“You’re referring to the Wonder
Page 128 and 129:
51 MY REACTION IS months in the mak
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This is the bind. This is the trap.
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Now I’m standing on the shores of
Page 134 and 135:
teacher. “That’s what I’ve co
Page 136 and 137:
Nodding seriously. “I’ll get ri
Page 138 and 139:
“I needed to prove something to m
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57 CLAIRE TIES a rubber strap aroun
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58 THERE IS NO DAY or night anymore
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He turns, surprised. My face is hot
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“You said you didn’t play,” I
Page 148 and 149:
“He’s safe!” Razor bellows. N
Page 150 and 151:
the truth was that most days my fat
Page 152 and 153:
He’s quiet for the next couple of
Page 154 and 155:
64 I HADN’T SEEN Vosch in days. T
Page 156 and 157:
when the door opens and Claire come
Page 158 and 159:
“Seriously? You don’t know?”
Page 160 and 161:
67 CLAIRE STAGGERS AWAY, blood pour
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68 JUMBO SHOULD HAVE a knife on him
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doesn’t like dogs wouldn’t be G
Page 166 and 167:
70 IN THE BATHROOM, the gush become
Page 168 and 169:
71 THE WINDOW BESIDE the bed jiggle
Page 170 and 171:
“Bob, we really have to go,” I
Page 172 and 173:
“Don’t be racist. And I’m thr
Page 174 and 175:
73 I HEAD BACK to the cockpit, wher
Page 176 and 177:
75 I AM FALLING at terminal velocit
Page 178 and 179:
the location.” “I’ve seen not
Page 180 and 181:
77 AS WE APPROACH, the complex seem
Page 182 and 183:
78 ROTTEN MILK. The stench of the p
Page 184 and 185:
79 THERE’S LITTLE DIFFERENCE betw
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80 HE LIFTS ME from the floor. He c
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81 FOR A WEEK, he is my sole compan
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Outside, the bitter harvest burns.
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83 ON THE EIGHTH DAY, the chopper r
Page 195 and 196:
84 COVERED IN ASH and dust, five gr
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