A Time for Dying

Seventeen-year-old Jack Concannon arrives at his father's apartment exhausted and sick. He hasn't been home in two-years and was hoping to make a better impression on his younger sister than coughing uncontrollably into the crook of his arm and falling asleep on the couch.Viruses, many thought to have been eradicated, are cropping up around the globe. Smallpox, cholera, yellow fever, tuberculosis, H5N1 and Ebola are just a few of the viruses that make up the pandemic called the Scythe Plague. Jack awakens from his fevered sleep two weeks later to find that his father and sister have died along with most of the people in New York City. Snippets of the news reports that played while Jack was in and out of consciousness flash through his mind.40 percent of the worlds population affected... small pox, long since eradicated...avian flu...bubonic plague in china...cholera in New England has spread to...yellow fever... not enough police left to patrol...bridges and tunnels out of New York City have been barricaded...tuberculosis...the question remains: who unleashed these... all airplanes grounded...England and France have closed their borders... martial law...looters shot on sight...50 percent of the world's population...military in a disarray...60 percent...70 percent... thousands flee large cities... 80 percent of the... impossible to say how many have died... millions...anarchy... untold millions... food... this will be our last broadcast... may God have mercy on...Jack steps into a world that is vastly different from the one he has known. The Upper East Side is desolate in the dead of winter. Dogs, set free by their owners, have turned feral and hunt in deadly packs. Electrical plants have shut down, plunging the city into darkness. Jack must forage to stay alive, scavenging food and supplies from the apartments of the dead. But, Jack is not alone. Throughout Manhattan, neighborhood clans are being formed, self-proclaimed leaders have emerged, children, branded "cockroaches", are enslaved and forced to gather food from high-rise buildings for the strong. Jack and the band of young survivors he meets along the way must carve out a niche for themselves in the new world and defend against a city that has no laws and is quickly running out of food.