“After talking to your kids, I had an idea of where to start the story. It’s still a rough draft, but if you have time to read it, that would be great. You can tell me if it’s even close. If not, don’t worry about it.”
This time she left without stopping.
“She’s got a lot of enthusiasm,” Chloe said once they were alone.
“I can see it,” he agreed.
She looked at him. “You all right?”
“No. Are you?”
She shook her head.
She took his hand and squeezed it, then let go and walked back to the others.
He had no doubt she was experiencing the same feelings he was. There was a lot of work ahead, hard and difficult work. At least in the fight with Project Eden their mission had been straightforward — destroy or be destroyed.
Restarting a civilization? There was no simple roadmap for that.
His mind was starting to spiral into the same worried loop it had been in before Chloe and Belinda walked up. To stop it before it consumed him, he opened Belinda’s envelope and pulled out a small stack of paper from inside.
He looked at the top sheet, intending on reading only a paragraph or two, but as he began, he knew he wouldn’t stop until he read every word.
A cry woke him from his sleep.
A young cry.
A girl’s cry.
FROM THE AUTHOR
What a wild ride we have been on! I thank you so much for taking it with me.
When I was writing Sick, I had no idea that the tale of the Sage Flu would turn into more than just that one book. But the story begged for a sequel, and from the messages I received from many readers, you wanted one, too.
At that point, I thought perhaps the Project Eden saga would last three books, maybe four. But seven? It was the story that drove everything, showing me in each book there was more to be told. I was only the conduit, I guess. It has been an adventure for sure. There are so many storylines and characters that showed up unexpectedly that then became featured parts of the series.
What interests me about stories such as these is how they explore the ways people react in the face of unexpected circumstances. And what better unexpected circumstance than an apocalyptic event? It is in these moments of disaster that we are at our best and worst, and these kinds of stories make us wonder how we would react in similar situations. It’s something that has fascinated me since I was a teen reading such disaster novels as Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle’s Lucifer’s Hammer, Robert A. Heinlein’s Farnham’s Freehold, and Robert Merle’s Malevil, just to name a few. With the recent explosion of successful extinction-event novels, it’s clear other authors and readers share this fascination.
But wait, you say, the story of the Sage Flu isn’t finished. The whole world still hangs in the balance.
To that, I say, you’re not wrong. There are hundreds of stories in this universe that could still be told, some of which I might undertake at some point (no promises). But the story of Project Eden’s attempt to lead the new world is done. Project Eden, or at least how we’ve come to know it, has been gutted and left to die. Its story is finished.
What happens next? Well, maybe we’ll see.
Brett Battles
Los Angeles
October 2014
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brett Battles is a Barry Award-winning author of over twenty novels, including the Jonathan Quinn series, the Logan Harper series, and the time-hopping novel Rewinder. He’s also the coauthor, with Robert Gregory Browne, of the Alexandra Poe series. You can learn more at his website: brettbattles.com