Day Zero - C. Robert Cargill Page 0,86

also gave a soul to my book, a soul that carries on into this very book you are reading now.

This book has Harlan’s blood in it, his gentleness, his greatness. I continue to borrow from him, to stand on his shoulders. And that’s why this book is dedicated to him. Without that conversation, Sea of Rust would not be the book that allowed me to write this one. And I will endeavor to keep a torch lit for him so that he will not, as he feared, fade into the mists of time. So if you enjoy this book and you’ve never had the chance to enjoy Harlan’s work, I implore you to do so at your earliest convenience. You will not be disappointed.

But this book didn’t become what it is with Harlan’s ghost alone. It needed others. So I’d also like to thank:

Jason Murphy for the scotch and helping to find the courage; Rod Paddock for all the breakfast and support; Will Goss for the coffee, corrections, and keeping me in check and for all the literal physical work he put into this as my assistant—hiring him continues to be one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made.

Diana Gill, Simon Spanton, Rachel Winterbottom, and Jen Brehl for fighting for me and this book and for helping shape it into what it has become. Peter McGuigan, a rock star of an agent who once showed me more swagger in two weeks than I’ve seen out of most people in a lifetime. David McIlvain, the man who brought me Peter and whose advice always clears the static.

Scott Derrickson, my writing partner, my friend who held the door open for me and who took me on a series of strange adventures. We also make movies.

Jessica, who loves her writer, whose writer loves her more than breath, and who never, ever lets me give up. You remain everything. My sunshine in the apocalypse.

For you, dear readers, for whom this book was entirely written. I hope that I lived up to my end of the bargain.

And for the tireless efforts of Deputy So-and-So of the local police department, without whose research this book wouldn’t be possible.

About the Author

C. ROBERT CARGILL is the author of Sea of Rust, Dreams and Shadows, Queen of the Dark Things, and the story collection We Are Where the Nightmares Go. He has written for Ain’t It Cool News for nearly a decade under the pseudonym Massawyrm, served as a staff writer for Film.com and Hollywood.com, and appeared as the animated character Carlyle on Spill.com. He is a cowriter of Doctor Strange (2016) and the horror films Sinister (2012) and Sinister 2 (2015). He lives with his wife in Austin, Texas.

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Also by C. Robert Cargill

We Are Where the Nightmares Go

Sea of Rust

Queen of the Dark Things

Dreams and Shadows

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

day zero. Copyright © 2021 by C. Robert Cargill. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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first edition

Frontispiece © RafaelTrafaniuc/Shutterstock

Textures © ilolab/Shutterstock

Cover design by Orion Books

Cover illustration © Dominic Harman/Orion Books

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Cargill, C. Robert, 1975- author.

Title: Day zero: a novel / C. Robert Cargill.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020041512 (print) | LCCN 2020041513 (ebook) | ISBN 9780062405807 (hardcover) | ISBN 9780062405814 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9780062405821 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Science fiction. gsafd

Classification: LCC PS3603.A7449 D39 2021 (print) | LCC PS3603.A7449

(ebook) | DDC 813/.6—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020041512

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020041513

Digital Edition MAY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-240582-1

Print ISBN: 978-0-06-240580-7

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