Flesh & Bone (43 page)

Behind him a second wave—ten times larger than the mass of reapers—moved forward. If the reapers were a sea, then this was an ocean, moving in a tidal surge under the watching moon. All the crickets were shocked to silence by the moan that rose from tens of thousands of dead throats.

Saint John smiled.

Nine towns waiting.

All those godless souls waiting, aching to be shown the way.

His reapers would open red mouths in the flesh of every man, woman, and child.

And then the gray people would consume them all, flesh and bone.

Also by Jonathan Maberry

Rot & Ruin

Dust & Decay

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020

www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Jonathan Maberry

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

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Book design by Laurent Linn

Jacket design by Laurent Linn

Jacket photograph copyright © 2012 by John E. Barrett

The text for this book is set in Augustal.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maberry, Jonathan.

Flesh & bone / Jonathan Maberry.

p. cm. — (Rot & ruin ; bk. 3)

Summary: Benny, Nix, Lou, and Lilah journey through a fierce wilderness that was once America searching for the jet they saw months ago, while evading fierce animals and a new kind of zombie.

ISBN 978-1-4424-3989-4 (hardback)

[1. Zombies—Fiction. 2. Survival—Fiction. 3. Bounty hunters—Fiction. 4. Brothers—Fiction.]

I. Title. II. Title: Flesh and bone.

PZ7.M11164Fle 2012

[Fic]—dc23

2012000178

ISBN 978-1-4424-3991-7 (eBook)