Justin Cronin: The Twelve

The Twelve is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 by Justin Cronin

All rights reserved.

Published in the United States by Ballantine Books, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

BALLANTINE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.:

“In the Afterlife” from Almost Invisible by Mark Strand, copyright © 2012 by Mark Strand. Reprinted by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Cronin, Justin.

The twelve : a novel / Justin Cronin.

p. cm.—(Passage trilogy 2)

eISBN: 978-0-345-53489-7

1. Virus diseases—Fiction. 2. Survival—Fiction. 3. End of the world—Fiction. 4. Human experimentation in medicine—Fiction. I. Title.

PS3553.R542T94 2012

813’.54—dc23 2012028427

www.ballantinebooks.com

Jacket design: Belina Huey

Jacket illustration: Tom Hallman

v3.1_r1

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Epigraph

PROLOGUE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

ITHE GHOST

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

IITHE FAMILIAR

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

IIITHE FIELD

Chapter 23

IVTHE CAVE

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

VTHE OIL ROAD

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

VITHE INSURGENT

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

VIITHE OUTLAW

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

VIIITHE CHANGELING

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52

Chapter 53

Chapter 54

IXTHE ARRIVAL

Chapter 55

Chapter 56

Chapter 57

XTHE ASSASSIN

Chapter 58

Chapter 59

Chapter 60

Chapter 61

Chapter 62

XITHE DARKEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR

Chapter 63

Chapter 64

Chapter 65

Chapter 66

XIITHE KISS

Chapter 67

Chapter 68

EPILOGUETHE GOLDEN HOUR

Chapter 69

Chapter 70

Chapter 71

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Dedication

Acknowledgments

Other Books by This Author

About the Author

From the Writings of the First Recorder (“The Book of Twelves”)

Presented at the Third Global Conference on the North American Quarantine Period

Center for the Study of Human Cultures and Conflicts

University of New South Wales, Indo-Australian Republic

April 16–21, 1003 A.V.

[ Excerpt begins .]

1. For it came to pass that the world had grown wicked, and men had taken war into their hearts, and committed great defilements upon every living thing, so that the world was as a dream of death;

2. And God looked upon his creation with a great sadness, for his spirit no longer abided with mankind.

3. And the LORD said: As in the days of Noah, a great deluge shall sweep over the earth; and this shall be a deluge of blood. The monsters of men’s hearts shall be made flesh, devouring all in their path. And they shall be called Virals.

4. The first shall walk among you disguised as a virtuous man, concealing the evil within him; and it shall come to pass that a sickness will befall him, such that he is made into the likeness of a demon, terrible to gaze upon. And he shall be the father of destruction, called the Zero.

5. And men shall say: Would not such a being make the mightiest of soldiers? Would not the armies of our enemies lay down their weapons to cover their eyes at the very sight of him?

6. And a decree shall go forth from the highest offices that twelve criminals shall be chosen to share of the Zero’s blood, becoming demons also; and their names shall be as one name, Babcock-Morrison-Chávez-Baffes-Turrell-Winston-Sosa-Echols-Lambright-Martínez-Reinhardt-Carter, called the Twelve.

7. But also I will choose one among you who is pure of heart and mind, a child to stand against them; and I will send a sign so that all may know, and this sign shall be a great commotion of animals.

8. And this was Amy, whose name is Love: Amy of Souls, the Girl from Nowhere.

9. And the sign went forth in the place of Memphis, the beasts howling and screeching and trumpeting; and one who saw was Lacey, a sister in the eyes of God. And the LORD said to Lacey:

10. You too are chosen, to be as a helpmate to Amy, to show her the way. Wither she goes you shall go also; and your journey shall be a hardship, lasting many generations.

11. You shall be as a mother to the child, whom I have brought forth to heal the broken world; for within her I shall build an ark to carry the spirits of the righteous.

12. And thus did Lacey according to all that God commanded her, so did she.

1. And it came to pass that Amy was taken to the place of Colorado to be the captive of evil men; for in that place the Zero and the Twelve abided in chains, and Amy’s captors intended that she should become one of them, joining to them in mind.

2. And there she was given the blood of the Zero, and fell into a swoon as unto death; but neither did she die, nor acquire monstrous form. For it was not the design of God that such a thing should come to pass.

3. And in this state Amy lingered through a period of days, until a great calamity occurred, such that there should be a Time Before and a Time After; for the Twelve escaped and the Zero also, unleashing death upon the earth.

4. But one man befriended Amy, and took pity upon her, and stole her away from that place. And this was Wolgast, a man righteous in his generation, beloved of God.

5. And together Amy and Wolgast made their way to the place of Oregon, deep in the mountains; and there they abided in the time known as the Year of Zero.