Susan Kim - Wasteland

Esther did not doubt the strength or the will of the people. More important, she saw hope in Caleb’s righteousness and in the wisdom the two of them had gained at such a painful price. She saw hope in their love, a bond that seemed to grow stronger with each day. And she saw it in the eyes of the child, Kai.

There was certainly a future for them; that much she knew. Only she was not so certain it would be in Prin.

For now, however, Esther put her doubts aside. Tonight the entire town was celebrating, and although the afternoon sun was already low in the sky she still had to fetch Joseph.

With his home destroyed, her old friend was living with her and Caleb. Yet he seemed frightened to even venture outdoors and had to be escorted everywhere, coaxed like a small child.

Upstairs, Joseph was waiting for her with a tense expression.

“Are you ready?” she asked. “Caleb and Kai are already there, with everyone else.”

Joseph nodded. Esther noticed that he had smoothed down his hair and put on a relatively clean T-shirt.

“Come,” she said, patiently holding out her hand. But still he hesitated.

“You know,” he said suddenly, “it actually is a holiday today.”

Off her puzzled look, he continued in a rush. “According to my old calendars, today is a day when people used to celebrate abundance, while preparing for the hard months ahead. It is a day they called ‘Thanksgiving.’”

Esther paused.

“Thanksgiving,” she repeated, as if to herself. Her expression was thoughtful.

“And it is also,” Joseph added, blushing, “the first party I have ever attended. And as the new town elder, too.”

“Imagine that,” Esther said. Then she met his eyes and smiled.

Wordlessly, the two headed downstairs and onto the street. The sun had set and for a moment, Joseph held back, frightened by the blackness that seemed to engulf them. Yet Esther saw that there was already a sliver of moon overhead, casting a pale yet steady light. And if you lifted your head and sniffed, you could make out the faint but inviting smell of roasting venison and the far-off, happy sounds of festivities.

Esther confidently led the way through the darkness.

SUSAN KIM & LAURENCE KLAVANcowrote the graphic novels CITY OF SPIES and BRAIN CAMP.

Susan is also a five-time Emmy nominee for her work in children’s television and a Writers Guild Award winner for best documentary. She wrote the stage adaptation of Amy Tan’s THE JOY LUCK CLUB, teaches writing at Goddard College, and is a blogger for the Huffington Post. When she was growing up, there was a chain-link fence behind her apartment that led to a small woods. After dinner, all the kids would sneak through to play in a world where no adults intruded. The memory of that has always stayed with her.

Laurence’s previous novels include THE CUTTING ROOM and THE SHOOTING SCRIPT; he won an Edgar Award for the novel MRS. WHITE, and his short-story collection is forthcoming. He received two Drama Desk nominations for the book and lyrics to Bed and Sofa , a musical produced by New York’s Vineyard Theatre. As kids, he and his three brothers used to make epic movies in their backyard, reenacting the Alamo, the signing of the Magna Carta… and the end of the world. This last one involved a lot of fighting over food and property, which was, of course, what they did every day in real life.

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Cover art © 2013 by Colin Anderson

Cover type © 2013 by Alex Beltechi

Cover design by Tom Forget

HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

WASTELAND. Copyright © 2013 by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kim, Susan.

Wasteland / by Susan Kim and Laurence Klavan. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In a postapocalyptic world where everyone dies at age nineteen and rainwater contains a killer virus, loners Esther and Caleb band together with a group of mutant, hermaphroditic outsiders to fight a corrupt ruler and save the town of Prin.

ISBN 978-0-06-211851-6 (hardcover bdg.)

EPub Edition January

ISBN 9780062118530

[1. Interpersonal relations—Fiction. 2. Virus diseases—Fiction. 3. Mutation (Biology)—Fiction. 4. Science Fiction.] I. Klavan, Laurence. II. Title.

PZ7.K55992Was 2013

2012026744

[Fic]—dc23

13 14 15 16 17 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

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