Jason Mott - The Crossing

Stay and die, or run and survive.

Twins Virginia and Tommy Matthews have been on their own since they were orphaned at the age of five, surviving a merciless foster care system by relying on each other. Twelve years later, the world begins to collapse around them as a deadly contagion steadily wipes out entire populations and a devastating world war rages on. When Tommy is drafted for the war, the twins are faced with a choice: accept their fate of almost certain death, or dodge the draft. Virginia and Tommy flee into the dark night.

Armed with only a pistol and their fierce will to survive, the twins set forth in search of a new beginning. Encountering a colorful cast of characters along the way, Tommy and Virginia must navigate the dangers and wonders of this changed world as they try to outrun the demons of their past.

With deft imagination and breathless prose, The Crossing is a riveting tale of loyalty, sacrifice and the burdens we carry with us into the darkness of the unknown.

JASON MOTTis the critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author of The Returned, which was adapted for a network television drama series. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Jason holds a BA in fiction and an MFA in poetry. He currently lives in North Carolina.

JasonMottAuthor.com

Also By Jason Mott

The Returned

The Wonder of All Things

The Crossing

Jason Mott

Copyright

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018

Copyright © Jason Mott 2018

Jason Mott asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Ebook Edition © May 2018 ISBN: 9781474083669

Praise for Jason Mott

“Spellbinding.”— People

“[A] poignant story of loss and love.”— Bookpage

“Lovely… A revelation.”— Bookreporter.com

“White-hot.”— Entertainment Weekly

“Exceptional…Riveting.”— Publishers Weekly , starred review

“Compulsively readable.”— The Washington Post

“Extraordinary.”—Douglas Preston

“Beautifully written…Breathtaking.”— Kirkus Reviews , starred review

“A deft meditation on loss.”—Aimee Bender

“Ambitious and heartfelt.”— The Dallas Morning News

“A beautiful meditation on what it means to be human.”— Booklis t, starred review

“An impressive debut.”— USA TODAY

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Jason Mott

LAUNCH

PROLOGUE

ESCAPE VELOCITIES

ONE

ELSEWHERE

TWO

To My Children

THREE

ELSEWHERE

FOUR

To My Children

FIVE

ELSEWHERE

SIX

To My Children

SEVEN

ELSEWHERE

EIGHT

SEPARATION

NINE

ELSEWHERE

TEN

To My Children

ELEVEN

ELSEWHERE

TWELVE

To My Children

THIRTEEN

ELSEWHERE

FOURTEEN

To My Children

CELESTIAL ENCOUNTERS

FIFTEEN

ELSEWHERE

SIXTEEN

Virginia

SEVENTEEN

ELSEWHERE

EIGHTEEN

Tommy

NINETEEN

TWENTY

EUROPA

EPILOGUE

About the Publisher

LAUNCH

The whole world was dying but still everyone made time for one last war. The Disease had entered its tenth year and the war had entered its fifth and there didn’t seem to be any cure in sight for either of them. Some people said that because of the nature of The Disease, the older generation, seeing that their end was finally near, decided to settle all the old scores. One final global bar fight before last call.

The world had already lost twenty percent of its population by the time Tommy and I began our trip. The Disease took the old—killing some, simply putting others into a long, soft slumber—and the war took the young and everyone else tried to lose themselves in whatever they could: drugs, alcohol, sex, science, art, poetry. Everyone had impetus and direction now that everything was falling apart.

When it all first began, Tommy and I were too young for the war and far too young for The Disease, so we only walked in the shadow of it all, watching and waiting for our turn. Our parents were already dead and we didn’t have any other family. We’d never live long enough to catch The Disease, so we viewed it with a detached interest and sympathy.

The Disease started in Russia, but because Russia tends to be tight-lipped about what happens within its borders, it’s been difficult for anyone to say just how long it had been happening before the rest of the world found out about it. The UK was the first country beyond Russia to notice the outbreak. It began in a retirement home in London where one morning the staff went to their patients’ rooms to find all of them asleep and unable to be awakened. Within hours there were reports coming in from other countries about the extremely elderly falling asleep and never waking.

The Disease garnered a lot of different names in those first frightening weeks: The Lullaby, The Long Goodnight, Sundowners Disease. The last one was meant to make fun of the elderly. After all, those at the end of life were expected to pass away eventually. So for a while, the world was concerned, but not alarmed. It wasn’t until The Disease had been quietly shutting the doors on the oldest of the population that someone at the CDC noticed a decline in the average age of The Disease’s victims. Something that began affecting only those in their midnineties and above had progressed to affect those about five years younger. Then the world watched as, over the next couple of years, the average age was reduced even further.

The Disease was coming for everyone. It would begin by emptying out the nursing homes, then progress to the retirement villages, then on and on until, eventually, it would hollow out the office buildings, the nightclubs the youth had once filled with reverie until, one day, there would be no one alive old enough to reproduce. Not long after that, whatever children left would turn out the lights on humanity by drifting off into one long, peaceful slumber.

The world would not end with a bang or a whimper, but in a restful sigh.

Staring down the barrel of that future was what sparked the war. As people panicked they began to blame others. And that blaming donned a coat of nationalism. Russia was the primary target in the beginning since that was where The Disease had begun. Before long, the war spilled over from its borders and into the rest of the world.