The Dead (Higson novel)
| Author | Charlie Higson |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom and the rest of Europe |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Enemy |
| Genre | Horror, Young adult, Thriller |
| Publisher | Puffin Books |
|
Publication date
|
16 September 2010 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 450 |
| ISBN | |
| Preceded by | The Enemy |
| Followed by | The Fear |
The Dead is a novel written by Charlie Higson. The book, published by Puffin Books in the UK on 16 September 2010, is the second book in a planned seven-book series, titled The Enemy.The Dead takes place in London, a year before the events in the previous book (The Enemy, released in the UK by Puffin Books on 3 September 2009), two weeks after a worldwide sickness has infected adults turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies.
Puffin Books released the third novel in the series, titled The Fear, on 15 September 2011; the fourth novel, The Sacrifice, on the 20 September 2012; the fifth novel, The Fallen, on 12 September 2013; the sixth novel, The Hunted, on 4 September 2014; and the final book, The End, on 10 November 2015. Disney Hyperion released Higson's short story companion book in the series, titled Geeks vs. Zombies, on 5 June 2012; it portrays an exclusive scene from The Fear, on World Book Day.
The Dead begins a year before the events in The Enemy, where an unnamed user posts a video on Youtube titled "The Scared Kid". In it, a boy frantically talks to the camera about how his friends Danny and Eve have been killed by "Mothers and fathers" (Zombies), and shows them standing outside his window. He then suffers a nervous breakdown and ends the video. The video goes viral, with people not knowing if it is real or not. Eventually, the video is taken down from Youtube, followed by the site itself, followed by the internet, and finally electricity entirely. This marks the point that people realised that someone bad was going on, and the start of the apocalypse.
Two weeks into the apocalypse, two 14-year-old boys, named Jack and Ed are trapped with a group of other schoolboys in the Rowhurst boarding school (in Kent, in a remote village a few miles from London) where they are defending themselves from their now zombified teachers. After escaping from the adult siege of their school with the help of a rugby player named Bam, Jack and Ed rescue their French teacher's daughter, Frederique, and make their way to a nearby chapel, were a group of people led by a boy named Matt barricaded themselves inside a few days prior. Alarmed by the lack of a reply from inside the church, they break in and find that the boys hiding inside have either fallen unconscious or died from carbon monoxide poisoning. The group of boys manage to revive the survivors, and Matt appears to have suffered brain damage from the poisoning. He believes himself to be the messenger of a being called the Lamb of God, who he explains will come down to earth and cleanse it of "Non believers" (the zombies). He is convinced he must go to St Paul's Cathedral in London to fulfil the needs of his "god". The group splits, with Matt and some people he has brought into his religion (now calling themselves his "acolytes", attempting to go to London with Jack (who wants to find his family home), and the rest (Including Ed, Bam and one of Ed's best friends Malik) deciding to go deeper into the countryside (Thinking it will be safer).
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