The Sacrifice (Higson novel)

The Sacrifice is a post-apocalyptic young adult horror novel written by best-selling author Charlie Higson. The book, released by Puffin Books in the UK and Australia on 20 September 2012, is the fourth book in a planned seven-book series, titled The Enemy.The Sacrifice takes place in London, a year after a worldwide sickness has infected adults, turning them into something akin to voracious, cannibalistic zombies, and begins five days after the end of The Fear.

Puffin Books released the first novel in the series, titled The Enemy, in the UK on 3 September 2009; Disney Hyperion released it in the US on 11 May 2010. Puffin Books released the second novel in the series, titled The Dead, on 16 September 2010; the third novel, titled The Fear, on 15 September 2011; the fourth novel, The Sacrifice, on 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 book opens at an unknown period of time, where a child is locked in a dark room with an unseen figure (this is later revealed to be under a warehouse, near Saint Paul's Cathedral, by the order of Matt from "The Dead"). The figure talks about how he "fell from the heavens" and landed in "the big green" where he "traveled" from insects to animals over thousands of years, eventually reaching humans. From this, it is possible to theorise that the figure is talking about the virus, which came to earth from space billions of years ago, landed in a jungle, and worked its way up the dominance chain until it was eventually able to infect a human subject (although this is explained further in "The Fallen"). The figure then reveals himself to be a zombie capable of speech, before he devours the child.