The Eleventh Plague - Softcover

Hirsch, Jeff

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0545290155 ISBN 13: 9780545290159

Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks, 2012

Synopsis

Jeff Hirsch's stunning debut is now in paperback!

In the aftermath of a war, America's landscape has been ravaged and two-thirds of the population left dead from a vicious strain of influenza. Fifteen-year-old Stephen Quinn and his family were among the few that survived and became salvagers, roaming the country in search of material to trade. But when Stephen's grandfather dies and his father falls into a coma after an accident, Stephen finds his way to Settler's Landing, a community that seems too good to be true. Then Stephen meets strong, defiant, mischievous Jenny, who refuses to accept things as they are. And when they play a prank that goes horribly wrong, chaos erupts, and they find themselves in the midst of a battle that will change Settler's Landing--and their lives--forever.

About this title

From the Author:

Jeff Hirsch graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with an MFA in dramatic writing, and is the USA TODAY bestselling author of THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE and MAGISTERIUM. He lives in Beacon, New York, with his wife. Visit him online at www.jeff-hirsch.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

From The Eleventh Plague

Dad turned all around, sheets of water coursing off his head and shoulders. I wanted to scream that it was pointless, that we needed to keep running, but then there was another crack and a flash of lightning, and for a second it seemed like there might be a ridge of some kind out ahead of us. Dad grabbed my elbow and pulled us toward it.
"Come on! Maybe there's shelter!"
By then, the ground had turned to a slurry of mud and rocks and wrecked grass. Every few steps my feet would sink deep into it and I'd have to pull myself out one foot at a time, terrified that I'd lose sight of Dad and be lost out in that gray nothing, alone forever.
As we ran, the ridge ahead of us became more and more solid, a great looming black wall. I prayed for a cave, but even a good notch in the rock wall would have been enough to get us out of the rain and hide until morning. We were only fifty feet or so from it when Dad came to an abrupt halt.
"Why are we stopping?!"
Dad didn't say anything, he simply pointed.
Between us and the ridge there was an immense gash in the earth, a gorge some thirty feet across and another thirty deep, with steep, muddy walls on our side and the ridge on the opposite. A boiling mess of muddy water, tree stumps, and trash raged at the bottom.
Dad searched left and right for a crossing, but there wasn't any. His shoulders slumped. Even through the curtain of rain I could see the sunken hollow of his eyes, deep red-lined pits that sat in skin as gray as the air around us.
"I'm sorry, Stephen. I swear to God, I'm so sorry."

About this edition

• Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 0545290155
• ISBN 13: 9780545290159
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 288