Seanan McGuire (seanan_mcguire) wrote,
Seanan McGuire
seanan_mcguire
  • Mood: sad
  • Music: Kat getting ready for school.

T-minus 4 days to DEADLINE.

Reston, Virginia. July 30th, 2014.

It had taken six of the Valium pills John kept hidden at the back of the medicine cabinet, but Alexander Kellis was finally ready. He checked the knot on his rope one more time. It was good; it would hold. Maybe it wasn't elegant, but he didn't deserve elegant, did he? He destroyed the world. Children would curse his name for generations, assuming there were any generations yet to come. John was gone, forever. It was over.

"I'll see you soon, sweetheart," he whispered, and stepped off the edge of his desk. No one would find his body for weeks. If he reanimated, he starved without harming anyone. Alexander Kellis never harmed anyone.

Not on purpose.

***

Please return to your homes. Please remain calm. This is not a drill. If you have been infected, please contact authorities immediately. If you have not been infected, please remain calm. This is not a drill. Please return to your homes...

When will you Rise?
Tags: deadline, mira grant
  • Post a new comment

    Error

    Anonymous comments are disabled in this journal

    switch
    default userpic

    Your reply will be screened

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    Help
  • 69 comments
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →

mel_redcap

May 27 2011, 11:56:11 UTC 6 years ago

*wibbles* ;_;

filceolaire

May 27 2011, 11:58:57 UTC 6 years ago

Ow. It hurts to read that.

I've got to know Dr Kellis through these pieces and it hurts to see him so heartbroken, all his dreams shattered and worse.

ashabardon

May 27 2011, 11:59:01 UTC 6 years ago

I'm actually scared now the pieces are shorter ... oh please do this when Blackout comes out!

fadedbluejeans

May 27 2011, 12:07:32 UTC 6 years ago

And... now I'm crying.

Still 18 days until Deadline comes out here in Australia, but these pieces may break me long before the book actually gets here.

beccastareyes

May 27 2011, 13:06:28 UTC 6 years ago

Poor Dr. Kellis.

I didn't expect him to survive, but I didn't expect this.

orlacarey

May 27 2011, 13:27:59 UTC 6 years ago

sad now...the plan is today I'm taking a 4 hour car ride where I'm going to read Countdown to the driver. I'm considering not reading this one to (and giving it to her after the weekend). Just so that this won't be the last one she hears before the weekend blackout (we're camping).

priscellie

May 27 2011, 13:57:17 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, this HURTS. And I just got to that part of "Feed" on my morning commute. Wonder what my fellow travelers thought of the girl blinking back tears on the subway?

lysystratae

May 27 2011, 15:12:40 UTC 6 years ago

oh, man - that part plus this in one day? not sure I could handle that....

Deleted comment

beccastareyes

6 years ago

  • New comment
More Expand

biomekanic

May 27 2011, 14:03:31 UTC 6 years ago

No good deed goes unpunished.

On a related note, things I wonder about this world when I read these stories and the book(s):

What happened in Africa, China, India, and especially in tightly packed Japan?

If this affects mammals over 40 lbs, does this mean the ocean is now even more dangerous with zombie dolphins?

Speaking of Africa and Asia, Zombie elephants... OFMG.

Corporate animal farms... ZOMFG

This would be a great setting for All Flesh Must Be Eaten.

paradisacorbasi

May 27 2011, 14:07:16 UTC 6 years ago

Zombie dolphins. And zombie ORCA.

Zombie elephants. And hippos. And rhinos.

tikiera

6 years ago

  • New comment

elorie

6 years ago

  • New comment

tikiera

6 years ago

  • New comment

biomekanic

6 years ago

  • New comment

tikiera

6 years ago

  • New comment

Deleted comment

kengr

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

6 years ago

  • New comment

kengr

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

6 years ago

  • New comment

kengr

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

6 years ago

  • New comment

lysystratae

6 years ago

  • New comment

vixyish

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

6 years ago

  • New comment

Deleted comment

fullcontactmuse

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

May 27 2011, 14:10:45 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, Alexander, no.

Poor man.

This one is so hard. I want to step in and say "no, man, you can begin the work on a cure!" I want to ...to... remind him Brandon and his Mayday Morons caused the Rising, and that if bloggers spread that word, maybe his name wouldn't be cursed.

Why do you keep making me want to step in your book and rescue your characters?

Because you Kill Your Darlings.

And the hallmark of an awesome writer is making your readers love your darlings enough to grieve when you kill them.

*sniffle*

'Bye Alexander. Sleep well, and dream of the better world you tried to make.

Thanks again, Mira/Seanan.

ladymondegreen

May 27 2011, 14:27:07 UTC 6 years ago

Poor Dr. Kellis. He took away one monster, but got another one in trade.

Sleep well, Dr. K. Thank you for doing what you did, and for not doing what you could prevent.

branna

May 27 2011, 15:31:22 UTC 6 years ago

Ow. Ow. I have particular soft spot for Alexander Kellis, for some strange reason.

ladymondegreen

6 years ago

  • New comment

paradisacorbasi

6 years ago

  • New comment

georgiamagnolia

May 27 2011, 14:33:14 UTC 6 years ago

*icon says it all*

snowishness

May 27 2011, 14:42:15 UTC 6 years ago

I think I know what I'm getting going into these, and they still manage to be entirely heart-wrenching. Oh, Alexander...

mrshoneybee247

May 27 2011, 14:59:21 UTC 6 years ago

From My Amazing Hubby:
"Curse you, devil woman! Curse you to Hades! You made me love you!"
(Stolen from Monty)
From me: I hate you! (I love you!) Thank you!

hoppytoad79

May 27 2011, 15:00:49 UTC 6 years ago

:( Poor Dr. Kellis! You've told us little about the reporter who did the inflamatory article about Kellis' cure for the common cold, but it's been enough to make me despise the guy with a passion. Go you with killer characterization!

archangelbeth

May 27 2011, 15:05:23 UTC 6 years ago

One of the few geniuses who might've been able to figure out a cure someday, too. Poor despairing man. O:(

lysystratae

May 27 2011, 15:09:40 UTC 6 years ago

Please tell me his plan worked (as in, if he reanimated he was stuck hanging there until he rotted past harming anyone)....

evaleastaristev

May 27 2011, 15:19:38 UTC 6 years ago

Short, sweet, and still making me cry.

I'm loving this!

kshandra

May 27 2011, 15:28:08 UTC 6 years ago

*heart breaks*

seabhac_mhor

May 27 2011, 15:51:22 UTC 6 years ago

OW.

I've grown to appreciate these people you've written about - the foolish, the egotistical, the thoughtful, the visionary.

And it hurts just a little more each day when I see what the Rising does to them (well, not Brandon exactly, and I'm waiting patiently to see Stalnaker get what's coming to him).

And then, today.

OW.

cflute

May 27 2011, 16:13:11 UTC 6 years ago

Again, brilliant. In a heartwrenching way. Much as knowing what happened to him hurts, it makes total sense to me because Alex's choice seems to follow inexorably from what we've seen of his character.

If there is an afterlife, I hope he finds John waiting for him there.

trialia

May 27 2011, 19:09:33 UTC 6 years ago

Poor, sad Alexander...

baka_kit

May 27 2011, 20:32:26 UTC 6 years ago

Now I'm sitting here crying.

Deleted comment

drcpunk

May 28 2011, 07:41:07 UTC 6 years ago

Yah, that kind of sums it up for me.

I mean, again, I'm willing to forgive a man who's lost everything, especially a fictional one, but it's a pity he didn't go down fighting to make a cure.

I see it not, I think, as cowardice so much as breaking strain, if you're familiar with Kipling's "Hymn to Breaking Strain". Sometimes, there's just too much hitting a person all at once, though, and they just can't get up again. That's what happened here.

anthimerian

May 27 2011, 21:33:58 UTC 6 years ago

Oh . . . oh . . . that was painful. Oh, Alex Kellis. I hope John's waiting to bring him over.

shiyiya

May 27 2011, 23:42:28 UTC 6 years ago

Oh, Alexander :(
Previous
← Ctrl ← Alt
Next
Ctrl → Alt →