Brooklyn Book Festival OnePage
Week of 27-Jul-2012
(co-authored by Steven Barnes):
A page for her forthcoming novel, Devil’s Wake. The book never uses the word 'zombie,' but it uses zombie imagery to examine questions of family, society, and survival through the eyes of a group of young people cast out into the world.
Kendra sat straight up when she saw the man by the side of the road. She wadded up the tissue in her pocket so tightly that her fingernails bit into her skin. The walking man was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a brick-red backpack. He lurched along unsteadily. From the way he bent forward, as if bracing into a wind, Kendra guessed the backpack was heavy. It was the first time in weeks she'd seen anyone walking on this road. Her neck snapped back as Grandpa Joe sped up his truck.
“Don’t you worry,” Grandpa Joe said. “We ain’t stoppin’.”
The man let out a mournful cry as they passed, waving a cardboard sign. He had a long, bushy beard, and as they passed his eyes looked wide and wild. Kendra craned her head to read the sign, which the man held high in the air: STILL HERE, the sign said. “He’ll be all right,” Grandpa Joe said, but Kendra didn’t think so. No one was supposed to go on the roads alone, especially without a car. Maybe the man had a gun, and maybe they would need another man with a gun. Maybe the man had been trying to warn them something bad was waiting for them ahead. But the way he walked…
Kendra kept watching while the man retreated behind them. She had to stop watching when she felt her stomach knot. She'd been holding her breath without knowing it. Her face was cold and sweating, both at once. “Was that one?” Kendra whispered. She hadn’t known she was going to say that either, just like when she asked for a Coke. Instead, she’d been thinking about the man’s sign. Still here.
“Don’t know,” Grandpa Joe said. “It’s hard to tell. That’s why you never stop.” They listened to the radio, neither of them speaking again for the rest of the ride.
Go Back
Visit Tananarive Due's Webpage
The Brooklyn Book Festival OnePage is made possible in part with a grant from
A page for her forthcoming novel, Devil’s Wake. The book never uses the word 'zombie,' but it uses zombie imagery to examine questions of family, society, and survival through the eyes of a group of young people cast out into the world.
Kendra sat straight up when she saw the man by the side of the road. She wadded up the tissue in her pocket so tightly that her fingernails bit into her skin. The walking man was tall and broad-shouldered, wearing a brick-red backpack. He lurched along unsteadily. From the way he bent forward, as if bracing into a wind, Kendra guessed the backpack was heavy. It was the first time in weeks she'd seen anyone walking on this road. Her neck snapped back as Grandpa Joe sped up his truck.
“Don’t you worry,” Grandpa Joe said. “We ain’t stoppin’.”
The man let out a mournful cry as they passed, waving a cardboard sign. He had a long, bushy beard, and as they passed his eyes looked wide and wild. Kendra craned her head to read the sign, which the man held high in the air: STILL HERE, the sign said. “He’ll be all right,” Grandpa Joe said, but Kendra didn’t think so. No one was supposed to go on the roads alone, especially without a car. Maybe the man had a gun, and maybe they would need another man with a gun. Maybe the man had been trying to warn them something bad was waiting for them ahead. But the way he walked…
Kendra kept watching while the man retreated behind them. She had to stop watching when she felt her stomach knot. She'd been holding her breath without knowing it. Her face was cold and sweating, both at once. “Was that one?” Kendra whispered. She hadn’t known she was going to say that either, just like when she asked for a Coke. Instead, she’d been thinking about the man’s sign. Still here.
“Don’t know,” Grandpa Joe said. “It’s hard to tell. That’s why you never stop.” They listened to the radio, neither of them speaking again for the rest of the ride.
