when the towers turn red, you run.
On a desolate island in the South Pacific the city of Origin shines on the edge of the surf. Centuries earlier, its citizens escaped a great catastrophe, drifting like silt to the bottom of the world. Now, glass towers rise to impossible heights. A meagre population has swollen to seventy million. And nobody ages anymore.
But something is wrong. It never rains on the island. And once a year, every year, a wasting disease rips through the city, killing thousands. Origin’s populace spends summers in hibernation, hoping to wake when the plague has passed.
Those who can’t face death anymore become unhinged. They are known as the Broken. When they appear, railing in the city squares, the towers around them flood with crimson light. Everyone knows what to do. The Administration dispatches a removal team and citizens scatter.
Haunted by the loss of a friend, geneticist Casey Cole has spent decades hunting for a cure to the plague. He has exhausted every conceivable avenue. So he’s about to do the unthinkable. More Broken people are turning up every day. What if they know something the rest of them don’t?
When the towers turn red, you run.
But you’re supposed to runĀ away.
The story behind the story
Praise
