Summary

Prologue and Part One: Chapters 1-5

Prologue: The End of the Holocene

A soldier has just returned home. She steps off the bus and looks around. Suddenly a fire ball spreads down the street, people begin to walk past with their bodies damaged and burned. The soldier dies lying in the middle of the street.

Chapter 1: Tomorrow’s the Big Day

Aubrey Van Houten falls asleep on the beach and wakes buried in the sand. Aubrey knows that the local bully did it. Bill, the lifeguard, digs Aubrey out and hangs out until Aubrey has cleaned up and is ready to go. Bill turns everything off and the water disappears. Then they step out into the corridor of Level 3 of Holocene II. As Aubrey walks home he thinks of the things his father has told him of what the...