C.J. Tudor

Three ordinary people risk everything for a chance at redemption in this audacious, utterly gripping novel of catastrophe and survival at the end of the world, from the acclaimed author of The Chalk Man. Hannah awakens to carnage, all mangled metal and shattered glass. During a hasty escape from a secluded boarding school, her schoolbus careened over a hillside road during one of the year's heaviest snowstorms, trapping her inside with a handful of survivors, a brewing virus and no way to call for help. If she and the remaining few want to make it out alive, with their sanity--and secrets--intact, they'll need to work together or they'll be buried alive with the rest of the dead. A former detective, Meg awakens to a gentle rocking. She is in a cable car suspended far above a snowstorm and surrounded by strangers in the same uniform as her, with no memory of how they got there. They are heading to a mysterious place known only to them as "The Retreat," but when they discover a dead man among their ranks and Meg spies a familiar face, she realizes that there is something far more insidious going on and begins to use the skills from her former life to interrogate her fellow passengers. Carter is gazing out the window of the abandoned ski chalet that he and his ragtag compatriots call home. As the years drag on, the view of pine forests and mountaintops has become wallpaper. Together, they manage what they can to survive--mostly manufacturing vaccines against a deadly virus in exchange for life's essentials. But as their generator begins to waver, the threat of something lurking in the chalet's depths looms larger, and their fragile bonds will be tested when the power finally fails—for good. The imminent dangers faced by Hannah, Meg and Carter are each one part of the puzzle. Lurking in their shadows is an even greater threat—one that threatens to consume all of humanity.

A Novel

The Drift

Rose

When did we stop being people that others wanted to touch and hug and become these revolting husks? Or was that what we always were? Lumps of meat given life by a flick of the sorcerer’s wand. Perhaps death didn’t take anything away. Perhaps it merely restored us to our natural state. 

Lindsay

“In extreme situations, feeling like you are doing something makes a difference psychologically, even if it has no effect on the outcome.”

But lies were the grease that oiled daily life.

Necessity might be the mother of invention, but it was also the father of fuck you.

You’re either a good guy or a survivor. And the earth is full of dead good guys.

Aimee :)

They were trapped. With the dead. And if rescue didn't come soon, they would be buried with them.

I see you, referencing The Chalk Man 🤭

Carter hated woods and forests. Always had. He blamed his dad. When Carter was a kid, his dad had told him this story about some kids he once knew who had found the body of a girl in the woods. She had been dismembered.

Limbs hidden under piles of leaves. They caught the dude who killed her, but never found her head.

When the world started to end, not with a whimper or a bang but with a slow, whistling sigh, Meg didn't care.

He lay in the crisp white drift, legs and arms splayed, a perfect snow angel. His failing retinas stared up at the bright blue sky. The storm had passed.

When the first crow landed and poked its beak into his eye, he didn't blink.

Later that night, bigger predators would come. By morning, there would be nothing left but a ragged carcass.

A week later, a hunter would shoot a wolf. A sickly-looking thing, but wolf meat was as good as any to feed his family.

Soon afterwards, the hunter would fall ill and die. Then his family. Then his family's friends.

The Drift quotes

Join the club