Prologue
JFK Airport had once been one of the busiest places on Earth.
Now you could hear your own footsteps.
The terminals that had once swallowed millions of travellers every year stood almost silent. Suitcases still waited beside empty seats. Departure boards still glowed overhead, stubbornly insisting flights were delayed rather than admitting there was nobody left to board them.
Humanity had disappeared.
Nobody had bothered to tell the airport.
The only movement came from soldiers.
They crossed the terminal with the sort of purpose that only exists when everyone is pretending they know what they’re doing. Radios crackled. Orders were exchanged. Equipment was checked for what had to be the hundredth time.
No one smiled.
Then again… if today went badly, smiling would become someone else’s problem.
My name’s Charlie.
A few months ago, I was an overweight office worker from Brussels whose biggest concern was whether my best friend and I were going to spend too much money in New York.
Instead…
Almost everyone on Earth vanished.
Somehow, I didn’t.
I still don’t know why.
What I do know is this:
After everything it took to get here…
After crossing an ocean in an aircraft I had absolutely no business flying…
After everything Emily and I found…
We finally think we’ve figured out how to bring them back.
All of them.
If we’re right…
Today is the last day the world wakes up empty.
If we’re wrong…
Well.
That’s where my story begins.
