The Swarm and the Flyer

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Summary

Rayland Mark Calderón thought life had ended when his dad died in a car accident. Then the Swarm brought humanity to near extinction. The shapeshifting creatures appeared without warning, killing people in droves with supersonic blasts. Their only weakness is the static from walkie-talkies and radios. Rayland and Josiah, his cycling teammate and friend, are barricaded in their old college rental house. Rayland knows he and Josiah have to come out of hiding to find rescue. Being in unrequited love with Josiah, who is also gay, only cements this cruel truth. After contacting two police officers by radio, Rayland and Josiah travel south to find Josiah’s parents and two younger siblings. A self-identified messiah and former FBI agent named Reg Alteo emerges with different plans for the two young men. Driven by his delusion that the Swarm will single out the “divine,” Reg tears Josiah’s family apart and thrusts Rayland into another fight for his life. Even with new allies and more firepower, Rayland and Josiah are running out of time to stop Reg and his group from setting in motion a new world order. To save Josiah’s siblings and stand a chance of finding his own family, Rayland must put his fear of grief aside and muster the courage to fight back -- even if it means forming a permanent bond with the Swarm.

Status
Complete
Chapters
16
Rating
4.7 3 reviews
Age Rating
18+

Opening Quotes

“Tonight, all the hells of young grief have opened again; the mad words, the bitter resentment, the fluttering in the stomach, the nightmare unreality, the wallowed-in tears. For in grief nothing ‘stays put.’ One keeps on emerging from a phase, but it always recurs. Round and round. Everything repeats. Am I going in circles, or dare I hope I am on a spiral? But if a spiral, am I going up or down it? How often—will it be for always? —how often will the vast emptiness astonish me like a complete novelty and make me say, ‘I never realized my loss till this moment’?"

C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed


“Rejoice with glitters of ashes tonightSparkling for moon’s spiced silver biteUpon skin of darkness, loving night moreStorm begins unlocking cold wind’s door”

Munia Khan