January

Informationen zum Autor Daniel Parker is the author of over twenty books for children and young adults. He lives in New York City with his wife, a dog, and a psychotic cat named Bootsie. He is a Leo. When he isn't writing, he is tirelessly traveling the world on a doomed mission to achieve rock-and-roll stardom. As of this date, his musical credits include the composition of bluegrass soundtrack numbers for the film The Grave (starring a bloated Anthony Michael Hall) and a brief stint performing live rap music to baffled Filipino audiences in Hong Kong. Mr. Parker once worked in a cheese shop. He was fired. Klappentext COUNTDOWN It's 1999. Party like there's no tomorrow. Pray that there will be. JANUARY On New Year's Day, it happens: Over six billion people die within twenty-four hours. The stunned survivors are left to fend for themselves in a world where chaos reigns. A world with no rules, no order...and no adults. Because the only people left are teenagers. Leseprobe CHAPTER ONE 187 Puget Drive Babylon, Washington 11:56 p.m. "This is where it gets really crazy...." Ariel Collins picked at the label of her empty beer bottle. She'd never been so bored. She was so bored, she thought she was going to die or something. I can't believe Jez hasn't shut up yet. No, actually she could believe it. Jezebel Howe hardly ever shut up. Ariel just couldn't believe she was wasting New Year's Eve, 1998 -- the biggest New Year's Eve of her entire seventeen-year-old life -- listening to this garbage. Why couldn't she be somewhere else? Babylon was the worst. It wasn't even a real town. It was a suburb -- a suburb of Seattle, no less. And as far as cities went, Seattle was pretty lame, too. "...so this guy guns the car up to like eighty five, right?" Jezebel was saying. Her porcelain face glowed blue in the flickering light of the muted TV. "Meanwhile Brian is totally freaking out. He's all like, 'Slow down, man! We're gonna get killed. Or worse! We're gonna get arrested!'" Jack laughed. Again. It didn't matter that he had heard the same dumb story at least a billion times already. It didn't matter that Jezebel was only telling the story to rag on Ariel's boyfriend, who happened to be passed out on the floor. Of course not. Jezebel was saying something that she thought was funny. Somebody in this living room had to provide the laugh track. And who better than her cheesy, twenty-year-old meathead boyfriend, Jack Grant? "Anyway, I'm chilling in the backseat," Jezebel went on. She brushed her dyed black hair behind her ears, then dramatically eased back into the sofa -- as if an actual demonstration of "chilling" were crucial to everyone's understanding of what happened. "But I'm starting to get nervous. You know that way Brian has of making people nervous -- " "Does anybody want more beer?" Ariel interrupted. For an instant Jezebel's expression soured. Then she smiled again. "Can't you wait, like, ten seconds?" "I'm thirsty," Ariel said. She pushed herself off the worn carpet and glanced at Brian, sprawled in a heap beside the beer-splattered coffee table. At least she had him. Even when Brian Landau was wasted, he was still hot. Of course, he didn't get wasted that often. So it was all the more cute when he did. That tousled blond hair, that ratty flannel shirt, those gorgeous blue eyes -- closed now, obviously, due to massive amounts of alcohol and boredom...Ariel couldn't help but smile. She gently kicked the bottom of one of his Timberland boots. "Psst, Bri," she whispered. "Wake up, sweetie. It's almost midnight." Brian groaned. He sounded vaguely ill. "So can I finish?" Jezebel grumbled. Ariel rolled her eyes. "Oh, please do," she begged sarcastically. She stepped over Brian and headed for the kitchen. "I can't wait to hear what happens next. Did you all die?" Jack snickered from t...

Product details

• Authors: Parker, Daniel Parker
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster USA
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.01.2014
• EAN: 9781481425865
• ISBN: 978-1-4814-2586-5
• No. of pages: 137
• Dimensions: 127 mm x 197 mm x 6 mm
• Series: Countdown; Countdown
• Subject: Children's and young people's books