He determines that the skels are evolving into more intelligent forms. Mark notices the cunning speed of this particular straggler and puts this information together with his recollections of other advancing skels from his past. On the last day, Omega is patrolling the area when Gary is suddenly attacked by a straggler. Despite these disasters, officials from the main military headquarters in Buffalo attempt to maintain a hopeful public face, promising that Zone One will be ready for rebuilding soon. Mark finds out that the Lieutenant has committed suicide and that Bubbling Brooks, a renowned stronghold, has been destroyed by skels. When they encounter another team in their area, they attempt to contact Fort Wonton to find out why their duties have overlapped. As the end grows near, Mark reveals more of his sentimental past and hope for the future.ĭuring the three days, team Omega continue their sweeps of Zone One. He also reflects on his early encounters with skels as a recruit at Fort Wonton, especially through the eccentric mentorship by his superior, the Lieutenant.

He manages to barely escape to safety and is eventually rescued by the U.S. He also tells of the various human settlements in Connecticut and Massachusetts that he joined briefly during the early days of the virus. For instance, Mark recalls finding his infected mother feasting on his father’s entrails. While the novel is primarily told in real time, Mark’s flashbacks are interspersed throughout the narrative.

And then things start to go terribly wrong… At once a chilling horror story and a literary novel by a contemporary master, Zone One is a dazzling portrait of modern civilization in all its wretched, shambling glory.Zone One takes place over the course of three days (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday), leading up to the eventual total takeover of Zone One by the virus. Zone One unfolds over three surreal days in which Spitz is occupied with the mundane mission of straggler removal, the rigors of Post-Apocalyptic Stress Disorder (PASD), and the impossible task of coming to terms with a fallen world. Mark Spitz is a member of one of the three-person civilian sweeper units tasked with clearing lower Manhattan of the remaining feral zombies. After the worst of the plague is over, armed forces stationed in Chinatown’s Fort Wonton have successfully reclaimed the island south of Canal Street-aka Zone One.

From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys: A pandemic has devastated the planet, sorting humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead.

Zone One by Colson Whitehead