R. Diskin Black

Zombie Scout: the Diary of Jack Sullivan R. Diskin Black

On Tuesday, May 23, 2017, Jack Sullivan, an ordinary American teenager turned zombie scout, living in Hoboken, New Jersey, begins his diary. It is 4 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days since the first reported incident on the Friendship Bridge that connects Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. A zombie pandemic ravages the nation, extending around the globe. The one square mile town of Hoboken sits across the Hudson River from New York City, which is now reduced to a smoldering, howling zombie wasteland. Hoboken has become a barricaded fortress - an isolated city-state that may be the last bastion of human civilization in the zombie wilderness - teeming with a quarter million refugees. This is their story, told in Jack's words. As Jack writes he recalls the diary of another teenager compelled to write in a time of darkness - Anne Frank. He sees what is similar and what is different between his fate and that of Anne. But ultimately he draws strength from her words written 75 years before. Jack struggles to make sense of what has happened to his family and his world since the pandemic began. He wrestles with questions about what it means to be human and what it means to be zom. And he struggles to come of age during arguably the most difficult chapter in human history. More people die than live in 2017. That is the reality of what happens. Jack's diary chronicles their story. His words give voice to the multitudes left voiceless.