Jonathan Maberry - Rot & Ruin

Special thanks to some real-world people who were willing to enter the world of Benny and Tom Imura. I believe that if the world ends, youll still be there. My agents, Sara Crowe and Harvey Klinger; David Gale and Navah Wolfe at Simon & Schuster; Nancy Keim-Comley, Tiffany Schmidt, Greg Schauer, Rob and Andrea Sacchetto, Randy and Fran Kirsch, Jason Miller, Sam West-Mensch, Keith Strunk, Charlie and Gina Miller, Arthur Mensch; and the Philly Liars Club: Gregory Frost, Don Lafferty, L. A. Banks, Jon McGoran, Solomon Jones, Ed Pettit, Merry Jones, Maria Lambra, Sara Shepherd, Kelly Simmons, Keith Strunk, and Dennis Tafoya.

Excerpt from The Onion Girl by Charles De Lint used by permission of the author.

Richard Pryors comment used by permission of Jennifer Lee Pryor.

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the authors imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright 2010 by Jonathan Maberry

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.

Book design by Laurent Linn

Endpaper art by Rob Sacchetto

The text for this book is set in Augustal.

Manufactured in the United States of America

2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Maberry, Jonathan.

Rot & Ruin / Jonathan Maberry. 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brothers footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

ISBN 978-1-4424-0232-4 (hardcover)

[1. ZombiesFiction. 2. SurvivalFiction. 3. Bounty huntersFiction.
4. BrothersFiction.] I. Title. II. Title: Rot and Ruin.

PZ7.M11164Ro 2010

[Fic]dc22

2009046041

ISBN 978-1-4424-0234-8 (eBook)

For the young writers in my Experimental Writing for Teens class: Rachel Tafoya, Clint Johnston, Brandon Strauss, Brianna Whiteman, Jessica Price, Tara Tosten, Jennifer Carr, Kellie Hollingsworth, Nathanial Gage, Maggie Brennan, Kris Dugas, Evan Stahl, and Jackson Toone. You always amaze and inspire me.

And, as always, for Sara Jo.

BENNY IMURA COULDNT HOLD A JOB, SO HE TOOK TO KILLING.

It was the family business. He barely liked his familyand by family he meant his older brother, Tomand he definitely didnt like the idea of business. Or work. The only part of the deal that sounded like it might be fun was the actual killing.

Hed never done it before. Sure, hed gone through a hundred simulations in gym class and in the Scouts, but they never let kids do any real killing. Not before they hit fifteen.

Why not? he asked his Scoutmaster, a fat guy named Feeney who used to be a TV weatherman back in the day. Benny was eleven at the time and obsessed with zombie hunting. How come you dont let us whack some real zoms?

Because killings the sort of thing you should learn from your folks, said Feeney.

I dont have any folks, Benny countered. My mom and dad died on First Night.

Ouch. Sorry, BennyI forgot. Point is, you got family of some kind, right?

I guess. I got Im Mr. Freaking Perfect Tom Imura for a brother, and I dont want to learn anything from him.

Feeney had stared at him. Wow. I didnt know you were related to him. Hes your brother, huh? Well, theres your answer, kid. Nobody better to teach you the art of killing than a professional killer like Tom Imura. Feeney paused and licked his lips nervously. I guess being his brother and all, youve seen him take down a lot of zoms.

No, Benny said with huge annoyance. He never lets me watch.

Really? Thats odd. Well, ask him when you turn thirteen.

Benny had asked on his thirteenth birthday, and Tom had said no. Again. It wasnt a discussion. Just No.

That was more than two years ago, and now Benny was six weeks past his fifteenth birthday. He had four more weeks grace to find a paying job before town ordinance cut his rations by half. Benny hated being in that position, and if one more person gave him the fifteen and free speech, he was going to scream. He hated that as much as when people saw someone doing hard work and they said crap like, Holy smokes, hes going at that like hes fifteen and out of food.

Like it was something to be happy about. Something to be proud of. Working your butt off for the rest of your life. Benny didnt see where the fun was in that. Okay, maybe it was marginally okay because it meant only half days of school from then on, but it still sucked.

His buddy Lou Chong said it was a sign of the growing cultural oppression that was driving postapocalyptic humanity toward acceptance of a new slave state. Benny had no freaking idea what Chong meant or if there was even meaning in anything he said. But he nodded agreement because the look on Chongs face always made it seem like he knew exactly what was what.

At home, before he even finished eating his dessert, Tom had said, If I want to talk about you joining the family business, are you going to chew my head off? Again?

Benny stared venomous death at Tom and said, very clearly and distinctly, I. Dont. Want. To. Work. In. The. Family. Business.

Ill take that as a no, then.

Dont you think its a little late now to try and get me all excited about it? I asked you a zillion times to

You asked me to take you out on kills.

Right! And every time I did you

Tom cut him off. Theres a lot more to what I do, Benny.

Yeah, there probably is, and maybe I would have thought the rest was something I could deal with, but you never let me see the cool stuff.

Theres nothing cool about killing, Tom said sharply.

There is when youre talking about killing zoms! Benny fired back.

That stalled the conversation. Tom stalked out of the room and banged around the kitchen for a while, and Benny threw himself down on the couch.