Of death and taxes, only one remains certain.

A quiet businessman—known by most as Joe Kettleman—narrowly survives an attempt on his life. While recovering from surgery to remove a bullet, imaging reveals a lethal tumor. Unwilling to spend his final days under chemical bombardment, he returns to a remote cabin in New Mexico to die in peace.

But when death takes its time and Joe outlives his supplies, he’s forced to take a perilous journey through the deserts of the Bisti Badlands. Two days into what was supposed to be a five day trek, Joe comes across a town. A small city, really. Right in the middle of nowhere. And it’s not on any map.

That’s when Joe’s fate collides with that of a woman, desperate to escape the strange city and making wild claims about a genetically enhanced pandemic that will soon wipe out most of humanity.

Clearly she’s delusional. But something has her genuinely terrified. To unravel the mystery, Joe will have to put his death on hold.

Mitty Walters