Chapter One: The World Presses Reset

At 11:42, the east elevator died. Raiders broke into the pharmacy, and screams swept the hospital. Lin had already sealed the fire doors. He and Su led three children into the basement imaging room. At 11:59, two buttons opened in every human being's vision. The global totals spun upward. Continue: more than 3.14 billion. Reset: more than 4.86 billion. Su sat against the wall, her hands covered in other people's blood. She gave a tired laugh. “Looks like I won't need that card back tomorrow.” Lin did not laugh. A figure had flashed in the statistics: 7.99 billion eligible voters. Yet the two totals added up to more than eight billion. In the final ten seconds, Reset support jumped from 60.7 percent to 64 percent.