L'ombra dello scorpione

When a man escapes from a biological testing facility, he sets in motion a deadly domino effect, spreading a mutated strain of the flu that will wipe out 99 percent of humanity within a few weeks. The survivors who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge--Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious "Dark Man," who delights in chaos and violence

this Is The Way The World Ends: With A Nanosecond Of Computer Error In A Defense Department Laboratory And A Million Casual Contacts That Form The Links In A Chain Letter Of Death.

And Here Is The Bleak New World Of The Day After: A World Stripped Of Its Institutions And Emptied Of 99 Percent Of Its People. A World In Which A Handful Of Panicky Survivors Choose Sides -- Or Are Chosen. A World In Which Good Rides On The Frail Shoulders Of The 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- And The Worst Nightmares Of Evil Are Embodied In A Man With A Lethal Smile And Unspeakable Powers: Randall Flagg, The Dark Man.

publishers Weekly

survivors Of A Chemical Weapon Called Superflu Confront Pure Evil In This Updated And Even More Massive Version Of King's 1978 Saga. ``the Extra 400 Or So Pages . . . Make King's Best Novel Better Still,'' Said Pw. `` A New Beginning Adds Verisimilitude To An Already Frighteningly Believable Story, While A New Ending Opens Up Possibilities For A Sequel.

One man escapes from a biological weapon facility after an accident, carrying with him the deadly virus known as Captain Tripps, a rapidly mutating flu that - in the ensuing weeks - wipes out most of the world's population. In the aftermath, survivors choose between following an elderly black woman to Boulder or the dark man, Randall Flagg, who has set up his command post in Las Vegas. The two factions prepare for a confrontation between the forces of good and evil. ([source][1]) [1]: https://stephenking.com/library/novel/stand_the.html A monumentally devastating plague leaves only a few survivors who, while experiencing dreams of a battle between good and evil, move toward an actual confrontation as they migrate to Boulder, Colorado Hapscomb's Texaco sat on Number 93 just north of Arnette, a pissant four-street burg about 110 miles from Houston. June 16, 1985. That is when the horror began--the evil that started in a laboratory and took over America