Paradigm — Helen Stringer

“If I ask you to do something, will you do it?” “Maybe.” “Maybe?” “Well, I don't know what it is yet. But I'm guessing that death is the alternative, so I'm prepared to be reasonable.” Sam Cooper is seventeen. He drives a cherry red 1968 GTO that he won on a bet, and spends his days exploring the open roads of the great American West. He should be living the teenage dream, but post-collapse America is a hard place to survive. The United States is long dead, basic resources are getting scarcer, and no one on Earth has seen the stars since before he was born. Vast tracts of the country are now empty as people huddle together for safety. In all this chaos, Sam has survived on his wits and occasional luck. But a visit to the walled and prosperous Century City results in a split-second decision that changes everything. Soon Sam is on the run from the ruthless Carolyn Bast, and by something much more dangerous: MUTHA -- a powerful artificial entity that has been watching and waiting for Sam's return from the barren outlands. Sam unknowingly carries the key to something MUTHA can't live without, something so dangerous that others are willing to kill him, or worse, to ensure that the great plex never possesses it. Sam can't stay one step ahead of them forever. His only hope is to unravel the secrets of his peculiar past and awaken the incredible power that sleeps within -- because even in his beloved GTO, without the truth, Sam will never succeed in outracing the nightmare to come.