Soon after, she discovers that she is pregnant with his baby. She is dating freelance writer Jonathan, a committed anti-consumerist who breaks up with her because he wants to leave New York for good. One of her duties is helping clients outsource labor to the cheapest manufacturers. Four years later, Ruifang died of early-onset Alzheimer’s, leaving Candace with a small inheritance and an estranged relationship to her Chinese identity.Ĭandace went to college for photography, but before the apocalypse she works at a book-printing company called Spectra, where she oversees the production of various editions of the Bible. Her father Zhigang worked tirelessly to provide the family a better life, succeeding at moving them into the upper middle class before dying in a car accident. At the age of six Candace joined them, only to find that her mother Ruifang had become a strict disciplinarian bent on turning Candace into a model American. Her parents moved to the US when she was four to pursue better financial opportunities but found themselves poor and socially isolated. The child of two first-generation immigrants to the US, she was born in Fuzhou, China. Upon finding out about the group’s transgression, Bob enters Ashley’s home, where he shoots both Ashley and the healthy Janelle.Īs the narrative reaches into the past, Candace’s history is slowly revealed. Ashley contracts Shen Fever while trying on her old dresses, leading Candace to realize that the fever is triggered by nostalgia. One day, she joins them on a secret stalk of Ashley’s childhood home. Within the group, Candace befriends fellow survivors Ashley, Janelle, and Evan. He leads the group on regular “stalks” to gather supplies from the homes of fever victims, killing any living victims he encounters. A fanatical born-again Christian, Bob keeps the others under his thumb through intimidation tactics and appeals to faith. Bob is leading them to Needling, Illinois, heading for “the Facility,” a mysterious building he co-owns and plans to use as a haven.

She has teamed up with a group of other survivors, fellow white-collar workers led by former I.T.

In chapters which jump back and forth through time, survivor Candace Chen narrates her story. Originating in Shenzhen, China, Shen Fever turns its victims into zombie-like husks who mindlessly repeat parts of their daily routines until they waste away. Severance begins in the days and weeks after “the End,” a pseudo-apocalypse brought on in 2011 by the spread of a new disease called Shen Fever.

Severance novel