The Stand by Stephen King

     Stephen King's The Stand tells the story of a disease that wipes out 99% of the Earth's population. The remaining 1% have dreams that lead them to one of two places: Boulder, CO where mother Abigail leads the free world under God's will or Las Vegas, NV where a man who calls himself Randall Flag prepares for nuclear war against all remaining survivors.
     It has been a few years since I first read The Stand. I find the story very appropriate today, where the fear of Ebola seems to be all over the news. In the book, the disease is in fact a type of Ebola manufactured in a secret facility. One of the workers of the facility goes AWOL after becoming contaminated with the virus and makes his way across the US, spreading the disease along the way.
     The Stand is my favorite Stephen King book because of the transformation every character undergoes. Pre-outbreak characters who are in a bad way become leaders in the post-outbreak world. Stuart Redman, a character who hangs out at a local gas station in Texas, saves all of the remaining world from annihilation. It is in fact the characters that do not change who end up in peril. Harold Lauder is a character who never found his place in the pre-outbreak world. He seems to find delight in the new world because he is more useful, and all the people who made fun of him are dead. After being unable to win the affection of his high school crush, Harold finds himself as an outcast in the post-outbreak world as well, which ultimately leads to him betraying the folks of the free world.
     A movie was supposed to be made about The Stand but it was eventually scrapped. There is a four part mini series that was made in the 90's staring Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald, Rob Lowe, and Laura San Giacomo. The mini series does a good job of retelling the story, however it does not nearly compare to the book in capturing the dark internal struggle that each character faces.