The Stand

Stephen King&'s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published.   A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world&'s population within a few weeks. Those 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 peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious &"Dark Man,&" who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them&-and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.