What The Dead Learned - Softcover

TAN, HWEE PENG

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1764359089 ISBN 13: 9781764359085

Publisher: Pattern & Path Press, 2026

Synopsis

The cure was meant to make people invisible.
Instead, it made them disappear.
When a daring attempt to wipe citizens from the world’s surveillance systems collapses into disaster, thousands are changed into something no one can explain. Their bodies walk. Their eyes follow. But their minds slip sideways, fractured into a strange, humming silence. What was meant to free humanity from watchful machines becomes a spreading nightmare—and the altered are not as mindless as they seem.
Mei Lin never believed she would survive the end of the world. All her life, she had been told she was too precise, too inflexible, too different to belong. Yet when the cities fall and the dead begin to learn, those very differences become her greatest strength.
Within the last protected settlement, Clearhaven, whispers grow of a cure—one that promises safety at the cost of obedience. As Mei Lin and her companions uncover the truth behind Ghost Protocol, they see a pattern no one else notices. The infected do not respond to shouting or fear. They listen for something quieter. Something deeper. The hidden rhythm of the nervous system itself.
And minds that never fit neatly into the old world’s expectations may be the only ones capable of disrupting it.
As danger closes in and trust begins to fracture, the group must face a question that could decide the fate of what remains of humanity.
In a world where survival depends on adaptation, the greatest danger is not the dead.
It is the living who still believe there is only one way to be human.

I really enjoyed the story! I've read just about every version of a zombie story I possibly can, and I still manage to get a little surprised (sic). I don't think I've seen this exact type of story before."
—Maddy D., Beta Reader, United States

“This book is a confident, purposeful opening to a larger story. It stands as a strong, thoughtful debut that sets up book two with clarity and purpose.”
— Kaylee H., Special Needs Educator, United States

Edition details

• Publisher: Pattern & Path Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1764359089
• ISBN 13: 9781764359085
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 141