Driven by Indian spirits, it is the Witiko...gatherer of power, harvester of human flesh and blood...On the Maine coast, hired assassins search for their target; John Winter, a former government hit man-one of their own. Winter is dying of cancer even while he's marked for death. Heading west in his station wagon, he hopes to slip beyond the reach of the hired killers, but they follow close behind all the way across the country...In the vast, majestic Northwest, the citizens of Avallon are also being pursued-by a more unearthly, insatiable force. A charred tribe of blackened corpses, the newly dead are descending from the mountains, threatening the town and its determined young police chief, Erin O'Donnell. For her, for John Winter, for everyone, the truth will soon be revealed. Living death, the ghastly legacy of the Witiko, is their only chance for survival...