The expanded edition opens with a prologue titled 'The Circle Opens' that offers greater detail into the circumstances surrounding the development of the virus and the security breach that allowed its escape from the secret laboratory compound where it was created.

The human toll is also dealt with, as the few survivors must care for their families and friends, dealing with confusion and grief as their loved ones succumb to the flu. Widespread violence, protest, paranoia, the failure of martial law to contain the outbreak, and eventually the death of virtually the entire population. King outlines the total breakdown and destruction of society through The epidemic leads directly to the death of an estimated 99.4% of the world's human population. The novel's first part takes place over nineteen days, with the escape and spread of a human-made biological weapon, a superflu virus known formally as 'Project Blue' but most commonly as ' Captain Trips' (among other colloquialisms). The survivors split into two factions, one led by Flagg, and one led by Mother Abigail, and prepare for the final stand between good and evil. They all dream about two opposing figures: Randall Flagg, the Dark Man, and Mother Abagail, who is receiving visions from God.

The 0.6% who survive struggle to find their bearings and rebuild civilization in the aftermath of the plague. A deadly virus called ' Captain Trips', engineered as an advanced biological weapon by the government, is accidentally released across America and the world, causing 99.4% of the entire world's population to die.

Captain trips