Survivor (novel)

Survivor is a novel by Chuck Palahniuk. It's a cynical book about a man named Tender Branson who is in the Creedish death cult. In this cult, every member learns how to be a servant for the human race—most of them are butlers—and fear most human pleasures. They await a sign from God to tell them to deliver themselves unto Him, that is, commit suicide. The sign finally comes, and Tender is the last surviving member of the cult. He's thrown into mainstream culture and becomes a personal icon for many people.

An excerpt from chapter 25:

"This one time, the agent asked me where i saw myself in five years. Dead, I said. I see myself dead and rotting. Or ashes, I can see myself burned to ashes. I remember i had a loaded gun in my pocket. Just the two of us were standing in the back of a crowded, dark auditorium.

'I see myself dead and in hell.'

I remember i was planning to kill myself that night. It was the night of my first big public appearance. I told the agent, I figured i'd spend my first thousand years in hell in some entry-level position, but after that I wanted to move into management. Be a real team player. hell is going to see enormous growth in market share over the next millennium, and I wanted to ride the crest.

The agent said that sounded pretty realistic."