I am a huge King fan, and have read all of his books many times over.
Flagg works for the Crimson King, who is taking over the Dark Tower to bring down all levels of the universe. Captain Trips (one name for the virus) happened only in one level, one world, out of many.
Given all that is happening with nuclear reactors, it seems fitting with the end of the story.
Side note, a Catholic priest wrote a dissertation on the whole of Kings work, calling it 'religious'. For some reason, I cannot paste a link, so Google:
Catholic priest writes on Stephen King.
Quoting: Baroness for those not familiar with King's works - maybe start here with the very basics. It's far-reaching, but if your mind is open enough, and if you can imagine that which is/seems un-imaginable....
.... it can open your thought processes just a little bit wider!
*'The Talisman' is a 1984 fantasy novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub
<snipped>
Jack's journey takes him simultaneously through the American heartland and "the Territories", a strange fantasy land which is set in a universe parallel to that of Jack's America. Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled. Twinners can also "flip" or migrate to the other world, but only share the body of their alternate universe's analogue.
In rare instances (such as Jack's), a person may die in one world but not the other, making the survivor "single-natured" with the ability to switch back and forth, body and mind, between the two worlds.
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link to en.wikipedia.org]
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*'Black House' by Stephen King and Peter Straub. Published in 2001, this is the sequel to The Talisman.
<snipped>
After the events of The Talisman, Jack Sawyer has repressed the memories of his adventures in The Territories and his hunt for the Talisman as a twelve year-old boy, though the residue of these events has served to subtly affect his life even after he has forgotten them.
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link to en.wikipedia.org]
