Only the strong will survive when civilization collapses.
Barnard's Star, light years away from Earth, went supernova. Now, six years later, the influence of that catastrophe is just reaching our planet. When the resultant EMP strikes Earth, the world is sent back to the Stone Age. Yet it soon grows evident there are worse things hidden in the dark matter released with the EMP. Human aggression goes off the charts. Violent eruptions become normal. Small disagreements become bloodbaths. Combined with the effects of the EMP, just surviving becomes a challenge.
Josh Standing took an oath to serve and protect those of their North Carolina community. That didn't change when he left the police force to become a probation officer. But his drive to rescue tomorrow's troubled youth has created a rift between him and his wife, Maxine, that he's not sure he can fix.
Now Josh again finds himself torn between his duty and his family—stuck on a ship in the Atlantic with his daughter, tom-boy Tally, and 10 young offenders when the EMP hits. Nurse Maxine's greatest concern is to ensure their son, Storm, survives the cancer that has ravaged his body over the last year. She has taken the once promising athlete to face the diagnosis of the Boston doctors, miles from the family home. But the danger that awaits them in the chaos of a city without power and a crazed population is worse than any doctor's final pronouncement.
In the immediate aftermath of the EMP chaos, the separated Standings make their way toward the family farm in West Virginia, as agreed many years ago. However, getting to Maxine's prepper parents is no small task in a world that's swiftly turning into kill or be killed. And when events threaten to separate them further, Josh is faced with an unthinkable choice in this thrilling post-apocalyptic series.
