The author who brought you "Final Dawn" and "Countdown to Armageddon" now brings you the story of Dave Speer. Dave and his wife Sarah were preppers who saw the end coming and made plans to survive it. The one thing they had no control over, though, was the timing. And the chaos happened at the worst time possible: when Sarah and the girls went to visit relatives a thousand miles away. Dave Speer has somehow managed to survive the worst winter in recorded history. He should be overjoyed, but he's sick with worry. He counted over a hundred nights in a row with below-freezing temperatures. Knowing he barely made it himself, he wonders how bad it was for his family, a thousand miles north, where presumably the winters would be much worse. Sarah and his girls were tough, sure. But if they weren't prepared for such a harsh winter, if they ran short of food or water and couldn't get more... And then there was the knowledge that the area north of Kansas City had been overrun by escaped criminals just after the world went to black. Escaped criminals who were still there unable to find transportation out of the area. Dave had planned and prepared all winter for his journey. A journey that would take him into a newly dark and evil world. A journey to Kansas City to see whether his family really did make it. And if they did, whether they were still free. Or whether they now belonged to criminals who kept them as slaves. They were alive. In his heart he had to believe that. He just couldn't consider the alternative. And he had to go get them. Along the way Dave encounters a group of men who don't take kindly to his rifling through one of their town's abandoned stores. They beat him almost to death to teach him a lesson. He is rescued by a mysterious figure named Red, who then watches over him as he heals and befriends him. And helps him deal with young Sarah's death.