Description

In a world of raiders, indent gangs, and acid rain, hiding a dangerous secret gets bigger…

Gabe Alder, Sargent Master Mechanic of the Guard, is restless.

His closest friends are keeping secrets. He's been stuck in Ridge Lake for weeks. And he doesn't know why they don't just bump this Eli fellow off and be done with it. He sees the need for the Guard to be present. But not his unit. His heart is torn: leave the elderly woman he has come very attached to and leave the township unprotected or stay and give up everything he has come to understand life to be. What he had thought would be a two-week assignment seems to be going on indefinitely. He doesn't know if he can stand to be around Jordan anymore. New orders come, several times a day, pulling him to pieces. He is becoming to hate his brother and best friend, Oak, the current First of Unit 23. His life twists… and turns… and burns…

Kyla has been told for years to be afraid of everything. To run. To hide. That she is incapable of dealing with anything more strenuous than a mop. Until a giant of a man comes and kicks the crap out of a lot of bad people who came to shoot up her home. Life is simple for her. Or it had been. Change comes, every day, with her brother Travis and adopted mother, Rowan, and a new man, Myles. The memories of a horrible night, when her family was killed becomes too much.