At noon Central Daylight time, on 04 July 2012, a seemingly small, unnoticed, nuclear device orbiting at an altitude of approximately 110 miles was detonated over Lebanon, Kansas, the geographical center of the United States. This detonation emitted an electro-magnetic pulse which covered over ninety-five percent of the continental United States and most of the populated areas of Canada. The first noticeable effect is to disrupt every unshielded piece of electronic equipment in the affected area. There are no longer any working power plants or telecommunications networks, very few vehicles will run; there can no longer be any reliance on computers or anything electronic, for that matter. The cascade effect is to render the United States and Canada completely insignificant in the world. There are hundreds of millions of people who will die in the initial aftermath of the detonation as the US is about to experience what would have been the hottest summer on record, were there anyone alive to actually record it.

Bjorn "Bear" Soderman has just his wife of 34 years to cancer about 30 minutes before the Blackout, as they begin to call it and now he must go to find his son before the already searing heat can overtake his son's family. He brings them back to his house, "The Lodge" and they must orient themselves to living in a new world where few to none of the expected modern conveniences of the 21st Century are even available; they have entered into a great

However, with Bear's military background, having served two tours in Vietnam with Special Forces before being injured in a training accident years ago, not to mention that his son, a former Army Ranger, who also has skills that will come into play, they combine their talents to build new lives in a now more hostile and unforgiving environment. And it is hostile. There is little relief from the searing heat of the hottest summer known up to that time, which is followed by a brutal, bitterly cold winter.

And, as there is no longer anyone to enforce the laws or provide protection to the citizenry in the immediate aftermath of the event, there are some who now feel they have permission to do whatever they want, such as raiding and pillaging. In the course of events immediately following the Blackout, they are confronted by a number of these roving "scavengers" whose intents are nothing short of evil.

On an excursion into town to seek out a friend of Bear's, they encounter two such men who are assaulting a young woman, Sabrina, causing them to intervene and rescue her from their evil intent. As she has no chance of survival where she is, they take her with them back to their sanctuary. They discover that woman has abilities that will enhance their survival chances as they begin to negotiate this new and unforgiving world into which they have been thrust; and as a result, she becomes an integral part of their lives.

A relationship develops between the woman, Sabrina, and Bear. They commit to each other in marriage and one family becomes two as the years pass. Those families grow and in spite of the arduous tasks before them, they flourish in the face of adversity. They must rely on their faith as they must even walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Over the years, they face hardship, yes, and even horrendous grief, but also love, joy, and peace to a degree that none of them could have imagined, and as it will be years before they meet anyone else whose intent is other than harm, but they learn to rely on their faith and each other as they are tested by fire in the crucible . Their faith must get them through to the end.

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