4Mass panic. Soaring casualties. The ravenous dead, spreading like a plague.

One afternoon. That's all it takes for the major cities to fall, for society to collapse.

After narrowly escaping their high school in the heart of Minneapolis, Cody Hall and four of his classmates adjust to a brutal reality where quick decisions hold deadly consequences, and every inch is paid for in blood.

Scrambling for supplies and a reason to continue, Cody discovers his adoptive parents are still alive in Tampa Bay. It's a long journey. And the odds of survival? Worse every day. But with nothing to lose, his group agrees to plunge into the unknown and track them down.

The road is hostile. Threats emerge at every turn. And their destination is a brewing warzone. With the dead closing in and remaining factions scrambling for power, Cody must reconcile the terrible cost of protecting the ones he loves. In a kill or die world, the weak have no place. And when ruthlessness is a commodity, death is the one guarantee.

Only, who will it take?

You?

No, never you.

Always, always, always them.

--

(chapter one sample)

THE COLLAPSE BEGAN mere hours before the Germany video, but those twelve seconds of footage were the first I became aware of it.

Danny texted Check this out to our hockey team's group chat, the link coming through moments later. The title immediately caught my eye.

Man attacked in Berlin streets

I opened it in YouTube as I walked into my first class. Finding my seat, I set my phone on the desk and fished out a pencil from my backpack.

The second bell rang. Mr. Collins began taking roll. I listened with half an ear for my name, and by the time I turned back to my phone, the video was already over. I played it again, leaning forward on my elbows.

It began with two men wrestling in the middle of a packed intersection, streetlamps and headlights illuminating the fight. People shouted in German. Some were cheering. The camera zoomed in and I caught a glimpse of the attacker. He might have been in his eighties, but he seemed far too strong for his age. How was that possible? A second later, he bit the other man's ear and yanked. The victim screamed. Bystanders rushed to help.

The video stopped.

My jaw dropped a fraction. I played it again. Yes, I saw correctly. As far as I could tell, his ear was gone. I scanned the classroom, catching Montoya's eye three rows to my left. He held up his phone and mouthed What the fuck?

I shrugged uncertainly.

"Phones away, pencils out," Mr. Collins said. "Who's ready for the test?" A few people grumbled in acknowledgment. "Trick question, you're all ready because I did an incredible job preparing you."

I pursed my lips and dropped my phone in my backpack as Mr. Collins handed out the midterm. I tapped my pencil on the desk, trying to get myself to focus. It was just a fight. Things like that happened all the time, right? All you had to do was look to find it.

But if I couldn't fix the problem, I didn't want to know what it was, so I locked it away and focused on the test. Upon turning in my exam, I'd mostly forgotten about the clip.

The others hadn't...