Normalcy ceased to exist in the United States the instant the Iranian EMP warheads detonated, relieving America of its abundant luxuries and conveniences. The event pushed the entire country backward in a millisecond. Backward in time to the mid-1800s—to a lifestyle that preceded the telephone and, for most, even the use of a simple lightbulb.

Escaping the new reality was an impossibility. Clean water and food became increasingly scarce while opportunists and marauders lurked in every dark shadow. Those dire circumstances prompted the exodus from metropolitan areas, and as bone-weary refugees longingly sought shelter and sustenance, they would ultimately find both in increasingly short supply.

JT Clarke had sensed the possibility long before it happened. He did what he could to be prepared by relentlessly canning his garden vegetables and various meats at every opportunity. JT purchased medicines, medical supplies, treated fuel for the generator, and enough guns and ammunition for his family. He also stored years worth of seeds, especially mindful of heirloom varieties, knowing that every food item he has acquired is finite and irreplaceable should the worst happen.

The rapid collapse of society blindsided JT and the group. The speed at which otherwise ordinary people abandoned societal norms happened like a whirlwind; they knew it was coming but expected it to take longer. Now, daily, the group has been forced to deal with those who have succumbed to that collapse, as the thin social fabric that had once loosely held the nation together finally frayed through. A mere week ago, even the thought of pulling the trigger on another human being was incomprehensible to any of the group. Yet, in the last seven days, many of the group have been forced to do just that. The old saying ‘live and let live’ carries little weight in this new dystopian world of no electricity, no laws, and, even worse, no morality.

For the most part, the group had survived the previous week nearly unscathed. Tyler had been critically wounded in a knife attack while walking home on the day the EMP attack took place, but quick thinking by D’Vante saved his life. And now, with Joni’s vast medical knowledge and experience added to by Sarah’s same history, JT’s mind is somewhat set at ease.

The small village of Somerset, Wisconsin, and the lush rural countryside surrounding it soon filled beyond capacity as tens of thousands of desperate souls from the Minneapolis/St. Paul Metro steadily streamed out of the city in all directions. The fragile veil that separates light from darkness was becoming thinner by the day, accelerated by the basic, nearly animalistic instinct to survive.

As The Reckoning draws inevitably nearer, the group will be forced to dig deep and rely on every tidbit of knowledge, every ounce of courage, and even the occasional stroke of luck to survive it.