At a remote camp for juvenile offenders in the upper Midwest, fifteen-year-old Erik bears witness to the sudden end of civilization. It comes not in the form of war or disease, but as a mysterious cosmic storm that wipes out nearly all life on Earth in a single night. Of the few who escape instant death, the struggle for survival has already begun.
For Erik, though, survival is not enough. He promised his younger sister he would come back to her, and nothing will stop him from keeping that promise. But it’s a dangerous new world now, a world of burning cities, desperate survivors, armed cults, and even the temptation of sanctuary. It is a world in which he learns that, to keep his promise, he must always be ready to kill at a moment’s notice, and friends must sometimes be left behind.