The Journey Home: An EMP Survival Story

Rick is like many Americans. He's concerned with what he sees on the news, and how the country seems to be ready to tear itself apart. His biggest concern has been civil unrest. Already an avid camper, he sets out to secure his future, and career, by finding his own Eden.

If the power grid fails, how far will you go to survive?Madison spends her days tending plants as an agriculture student at the University of California, Davis. She plans to graduate and put those skills to work only a few hours from home in the Central Valley. The sun has always been her friend, until now.

Three months after life as she knows it was decimated, Megan Wolford has only one goal: protect her daughter, Caitlin, at any cost. When a mysterious illness strikes Caitlin down, Megan is forced to forage for medical supplies at a remote lodge. The last thing she wants is help from her fellow survivors when so many in her life have let her down - but soon she'll find herself with no other option.

A college student in Knoxville. An Irish couple on their dream vacation in Orlando. A bank robber in an Atlanta prison...what do they all have in common? They are survivors of vPx073, the most deadly virus ever to be unleashed on the planet. One that has brought civilization to a standstill.

Ripley's a tomboy at heart who has never met a stranger. Her plans were to finish her veterinary studies and take her family to the country, where life wouldn't be such a struggle. She thought the worst she'd have to deal with at the University of Maryland were the unwelcome advances and attitudes of affluent students, and the occasional East Coast hurricane. She never expected the sun to fall down.

The day is like any other day until it becomes The Day. At 4:05 pm the United States is attacked with an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapon. A 20-megaton nuclear warhead is detonated high in the atmosphere above Kansas, blanketing most of the contiguous United States and parts of Canada and Mexico with an electromagnetic pulse that damages nearly all microprocessors and electronic controls beyond repair. Nearly every system that depends on computers and electronics has ceased to work.

Westley Flagg isn't your usual lawbreaker. He's a poacher, a moonshiner, and a prepper, out of necessity. Despite trying to live on the straight and narrow, he knows the law can turn things on you in a heartbeat. When Wes has to come up with money for his Grandpa's surgery, he gets involved with an unsavory group. Living deep in poverty for most of his life, he's become resilient and flexible, but college education can only take him so far. A solar storm sends the northern lights as far south as Texas, and cascading failures in the grid cripple the nation. Now, without communications, Flagg has to prove he has what it takes to still survive. 

When a devastating attack cripples and destroys every Internet-connected device in the country, Rick Waters is stranded 1,000 miles from his wife, Dianne, and their children. To get back home, he'll have to draw on every survival instinct he has, as he's pulled into a web of lies and conspiracy that threaten not just his survival but that of the entire world.

After an EMP obliterates the nation's electrical grid on New Year's Eve, it's not long before society unravels and panic ensues. As the lights go out and silence spreads over the city that never sleeps, four ordinary strangers - a bike messenger, a homeless person, a support rep, and an ex-convict - must forge a connection in order to stay alive. When they realize the danger is far greater than they expected, they must embark on a perilous journey out of the city.

A nuclear warhead detonated at 300 miles above the center of the United States would effectively take out the entire electrical grid and infrastructure of the 48 contiguous states. Most people don’t think this is a possibility. But what if it is? What if a country like North Korea actually has the capability to do this but has led us to believe they don’t? What if they had acquired stealth technology that would let them launch a missile that we didn’t know about until it was too late to stop it?

Author Chris Pike's debut novel Unexpected World is a gritty and compelling survival tale about human courage and steadfast determination to live, to endure, and to persevere against all odds. Assistant District Attorney Dillon Stockdale is on the phone with his daughter when an EMP obliterates the entire electrical grid of the United States. Anything relying on a computer is fried, including the plane his daughter is on.

The EMP hits. The lights go out and silence roars. Society is on the brink of violent chaos. The only way to survive is to get out, away from the cities and into the wilderness. Max is an office worker with some gear and a plan. He's one of the first to realize the unspoken dangers. A few years ago, he inherited an old farmhouse. His plan is to get to it as fast as possible and bunker down. He thinks he's ready, but he quickly discovers that there's more to surviving than just having the right gear.

My name is Anne Mathews. I'm a prepper. But I haven't always been. This is how it started.

With a credible threat to the US and a plane stuck on the tarmac, Grant Walton is 30 seconds from full-blown panic mode. He's the only one in the airport who knows the truth. When the power goes out, he can't waste another second. It's the beginning of the end and every man for himself. Leah Walton is wrapping up a 12-hour shift as a nurse in the heart of the city. When the power goes out, the hospital operates on crisis mode. She can't stop to breathe, let alone check her messages. When she finally listens to her husband's frantic calls, she's faced with an impossible choice: leave or die trying.

Lauren Russell often wondered why her father had been so adamant about teaching her skills that most other fathers wouldn't even consider teaching their daughters. Ever since she was little, she had been taught how to live and survive outdoors, and how to use firearms to protect herself and those around her. Some of the training had been a bit extreme. Or had it been? Many of her questions were answered the day the world as she knew it ended.