Forty days. That’s how long it’s been since the largest solar storm ever observed, now referred to as Helios, decimated modern civilization and released a polarizing nervous disorder into the human population. For diurnals like Joel McConnell and his odd assortment of guests, it means an all-out effort at self-sufficient living and keeping the local nocturnal population from stealing everything they produce.With military law enforcement busy saving terrorized citizens from the cadaverous remains of large cities, rural suburbanites such as Joel’s clan find they must fend for themselves and settle their own problems. Thanks in part to a cooperative trading post he established, which is starting to gain notoriety beyond their own neighborhood, Joel is managing to mostly keep peace.Until, he learns, he must make a daunting rescue attempt which leads him into the heart of what has become the darkest and most dangerous abyss in the entire south. A place many who escaped it refer to as the demon’s dump. Most know it by its former name: Nashville.

Less than two days. That’s all the notice America gets of a fast-approaching solar storm so unprecedented in scale it sets the geomagnetic scientists in a panic. Many citizens don’t have the resources, or even the concern, to take preparatory measures for the overhyped-sounding warnings that life as they know it is about to be over.Joel McConnell, a self-made Washington DC businessman and survival hobbyist, is not one of those. But bugging out with his culture-loving girlfriend before the solar flare hits proves to be a too much of a challenge on such short notice. With the power grid suddenly destroyed, most modern electronics fried, and cities quickly descending into utter turmoil, they find the 500-mile journey to Joel’s well-stocked rural retreat a maze littered with opportunistic criminals and increasing hostility.That isn’t all. It soon becomes evident the sun storm did more than plunge the western world into darkness and civil unrest. It left something equally sinister behind. Something that feeds the human compulsion for disunity to such extremes it makes the recent political divisiveness in America look like harmonic brotherhood by comparison. With the effects worsening daily, Joel learns the highway is but one treacherous adversary he must defeat. Others can sprout where you least expect them.

Eighty days post-Helios and things are looking hopeful. If you are a ruthless gangster trying to take control of the gasoline trade, things are looking hopeful. If you seek transportation and don’t mind traveling in an antique coal-burning choo-choo or a creaking World War 2 plane, things are looking hopeful. If you are a former Supreme Court clerk and want your old job back in the first city to boast a rebuilt power-grid, things are looking hopeful.If you are Joel McConnell and want to surprise your girlfriend with a marriage proposal, complete with an impromptu honeymoon which happens to coincide with a speculative business opportunity, things are also looking hopeful. But only if you don’t understand the cesspool of corruption you are about to be coerced into cooperating with.And if you are one of the ruthless gangsters who has decided Joel is a thorn in your side which needs to be removed, things are also looking hopeful—especially when he stumbles right into your trap.