The Ungovernable

It's been around nine long months since the United States spiraled into chaos due to a cascading systems failure. From the recesses of a fractured government comes a plan to restore order and rescue what remains of the population. The first step comes with restoring power. But what if having access to electricity came at such a price that many - like Jim Powell, his friends, and his neighbors - would rather face a future in the dark.  

In this fifth installment in The Borrowed World Series, human resources manager Alice Watkins is finally making it home. In her journey across Virginia, she experiences a country disintegrating and collapsing in on itself in the wake of a nationwide terror attack. Her trip home is agonizing; her experiences indescribable.

In this third installment, Legion of Despair, the country is teetering on the brink of anarchy. While one of the stranded travelers, Jim Powell, made it home and is working to establish a safe, sustainable enclave for his family, his co-workers Gary and Alice are not faring as well. After spending hundreds of painful miles dreaming of his reunion with his family, Gary arrives home only to find his family under attack. Now he must face the painful decision as to whether his family's plan to bug-in is viable or whether they may need greater numbers and a better location to survive in this collapsing nation.

In the Borrowed World Series, America is brought to its knees by coordinated terror attacks against the infrastructure. After spending weeks walking across a violent and horrific landscape to reach his family, Jim Powell hoped they could weather this storm on their secluded Appalachian farm. They had prepared for this. They had armed for this. They could live without power and fuel. What happens, though, when the same qualities that drew Jim to his isolated valley begin to attract another armed group looking for a place to hide from the unrest of a starving nation?

While just a few days have passed since the initial attack, the group finds that its country is quickly descending into a vicious, chaotic landscape where nothing comes easy. While they fight to close the distance between them and their loved ones, they cannot avoid the steadily growing number of people who have realized that they can get away with whatever they want in a world where there are no longer any legal consequences for their actions.

Lauren Russell is a daughter fighting tenaciously for everything in which she believes, on an endless search for answers, for herself and the world that was taken from her... Alan Russell, a husband and father tragically disconnected from everything he’s ever known, is in heartrending pursuit of his family and a life that left him behind. Alan once told Lauren that he believed they were indivisible, for, they possessed a bond between them that was beyond compare.

Robert Hardwick is finally within reach of his family in Damascus, Virginia, but there’s no time to rejoice. His presence at a friend's compound in North Georgia put him on the radar of a corrupt congressman whose only bug-out plan is to take the property of someone better prepared than himself. When the congressman’s effort to take the Georgia compound fails he has little time to find an alternative. He decides to track down the writer from Virginia, a man whose own home should be well-stocked to survive the apocalypse he describes in his books.

Landon Gray, a skillful "ferry pilot" who delivers planes to customers has one final drop in Alabama before Christmas. But when an EMP causes the plane he’s in to crash on the remote, snow-covered mountains of North Carolina, he’s rescued by Beth "Bluebird" Sullivan, who claims to have lived off the grid since she was born. Beth brings him back to an isolated cabin to recover while waiting for her father to come back from the nearby town. When he doesn’t return, Beth grows increasingly worried while Landon struggles with being far from home.

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.

When Robert Hardwick’s daughter, Grace, was struggling to reach home because the nation was collapsing, he couldn’t wait. He went after her, finally finding her at one of the safe houses he’d arranged along her route home, a friend’s survival compound in the mountains of northern Georgia. A chance encounter at the compound gave Grace the opportunity to hitch a ride home in a chopper while Robert chose to wait for an injured friend to heal up.

A month and a half on the Appalachian trail and Beth "Bluebird" Sullivan and Landon Gray thought they'd seen the worst of society. With a mysterious stranger in their midst, trouble at every turn, and miles to go, the unknown will be even more terrifying. Back in Castine, Maine, survival is getting harder every day as martial law is imposed and loyalty tested. When Max goes missing and returns with a tale of a group who might be able to help, Deputy Daniels must decide which side of the law he's on.

For a brief period after the world changed forever, the self-reliant community of Trout Run Valley managed to avoid conflict. They practiced subsistence, and found safety and security within their numbers. As the post-apocalyptic timeline moved forward, it began to spiral downward. Takers had made their presence known, and their malevolent intentions clear, transforming the once benign community into a violent battleground.

Alan Russell thought about his family night and day. They didn’t just mean the world to him, they were his world. As a devoted husband and father, his sole purpose was to love, support, and protect them. Yet Alan had gone a step further, doing everything in his power to ensure his family’s survival in what he believed would become a perilous and uncertain future. On the day civilization changed forever, he found his efforts hadn’t been enough.

Conor Maguire and his daughter, Barb, planned to weather the apocalypse by keeping to themselves, hidden from the world in their compound deep in the Appalachian Mountains. Their approach failed, allowing bad men to get too close and kidnap Barb. After rescuing her in a violent bloodbath that decimated the kidnappers, Conor realized it was time to enlist his community to work together to improve their security. They had better work fast.  

The decision to splinter backfires. When Lauren and the others leave the safety of the valley in search of supplies and aid, they’re trapped, captured, and tortured. Escape seems impossible…if they’re to survive, it will be only be by rescue, and not without blood on their hands and tears in their eyes. Could you watch one of your own be beaten? The group’s captors are coldblooded and ruthless, and they senselessly brutalize without pity. Despite Lauren’s bravery in the face of insuperable odds, she finds herself heartbroken. Can she still find the will to keep fighting?