Doom Days

Twenty-five years ago, an epidemic decimated mankind. In the US, people fled for remote areas -- refugee camps in Mexico, the Canadian outback, private bunkers, protected enclaves.

The old American cities have now become a new frontier, an opportunity to scratch out a living among the bones of the old world. Thorn Creek, founded in an abandoned North Carolina gated community, is struggling to become a town: to trade and prosper, to defend itself from slavers and pickers and strangle runner vines.

Learn their stories and join the town of Thorn Creek in this first volume of Doom Days:

“Trade Secrets” (Sara Beaman)
When the Collapse hit, Isaac and Josephine, employees of Odyne Corporation, fled to a secluded compound in rural Mexico. A year later, Josephine is pregnant, and Odyne’s corporate policies force them to choose between giving up their baby to be sold to the highest bidder or setting out into the wilderness on their own.

“Finding Joy” (Arlene Blakely)
Angry at the world after the death of her cousin, Rina escapes her grief by accepting a job delivering mail to the homesteads that surround Thorn Creek. Riding the circuit is dangerous, but Rina is willing to risk bandits and strangle runner to avoid dealing with her pain. But when she gets a chance at a new life with a new love, will she risk her heart?

“The Monk” (CS Cheely)
Margotty is an educated but isolated young woman who walks a line between serving as the town’s much-needed midwife and falling victim to its superstitions. Her client Irene is struggling to conceive a baby. When a travelling monk passes through Thorn Creek he offers both of them an opportunity for hope and change.

“Grasshopper Song” (K.D. Edwards)
Scout, never quite at home within the gates of Thorn Creek, defends his hard-won outpost and the spoils of a crumbled civilization from a clan of greedy newcomers.

“Veneranda and the Spy” (Dan Wood)
When a suspicious man claiming ties to a shadowy government appears and requests help from Isaac’s daughter, Veneranda, she stumbles into a dangerous combination of intrigue and violence at the nearby University.