Book picks similar to
Out of Gas by Randy Dyess


survival
apocalyptic
fiction
a-book

SurviRal


Ken Benton - 2014
    A Denver couple tries to escape the chaos of the city after a killer manmade virus causes the economic collapse of society.

The Long Ride Home


Susan Gregersen - 2012
    Despite the shaky conditions in the world, she and a friend embark on a cross-country bicycle trip. She's nearly two thousand miles from home when an EMP (Electro-magnetic pulse) over the eastern third of the nation takes out the power grid and cripples transportation. She must get home! Her husband, kids, and grandkids are back at their homestead in Montana! Ride along with Sue on her harrowing and often dangerous journey from Mississippi to Montana across a country just realizing that the world as they knew it is gone.(In January 2013 the author pulled the book file to rewrite some sections in response to reader comments and suggestions, which made a good story even better. This is the new version.)

Inception


G. Michael Hopf - 2015
    Marred by the pain of a neglectful mother and the early death of her father, she could only find solace in shallow friendships and arm's length relationships. The one person she loved and trusted was her younger sister, Carey, but even their relationship was strained. With no purpose and aimlessly wandering from job to job, she was on a path that would lead nowhere. Then the lights went out and life changed - for everyone. In the early morning a spectacular attack against the United States was carried out. It was the fulfillment of a grand conspiracy that would leave millions dead and many more millions on a trajectory towards a fate worse than death. The super-EMP would destroy the power grid and leave most electrical devices useless. With the infrastructure devastated and the government incapacitated, Lexi would find her purpose, but the cost would be greater than she could have ever imagined.

The Drowned


Kevin Partner - 2020
    Billions are dead, governments are in chaos, and the few survivors left are literally treading water, trying to find the few bits of dry land left.In the midst of the chaos, family ties, determination and the sheer will to live will be the only protection against the complete annihilation of mankind.

Northern Lights


Boyd Craven - 2016
    Things turn deadly when an EMP leaves them stranded and alone a thousand miles away from civilization. Winter is coming, and they only brought enough supplies for two weeks.In a hostile land, there’s no room for mistakes or illness. One wrong step can prove to be as deadly as the wildlife that has no fear of humans, and that views them as more than a potential food source. Escape by boat or over land would be near impossible. So much to do, so ill-equipped, and so little time. Follow the four friends in their journey of survival. Survival isn’t just an option—It’s life or death.

Last Alive: An Apocalyptic Thriller (Last Days Book 1)


M.C. Magill - 2016
    Without warning, life as we knew it ended.Husband and father Will Carter is an ordinary man plunged into an unthinkable situation. An attack has devastated America and everything changed in an instant. Now the Carters must stay alive and together in the face of an unknown enemy.The Carters embark on a rescue mission in a landscape that is no longer the safe haven they once knew. If they want to survive they'll have to rely on their determination, instincts and their strength as a family. Last Alive book 1 of the Last Days apocalyptic thriller series.

The Lazarus Impact


Vincent Todarello - 2013
    The US power grid fails due to the impact of a large meteorite. The dust plume causes severe illness and death as it blows east across America. As a result the government quarantines the entire northeast. Military personnel wearing gas masks patrol the edges of the affected area, preventing anyone from crossing. But when the dead start coming back to life and eating the living, the US braces itself for a full-on zombie outbreak that no military barricade can keep contained.The Lazarus Impact is a fast paced, high intensity, peri-apocalyptic zombie action thriller that traces the stories of eight unique and diverse characters as they travel through the madness, trying to head west past the quarantine to safety... or so they think. Wolf, an extreme survivalist television personality, is the first one on the scene when the meteors hit, filming the damage. Dr. Vogel, a former infectious disease lab rat turned physician, is on a mission to get to the CDC to give them samples of what he thinks might be the basis for a cure. Willy, an old, hardened, Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD, witnesses the outbreak as it ramps up in intensity at the hospital where he works as a janitor. Sheryl, a suburban housewife, learns of the dust when she gets a call from a neighbor that her boys are sick on the football field. Marcus, a reformed prison inmate with a violent past, escapes with a band of unscrupulous marauders during a riot. Michael and Amy, a bickering couple from NYC, struggle to get out of Manhattan despite the bridges and tunnels being barricaded and locked down. And Brandon, an awkward teenager with an obsession for horror comics and video games, hides out in his parents Cold War era bunker until he runs out of fuel.When their paths intersect they must help and rely on each other for survival. The plan is to move west, past the quarantine, and make their way to a secure compound where people have been preparing for doomsday for decades. But the nightmares they face on the way west are only a shadow of the dangers they may encounter on the other side of the quarantine, where the American people have taken up arms to defend their new but porous borders. Will any survive the journey? Is it even worth it?

The Fall


Caleb Cleek - 2014
    Two Vista County deputies race to contain the revived dead, stop the spread, and combat the chaos and anarchy that ensues.

The Defiant: Grid Down


John W. Vance - 2015
    Then that day came… When Nicholas McNeil, a father and dedicated husband, turned out the lights in his suburban home Sunday night, they would never turn on again. During the early Monday morning hours, a spectacular and well coordinated attack destroys the grid and brings the United States to its knees. Nicholas was a man who had heeded the warnings to a degree, but most did not. With a society unprepared and a government overwhelmed, panic turns to chaos and soon violence. Fighting for what resources are still available, Nicholas and his family also find themselves fighting to survive as society turns on itself.

The Complex


J. Rudolph - 2012
    A virus that went awry and a plague of zombies made sure of that.Cali Anglin learned the hard way. Before, her life was simple. She was a mom, a wife, and a nurse. Now she is in a fight of her life to save her family, her neighbors, and herself.How do you survive the zombie apocalypse with your humanity intact?

Officer of the Watch


D.W. McAliley - 2015
    Captain Joe Tillman, a retired Navy Seal and Officer of the Watch witnesses the attack firsthand and the bloodshed that begins shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Eric and a group of fellow park visitors in North Carolina are thrust together and must face the first days of desperate chaos as they try to find a safe haven to ride out the coming storm. As modern life and the social order it brings begins to break down, each of these two groups must come face to face with the brutality that resides deep within us all.

Gone to Ground


Cheryl Taylor - 2013
     Journalist Maggie Langton, determined not to let her son, Mark, grow up in the dangerous environment of the APZ, decides to run for the empty ranch land of northwestern Arizona. When she runs into O’Reilly, a fugitive ex-Enforcer, she grudgingly admits she needs help developing those skills needed to live on a small ranch camp. What she doesn’t expect, however, is that with knowledge of how to live rough, O’Reilly also possesses a darker knowledge: knowledge much more dangerous, and knowledge which the government will do anything to suppress. Maggie and O’Reilly find themselves in a fight to keep their newly formed family safe and secure, and out from under the rule of the controlling new government. At the same time they discover a conspiracy much deeper than anyone had believed possible.

Homeostasis Lost


Kyan Yauchler - 2013
    They each wake early one late spring morning to find that nothing works—phones, cars, clocks. Everything involving electricity is dead. As the reality of what has happened comes to light, they begin to leave their homes, some in search of answers, others in desperate need of help. People around them are dying, planes are crashing, riots are forming, and no one can do anything about it. The three eventually cross paths and head into an uncertain future together in hopes of again finding balance—homeostasis—in this new world without power. That is, if they can survive.

Standing With Righteous Rage


William Alan Webb - 2020
    Steeple’s dream of a totalitarian America under his hand as benevolent dictator can now become a reality, even if it means making common cause with America’s mortal enemies. No treachery is too great to fulfill his ambitions, and those of his friends.But American patriotism doesn’t die that easily, and Steeple just might find out that men and women still exist to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Regardless of the odds, some people take their service oaths seriously, even unto death.Such courage always has a cost, though, and this time the cost is high.

Cry Havoc


A. American - 2016
    There’s war and rumors of war. There’s the false recovery of the economy. Failing faith in the US economy is extremely high. Foreign banks have either slowed their purchases of Treasury Bonds or, in a few cases, begun unloading them.We have a current election that is rife with corruption, extreme partisanship and outright fraud. It would appear the left in the country is ready to do about anything to see their candidate elected. While this is very concerning today, what does it mean to the election process as a whole? What will the next one look like? Does anyone believe they will actually improve? Or will the next batters up to the ultimate Homeplate simply make it even worse, take it even further down the rabbit hole?In reality, it matters not who wins. They can only be there for eight years. But the election sets precedent for the next one; and the next one will push the limits even further, if there is one. We’ve all heard of the spooky bank holiday. This sort of thing usually happens on a weekend, and on Monday morning you simply cannot access your account. You have no access to your money. Don’t think it can happen? Neither did the people of Greece. Or Germany when they were limited to fifty Euros a day. What would you do? Do you keep cash on hand? Do you trust your bank? If you put twenty thousand dollars into the bank and then ask for ten thousand back, you have to fill out forms and justify your need for it. Then they tell the government about it and you face further sanctions.Here in America, we think we’re free. Well, we are currently listed as number twenty on the scale of freedom. Think about that. Number twenty! Chile is ahead of us! But we have our guns and all of those other countries don’t. And indeed we do, for now. But what if, if, they were to take those away? What do we do then? And before you say you would take to the streets and fight back, think for a minute what that really means. Then watch a few videos on Syria or Ukraine. It’s all fun and games until someone puts a tank main-gun round through your house.What follows is just one idea of what this could look like. I’m not saying this is the way it would go. It’s just some thoughts on it. On how people could act. What the government may do in response and how people might respond in turn.