Book picks similar to
Scorched: A Dry Earth Story by Theresa Shaver
dystopia
young-adult
science-fiction
fiction
After the Cure
Deirdre Gould - 2013
The Infected were driven mad by the disease, becoming violent and cannibalistic, killing even those closest to them without hesitation. Six years ago, the tiny surviving community of Immune humans found a cure, and the Infected began to wake up and realize what they'd done. And what had been done to them. Over time, society began to rebuild itself. Now it is ready to judge those responsible for the Plague. Nella Rider, the court psychologist and Frank Courtlen a defense attorney are trying to establish the truth. But more depends on it than they know. They race to find the answers they need before the fragile remains of humanity vanish for good. The After the Cure Series: Book 1: After the Cure Book 2: The Cured Book 3: Krisis Book 4: Poveglia releases July 21, 2015 Book 5: The 40th Day coming Fall 2015
After Days
Scott Medbury - 2014
He is about to lose a lot more. We all are. A mystery outbreak sweeps North America, it is chilling in both its speed and deadliness. The odd thing is though, it is only fatal to adults. Too late it becomes clear to authorities that the virus is man-made, a biological weapon, and that the United States is at war...a war it has already lost.As his country is invaded and occupied by the Chinese army, Isaac must lead a ragtag group of survivors across three states in the depths of winter, avoiding not only the invaders, but also other dangers unleashed in a world suddenly deprived of adults and authority, to a safe haven that may not even exist.
City of the Falling Sky
Joseph Evans - 2011
But the worms aren’t the only thing that he finds. Staring at him through the darkness, with wide, innocent eyes, is something that makes Seckry’s heart almost stop.A girl.She’s shaking, petrified, and has no recollection of who she is or what she’s doing there.Floodlights bleach the area and Seckry has no choice but to grab a hold of the girl and escape with her.Suddenly the question of what Endrin were doing with a few worms becomes the last thing on Seckry’s mind. What were Endrin doing with a human?
Incubation
Laura DiSilverio - 2016
Raised with other repo kids in InKubator 9, she has pinned her hopes on Reunion Day, the annual event where sixteen-year-olds can meet or reunite with their parents. When her Reunion Day goes horribly awry, she and her pregnant friend Halla escape the Kube, accompanied by their friend Wyck who has his own reasons for leaving. In a world where rebuilding the population is critical to national survival, the Pragmatist government licenses all human reproduction, and decides who can--and must--have babies. The trio face feral dog packs, swamp threats, locust swarms, bounty hunters looking for "breeders," and more dangers as they race to Amerada's capital to find Halla's soldier boyfriend before the Prags can repo her baby and force the girls into surrogacy service. An unexpected encounter with Bulrush, an Underground Railroad for women fleeing to Outposts with their unlicensed babies, puts them in greater peril than ever. Everly must decide what she is willing to sacrifice to learn her biological identity--and deal with the unanticipated consequences of her decisions.
The Reapers are the Angels
Alden Bell - 2010
A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself - and keeping her demons inside. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
Wanted
Jason Halstead - 2009
He lived off the grid, avoiding the fallout from the bombs and the Burnout Fever that ravaged the world. With the occasional trespasser to keep his skills sharp, life was smooth and settled and exactly how he wanted it.All that changed when three stragglers showed up that he didn't have the heart to turn away. Two children led by a shepherd who had lost her own way, Carl felt the sins of his past had finally come calling. Especially when it turned out the children had their own demons in pursuit.On the run once again, they must survive the North American badlands, an enemy with unlimited resources, and each other. Ultimately it will come down to Carl to decide just how much he is willing to sacrifice for the safety of his charges.Look for these other Wanted books:Book 1: WantedBook 2: Ice PrincessBook 3: BountyOr pick up all 3 at once in the Wanted Trilogy
The Grid 1: Fall of Justice
Paul Teague - 2015
A terrifying prison. A survivor determined to beat the odds. Joe Parsons’ father has just disappeared. Growing up in a post-plague world, he knows that justice is in short supply, but he craves answers. He hacks into the sinister Fortrillium network, but when he’s caught red-handed, he’s in for the shock of his life. Joe is thrown into The Grid, a prison lined with inhumane cages where the only hope of a trial comes from surviving a series of terrifying challenges. Only one person has ever escaped the deadly, gamified colosseum. Hunted by his enemies and in constant danger, Joe must find a way to survive. What he discovers along the way will change his life forever… if he can manage to escape. Fall of Justice is a gripping work of dystopian sci-fi. If you like tension-filled suspense, fascinating apocalyptic futures, and characters who come to life, then you’ll love the first book in Paul Teague’s The Grid Trilogy.
Buy Fall of Justice to fight your way through The Grid today
PODs
Michelle K. Pickett - 2013
Chosen to live, while others meet a swift and painful death from an incurable virus so lethal, a person is dead within days of symptoms emerging. In the POD system, a series of underground habitats built by the government, she waits with the other chosen for the deadly virus to claim those above. Separated from family and friends, it's in the PODs she meets David. And while true love might not conquer all, it's a balm for the broken soul. After a year, scientists believe the population has died, and without living hosts, so has the virus. That's the theory, anyway. But when the PODs are opened, survivors find the surface holds a vicious secret. The virus mutated, infecting those left top-side and creating... monsters. Eva and David hide from the infected in the abandoned PODs. Together they try to build a life--a new beginning. But the infected follow and are relentless in their attacks. Leaving Eva and David to fight for survival, and pray for a cure.
Tentacles and Teeth
Ariele Sieling - 2019
Instead, monsters. Their sudden invasion left the world in shatters, and now, decades later, all that's left of human civilization are a few nomadic bands struggling to survive off the land. Askari was born to this world, and lives, fights, and survives alongside the community that raised her. But when she breaks one too many of the community's rules, her punishment is severe: leave. Armed with her bow and blade, Askari sets off alone, guided only by a map and the promise that if she can find a book hidden in a nearby town, then she can return. But what can one person do alone in such a harsh, violent landscape? How will she survive? Askari faces a challenge that will force her to learn not only about the world she lives in, but question what she believes about herself.
Contributor
Nicole Ciacchella - 2012
Humanity has been their loyal subject ever since.This history has been ingrained in seventeen-year-old Dara Morrow since her first day of Creator-sponsored school. Grateful for the life-giving necessities her Creator provides, Dara is thrilled to be one of three students chosen for an elite, year-long apprenticeship program. Now is her chance to prove herself a devoted Contributor.But Dara’s competition is ruthless and will stop at nothing to win the competition. Worse yet, her exacting master has little patience for her.Then Dara’s mother is seriously injured, and Dara realizes the price of being a Contributor: once you’ve outlived your usefulness, you’re discarded. Can Dara learn to manipulate the system to save not only herself, but everyone she loves?
The China Pandemic
A.R. Shaw - 2013
Whether accidental or intentional, only two percent of the population has survived including preppers and carriers. In the Pacific Northwest, a dying mother recognizes that her young child is among the immune. What will she do to ensure his survival before her own death? Meanwhile, as natural predators come into the land of the living, Graham has buried his last remaining family member and promised to carry out his father’s wise advice to make it to the family cabin. He meets with triumph and tragedy, learning new rules along the way. Just when he thinks he’s finally got a handle on this new world, he’s taken by surprise, as he learns he’s not alone. Will he find the strength to escape these dangers and go on living? And more importantly, will he have the ability to protect those he's come to trust?
Joshua
John S. Wilson - 2012
He had to get away, from the rioting, the lawlessness, the killing. Away from the brutal gangs that ruled the highways. Then there was the boy that he found along the way, an orphan with no place to go. He couldn’t leave the child behind; that would be murder. Together they had to make their way across the razed landscape of post collapse America, west to where there was safety, a chance to begin again. If only they survived the journey.
When You Had Power
Susan Kaye Quinn - 2020
In sickness and in health.
It’s a legal vow of care for families in 2050, a world beset by waves of climate-driven plagues.Power engineer Lucía Ramirez long ago lost her family to one—she’d give anything to take that vow. The Power Islands give humanity a fighting chance, but tending kelp farms and solar lilies is a lonely job. The housing AI found her a family match, saying she should fit right in with the Senegalese retraining expert who’s a force of nature, the ex-Pandemic Corps cook with his own cozy channel, and even the writer who insists everything is stories, all the way down. This family of literal and metaphorical refugees could be the shelter she’s seeking from her own personal storm.She needs this one to work.Then an unscheduled power outage and a missing turtle-bot crack open a mystery. Something isn’t right on Power Island One, but every step she takes to solve it, someone else gets there first—and they’re determined to make her unsee what she’s seen. Lucía is an engineer, not a detective, but fixing this problem might cost her the one thing she truly needs: a home.When You Had Power is the first of four tightly-connected novels in a new hopepunk series. It’s about our future, how society will shift and flex like a solar lily in the storms of our own making, and how breaks in the social fabric have to be expected, tended to, and healed. Because we’re in this together, now more than ever before.
Underground
Chris Ward - 2012
Now it is their only chance for survival... Britain in 2075 is a dangerous place. A man known only as the Governor rules the country with an iron hand, but within the towering perimeter walls of London Greater Urban Area anarchy spreads unchecked through the streets. In the abandoned London Underground station of St. Cannerwells, a group of misfits calling themselves the Tube Riders seek to forget the chaos by playing a dangerous game with trains. Marta is their leader, a girl haunted by her brother's disappearance. Of the others, Paul lives only to protect his little brother Owen, while Simon is trying to hold on to his relationship with Jess, daughter of a government official. Guarding them all is Switch, a man with a flickering eye and a faster knife, who cares only about preserving the legacy of the Tube Riders. Together, they are family. Everything changes the day they are attacked by a rival gang. While escaping, they witness an event that could bring war down on Mega Britain. Suddenly they are fleeing for their lives, pursued not only by their rivals, but by the brutal Department of Civil Affairs, government killing machines known as Huntsmen, and finally by the inhuman Governor himself.
When the Power Is Gone
P.A. Glaspy - 2017
Regular people, with regular jobs, living a normal life - except for one thing. They are what many people call "preppers." They have stocked up on supplies to survive any kind of event they can think of that may occur to disrupt life as they know it. When that event comes, they start preparing for the new way of life they will face. Along with their teenage son, and their next door neighbors and best friends, they plan their exit from a neighborhood too close to the city to a farm in the country. They just have to get there. Their faith in their own capabilities and in humankind will be challenged, as they fight to protect and keep their supplies and, quite possibly, their lives.