Expanding the boundaries of survival fiction, this captivating story opens with the end of the world—thundering storms strike across the planet, searing the earth and leaving swathes of destruction and few survivors. For residents of Temperance, Illinois, however, the nightmare is just beginning. When the sky roils in luminous colors, the people of the small town begin to die; ex-con Randall Kane takes this as his cue to leave. What he didn't expect was for the dead to come back to life or to be so confused about what defines human versus inhuman behavior in this new world order.