The legendary Badlands are about to get a whole lot worse.Dillon Thomas has captured Mr. Theo and left young Sam for dead. Yet all is not lost. Though Theo promised himself into servitude, he is merely biding his time before he escapes. Meanwhile, Sam develops a rescue plan of her own with the help of a few new friends. One of them must get news of a cure to the border before Dillon gathers an army of immune criminals to invade what remains of the United States. Ravenous corpses might roam the west—but the real monsters are those who live among the undead.