The Survivors Book I: Summer: 1 - Tapa blanda

The world changed overnight. A deadly virus struck, killing billions outright and reducing many more to harmless, hapless zombies. Only a handful of unlucky souls were spared, thanks to a rare genetic immunity. Now, a decade after the virus devastated humanity, cities that once teemed with life are empty, the streets silent and crumbling. Those few who survived are alone in the world. Completely, utterly alone. Sandy McDermott is one of those survivors, a solitary woman alone in a world without rules. The last decade has not been kind to her. She struggles to balance the unbearable pain of isolation with the perils of this bold new world, without losing her humanity along the way. Humankind’s extinction event has come and gone. She has survived. Now, can she find a way to live? THE SURVIVORS: A tale of love, hope, and humanity set against the backdrop of post-apocalyptic New Zealand.

Ten years ago, a deadly plague ravaged humanity. There were seven billion souls on our planet; now, there’s just a handful. Our extinction event has come and gone, but a few of us did survive. We’re the lucky ones, born with a rare genetic adaptation that gave us immunity to the plague. But the intervening decade had been brutal and unforgiving; so many more of us died. I was eighteen years old when I watched my family die one by one. Now, I am alone. I've managed to eke out an existence amongst the ruins of our shattered world, but there is so much danger that it’s a miracle I'm still alive. I am a lone female in a world without rules; death stalks me at every turn. But I will not give up. I will not surrender. I am the last of my line, and I am determined to honour my family, even if I couldn't save them. My name is Sandy McDermott, and I am a survivor. This is my story. *** Author's Note: Although this book does feature the undead, it is not intended to be horror. The Survivors is a little bit apocalyptic, a bit dystopian, a bit science-fiction, a bit zombie horror, but above all else it is a love story. To quote the very first blogger that got her hands on it: "(The Survivors is) a layered, touching, powerful story of humanity and survival." The story takes place in the Waikato region of New Zealand, ten years on after a killer plague erased the majority of our species from the face of the earth. 99.5% of humanity is either dead, or has been reduced to the (mostly) harmless, lumbering undead. The few people lucky enough to be immune to the disease have spent the last ten years struggling to live amongst the ruins of a dead society. For some people, the time hasn't been so bad. For other people - like our heroine and narrator, Sandrine McDermott - the last ten years have been a living hell. Without rules to keep people civilized, there's nothing to keep a lone female safe except her own wits. Sometimes, that's just not enough. Life has not been kind to her. In fact, it's safe to say that fate's been kind of a bastard. However, it's also a whimsical bastard. When Sandy injures herself and is forced to go looking for the medication she needs to survive, she finds herself on the receiving end of kindness in the last place she expects. She's forced her to reassess her place in the world, and her own humanity. The Survivors is a four-part tale that follows Sandy's evolution from the psychologically-damaged wreck that she at the beginning of the story, to the true heroine that we need to preserve our species from extinction. Somehow, some way, she must go from being one of the hopeless wanderers, to being our hope for a new tomorrow.