After the horrors of the great plague, the earth has plunged into absolute darkness. Seven out of every ten people are dead. The last stable government on earth, the Southern United States of America, has collapsed with the death of its founder and greatest hero, Ben Raines. Humanity is all but forgotten. There is no law. No order. Hundreds of scattered tribes battle for supremacy in a devastated land where only the strong live to see another day. But hope remains. Through this wasted world walks Jim LaDoux--raised in the wilderness, taught to survive against all odds--heir to Ben Raines's dream. That America will rise again. That faith, courage, and firepower can beat back the evilness that threatens to end it all.