Neighborhood Watch Series

One second was all it took to erase Frank's dreams. New home. New car. New retirement. Stolen by the EMP. It gets worse. Frank's neighbors failed to prepare at all, so it falls on him to keep them alive. He starts easy: stockpile food, water, and guns. Disaster lessons he'd picked up reading books about the end of the world.

After the EMP, Frank controls one street. A whole city surrounds him. Frank gets his people through the critical first days of the EMP disaster, but he knows his next choice could determine their fate months or even years down the road . . . Search for help using their bikes? Ally with strangers two blocks over? Turtle up and hunker down for the long haul? He discovers another option inside his neighbor's garage: an ancient hot rod, immune to the effects of an EMP, is there for the taking.

After the EMP, the land rush is on. Food. Supplies. People. It will all be claimed. Frank survived one expedition out into the world, but he'll need to do it many more times if he wants his people to survive. He starts by searching for another of the rare working vehicles still on the road. More cars mean more supplies. Every trip out comes with risks. He soon finds abandoned military roadblocks, competing bands of survivors, and average people getting ever more desperate.

Frank has been able to guide his neighborhood watch along a narrow path between order and chaos, but most of his problems have been caused by people. Now, as the clouds darken over the Gulf of Mexico, Mother Nature is going to take a crack at him. The arrival of the storm has only one benefit; Frank can travel the empty roads and get things done. Using his newest off-road vehicle, a Mercedes Unimog 416, he probes North Pointe to find some missing allies. He also discovers new enemies in a troubled trailer park.

Frank's problems grow exponentially with each sunrise. After the storm passes and the water recedes, every flooded house must be reoccupied by its owners, leaving endless opportunities for criminals to sneak in. Squatters appear everywhere. Chaos builds upon chaos. And, guess what? There are no police cars, fire trucks, or FEMA trailers coming to the rescue . . . The prize called survival will go to whatever subdivision can pull itself together first.

Day 7. Factions of survivors are already forming around the Fort Myers area and not everyone is keen on Frank's style of diplomatic cooperation. Some have witnessed the earlier assaults on Clownfish Cove and have studied the group's weaknesses. Frank and his people have been fortifying their subdivision since the earlier attacks, trying to fix the biggest problems, but will it be enough?