Fiction Survival Stories

She's small. She's quiet. She's deadly. Lou survived the plague that killed her mother. As her father sheltered her from the evil that consumed the world, he taught her how to survive. After an ambush leaves her orphaned, the young, unassuming girl put her skills to the test. A wanderer every bit as brilliant as she is deadly, she forges a new path in the wilderness once known as Texas. But can she do it alone?

In this memorable story, a ranger comes across a fox caught in a trap. The ranger frees the fox and promises only to tend to its wounds. The fox recovers and remains curiously close to the ranger, and when unexpected twists occur, the fox ends up being the helper. The ranger asks the fox, "Does this make us even?" and almost immediately feels regret - keeping score has no place in friendship. And so the two continue their journey together.

Regret was for people with nothing to defend, people who had no water. Lynn knows every threat to her pond: drought, a snowless winter, coyotes, and, most important, people looking for a drink. She makes sure anyone who comes near the pond leaves thirsty or doesn't leave at all. Confident in her own abilities, Lynn has no use for the world beyond the nearby fields and forest. Hving a pond requires the fortitude to protect it, something Mother taught her well during their quiet hours on the rooftop, rifles in hand.

Jarra is one of the unlucky few born with an immune system that cannot survive on other planets. Derided as an “Ape” - a “throwback” - by the rest of the universe, she is on a mission to prove that Earth girls are just as good as anyone else. Except now the planet she loves is under threat by what could be humanity’s first-ever alien contact. Jarra’s bravery - and specialist knowledge - will once again be at the center of the maelstrom, but will the rest of the universe consider Earth worth fighting for?

In the series debut The Testing, sixteen-year-old Cia Vale was chosen by the United Commonwealth government as one of the best and brightest graduates of all the colonies—a promising leader in the effort to revitalize postwar civilization. In Independent Study, Cia is a freshman at the University in Tosu City with her hometown sweetheart, Tomas. Though the government has tried to erase her memory of the brutal horrors of The Testing, Cia remembers.

Returning from his training with Gold in the strange world of Somerset, Arbor is immediately forced into yet another battle - this time against multiple enemies. Worse, he receives reports of disturbing activity coming from the Goldenleaf Forest, and dire warnings of a threat that Laedrin will not be able to handle. The future holds many uncertainties - the hardest of which comes when Arbor is forced to make a choice between rescuing his sister from herself, and keeping the peace in his own lands.

In this thrilling installment of Lauren Tarshis' New York Times best-selling I Survived series, one child finds safety only to head back into the treacherous waters to make sure his neighbors are safe.

Lauren Russell often wondered why her father had been so adamant about teaching her skills that most other fathers wouldn't even consider teaching their daughters. Ever since she was little, she had been taught how to live and survive outdoors, and how to use firearms to protect herself and those around her. Some of the training had been a bit extreme. Or had it been? Many of her questions were answered the day the world as she knew it ended.

Twelve-year-old Ann understands there is only one thing to be grateful for as a slave: having her family together. But when the master falls into debt, he plans to sell both Ann and her younger brother to two different owners. Ann is convinced her family must run away on the Underground Railroad. Will Ann's family survive the dangerous trip to their freedom in the North? This Girls Survive story is supported by a glossary, discussion questions, and nonfiction material on the Underground Railroad, making it a valuable resource for young listeners.

M. Savage - or Em, as she is called - has made a bewildering and ominous discovery. She and the other young people she was chosen to lead awoke in strange coffins with no memory of their names or their pasts. They faced an empty, unknown place of twisting tunnels and human bones. With only one another to depend on, they searched for answers and found the truth about their terrifying fate. Confronted by a monstrous enemy, they vowed never to surrender - and, by any means, to survive.

The Schoolhouse Blizzard, also known as the Children's Blizzard or the Great Blizzard of 1888 caught people completely by surprise and resulted in 235 fatalities, including several children in one-room schoolhouses. What made the storm so deadly was the timing, the suddenness, and the brief spell of warmer weather that preceded it. Lauren Tarshis will place a resilient 11-year-old character in the midst of this deadly blizzard, fighting their way out.

The boys help out at a wilderness camp near Sequoia National Park, a day's drive south of the Sierras. The camp's main draw is a multi-day trek traversing woodlands, mountains, and desert during a team-based orientation competition that will take them to the edge of Death Valley. When Jake and Taylor's team counselor is badly hurt in a flash flood, they must galvanize the lost campers to find shelter, aid the injured counselor, and supplement their low supplies with what can be found around them.

It was 1964 in the brand-new state of Alaska, a vast land of staggering beauty and heart-stopping dangers. Eleven-year-old Jack had grown up living happily with his parents in an off-the-grid cabin, miles from their closest neighbors. Grizzlies and wolves outnumbered people, and dark winter days were 30 degrees below zero. Jack had always thought of himself as strong—“Alaska tough”. But then the most powerful earthquake in American history—the Good Friday Earthquake—struck.

Herobrine, the artificially intelligent virus, was deleted. The computer it resided in was completely destroyed. Without their leader, the few survivors of its evil army were cast away into the shadows. It looked as if there would finally be peace and happiness throughout the servers of Minecraft.

Brothers Steve and Chris must fight their way out of an avalanche while on a Rocky Mountains ski trail.

When a deadly plague reaches the small fish camp where he lives, an orphan named Leif is forced to take to the water in a cedar canoe. He flees northward, following a wild, fjord-riven shore, navigating from one danger to the next, unsure of his destination. But the deeper into his journey he paddles, the closer he comes to his truest self as he connects to “the heartbeat of the ocean...the pulse of the sea”.

On the fourth planet, Infinity, the Voyagers journey deep underground, through a complex maze of tunnels. The tunnels are full of alien life - and danger. And before they can escape, one of their own will be taken from them....

Drew and his team are the entire counter-offensive plan against the Naga. He knows that the serpents must be dealt with, but watching the Sidhe forces take the nodes near his old home, and turn them violet, is weighing on him. Even worse than the external threat is that the gathered humans are beginning to fracture into factions with competing desires. Drew’s only possible response to the humans, the aliens, and the strange, urban jungle appearing across the Potomac is to increase the count of his own red nodes and build up his strength; all in a race to save humanity.

Maddie and Logan were torn apart by a kidnapping attempt when they were young. They were only kids - Logan's dad was POTUS and Maddie's father was the Secret Service agent meant to guard him. The kidnappers were stopped - but Maddie was whisked off to Alaska with her father, for safety. Maddie and Logan had been inseparable...but then she never heard from him again. Now it's a few years later. Maggie's a teenager, used to living a solitary life with her father. It's quiet - until Logan is sent to join them.

Under the cover of night, 12-year-old Homer flees Southerland Plantation with his little sister Ada, unwillingly leaving their beloved mother behind. Much as he adores her and fears for her life, Homer knows there’s no turning back, not with the overseer on their trail. Through tangled vines, secret doorways, and over a sky bridge, the two find a secret community called Freewater, deep in the swamp.