Fiction Survival Stories

After the fall of Summerland, Jane McKeene hoped her life would get simpler: Get out of town, stay alive, and head west to California to find her mother. But nothing is easy when you’re a girl trained in putting down the restless dead, and a devastating loss on the road to a protected village called Nicodemus has Jane questioning everything she thought she knew about surviving in 1880s America.

North Korea is known as the most repressive country on Earth, with a dictatorial leader, a starving population, and harsh punishment for rebellion. Perfect place for a family vacation, right? Yet that's exactly where Mia Andrews finds herself, on a tour with her aid-worker father and fractious older brother, Simon. Mia was adopted from South Korea as a baby, and the trip raises tough questions about who she really is. Then her dad is arrested for spying, just as forbidden photographs of North Korean slave-labor camps fall into Mia's hands.

Earth is in danger! The only thing that can save our planet are six essential elements scattered throughout the galaxy. It is up to the Voyagers - a team of four kids (plus one stowaway) - to gather them all and return to Earth. Failure is not an option. The Alpha team knows that the second element is hidden on Meta Prime, a planet filled with metal mazes, catapults of fire, and warring alien robots. But what they don’t know is that another spaceship is following hot on their trail....

The Hunger Games meets Matched in this high-concept thriller where citizens must prove their worth by defeating the other version of themselves - their twin. Two of you exist. Only one will survive. West Grayer is ready. She's trained for years to confront her Alternate, a twin raised by another family. Survival means a good job, marriage - life. But then a tragic misstep leaves West questioning: Is she the best version of herself, the version worthy of a future?

They call themselves SYLO and they are a secret branch of the U.S. Navy. SYLO's commander, Captain Granger, informs Pemberwick residents that the island has been hit by a lethal virus and must be quarantined. Tucker believes there’s more to SYLO’s story. He was on the sidelines when the high school running back dropped dead with no warning. He saw the bizarre midnight explosion over the ocean, and the mysterious singing aircraft that travel like shadows through the night sky. He tasted the Ruby - and experienced the powers it gave him - for himself.

Kelly roams the outskirts of the forest with her friends while they attempt to collect various bugs for a science assignment. Soon, a particularly rare butterfly catches her eye and she wanders into the woods in hot pursuit until it suddenly disappears. When Kelly turns back, she realizes she is completely turned around with no idea how to get back to her friends.

Bick Kidd and his globe-trotting siblings Beck, Storm and Tommy may have completed their first treasure hunt after their father was lost at sea, but their kidnapped mother is still in the hands of nasty pirates. Their search for a rescue plan takes them down the Nile river in Africa, where they'll have to navigate everything from Egyptian pyramids in the desert to wet-and-wild jungles—not to mention life-threatening encounters with wilderness diseases, angry hippos and some seriously bad guys—in order to find the treasure and save the day.

It was supposed to be just one night in the cabin: one night for Lottie and her brand new stepsister, Jade, to try to get along. When a solar flare causes a massive blackout—no power or cell signal—Lottie knows they've got a long night ahead of them. Then, in the dark, someone else shows up at the cabin—a stranger named Alex, claiming to be lost and needing shelter from the coming snowstorm. But later that night, Lottie spies him in the driveway talking to two mysterious men in a pickup truck, and she's sure he's lying about why he's here.

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.

Jeff and his best friend Keith are ice-fishing in the middle of Big Lake. It’s been hours without a bite, but they’re still having a blast - until the storm of the decade closes in. Soon, the entire landscape is buried in three feet of snow and the snowfall shows no sign of stopping.

Jimmy Benge is excited to celebrate his thirteenth birthday with an ice fishing adventure in northern Minnesota. He's even allowed to invite his best friend, Ryan, to spend winter break at the family’s lakeside home. The two boys learn a lot about ice fishing and catch a few panfish but decide to fish for something bigger: Northern pike, the alpha predators of the lake.

In 1910, Sir Robert Falcon Scott led a team of Englishmen racing to be the first people to reach the South Pole. Amidst frigid temperatures and raging winds, Scott and four others made it to the pole only to find that another team had gotten there first. Low on morale and facing ever-plunging temperatures, the trek home would prove a harrowing task.

When you think of Aesop's Fables, you probably think of "The Tortoise and the Hare" or "Country Mouse and City Mouse". In this collection, Rob Cleveland brings you three of Aesop's lesser-known but equally powerful fables. You will learn why bats fly at night, why you should pick your friends carefully, and why even a tiny ant could be your guardian angel.

The adventures of Julie's wolves continue as a new wolf leader takes over the pack. The black alpha Kapu, whom Julie once nursed back to health, is a natural leader. Kapu is strong and wise, but if his pack is to survive, he must lead it through many dangers: near starvation, rabies, rival wolves, and worst of all, humans. The wolves share a strong sense of community, including a deep love of pups, and an understanding of the ancient ways necessary to their survival.

As a child, she committed unforgivable acts to free Grace Loray from King Elazar of Argrid. Now, Elazar’s plan to retake the island has surpassed Lu’s darkest fears: He’s holding her and his son, Ben, captive in an endlessly shifting prison, forcing them to make a weapon that will guarantee Elazar’s success. Escape is impossible - unless Lu becomes the ruthless soldier she hoped never to be again.

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.

She wants to put an end to the Testing, but she can't do it alone. This is the chance to lead that Cia has trained for—but who will follow? Plunging through layers of danger and deception, Cia must risk the lives of those she loves—and gamble on the loyalty of her lethal classmates. Who can Cia trust? The stakes are higher than ever—lives of promise cut short or fulfilled; a future ruled by fear or hope--in the electrifying conclusion to Joelle Charbonneau's epic Testing trilogy. Ready or not…it’s Graduation Day.

Liam and Phoebe, having barely escaped our exploding sun with their lives, are in stasis for the decade-long journey to the rogue planet Delphi, where they hope to meet up with the rest of the human refugees, find help for their injured parents, and pass along the devastating things they discovered on Mars: that someone destroyed their world intentionally, and that that someone might still be after them, trying to finish the job. Phoebe is carrying her own dark secret. One that finds her waking up secretly at various points in their journey, changing their path through space.

Sam's cosy life as daughter of the deputy prime minister is about to end. These are turbulent times. Borders have closed, and protests are turning violent. The government blames the country's youth and is cracking down hard. Mobile phones are blocked; gatherings are banned, and dissent is brutally crushed. Sam is torn between family loyalty and doing what is right. When she meets Ava and Lucas, her mind is made up.

"Bang! A side door bursts open. Soldiers pour into the room. They're shouting and waving rifles. I shield my head with my arms. It was a lie! I think, my mind racing. Girls and boys alike are screaming. The soldiers prod and herd some of us together and push the rest apart as if we're cows or goats.Their leader, though, is a middle-aged man. He's moving slowly, intently, not dashing around like the others. 'Take the boys only, Win Min,' I overhear him telling a tall, gangly soldier...."