Fiction Survival Stories

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes.

Thirteen-year-old Mark Harrison has a week to hike across the desert. He will meet his parents on the other side. By his fourth day, he’s made good time. As he settles in for the night, he gazes up at the stars, feeling completely content. Suddenly, a blue light streams from the sky, jolting Mark into another dimension. Now, in a land filled with strange jungle animals and primitive tribes, Mark desperately battles hunger, armed enemies, and superhuman powers.

Ten concentration camps. Ten different places where you are starved, tortured, and worked mercilessly. It's something no one could imagine surviving. But it is what Yanek Gruener has to face. As a Jewish boy in 1930s Poland, Yanek is at the mercy of the Nazis, who have taken over. Everything he has and everyone he loves have been snatched brutally from him. And then Yanek himself is taken prisoner - his arm tattooed with the words Prisoner B-3087.

The prequel to the New York Times best-selling Maze Runner series. Before WICKED was formed, before the Glade was built, before Thomas entered the Maze, sun flares hit the Earth, and mankind fell to disease. Mark and Trina were there when it happened, and they survived. But surviving the sun flares was easy compared to what came next. Now a disease of rage and lunacy races across the eastern United States, and there's something suspicious about its origin. Worse yet, it's mutating, and all evidence suggests that it will bring humanity to its knees.

The first official Minecraft novel! In the tradition of iconic adventures like Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island, the number one New York Times best-selling author of World War Z tells the story of a hero - stranded in the world of Minecraft - who must unravel the secrets of a mysterious island in order to survive.

Peace has been restored to the Overworld after an epic griefer battle. Lily, Simon, and Michael are glad to have a break from fighting, and even from their attempts to escape the game and return to their normal lives. But then two new players are zapped onto the server, and no one's sure who's responsible for trapping them. With Mr. Anarchy and the other griefers in prison, anyone could be a suspect, and tempers flare as the townspeople's suspicions turn inward.

Emily, David, Mason, Lisa, and Mark head to the California coast to find a boat back to Canada. They all felt that it would be much easier and quicker to sail home rather than go over land with the others. They were wrong. The trek through the lawless city to get to the coast is only the first step. Hardship and loss await as the teens struggle to overcome both the challenge of the journey and threats from within. The trip home will change them all - for good or bad, as the stranded teens make for home by sea.

The three friends trapped in their Minecraft game have never been closer to escaping the Overworld, and they can't wait to return home after being trapped on the server for so long. But then a vicious horde of creepers attacks, delaying their escape. Soon the gang learns that there's a new villain behind the attack: a griefer so twisted that he'd rather stay trapped in the Overworld than live a mundane life in the real world - and he has no qualms about keeping every other player trapped on the server with him.

Ever since the monster apocalypse hit town, average 13 year old Jack Sullivan has been living in his tree house, which he's armed to the teeth with catapults and a moat, not to mention video games, and an endless supply of Oreos and Mountain Dew scavenged from abandoned stores. But Jack alone is no match for the hordes of Zombies and Winged Wretches and Vine Thingies, and especially not for the eerily intelligent monster known only as Blarg. So Jack builds a team.

The drought - or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it - has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers. Until the taps run dry. Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbors and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life - and the life of her brother - is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.

It's been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Now, struggling through the harsh winter aboveground, they find an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device from before the Disaster, which they believe is still in Ember.

Less than 48 hours after 12-year-old Chris sets off on a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast with his uncle, their boat sinks. The only survivors are Chris and a boy named Frank, who hates Chris immediately. Chris and Frank have no radio, no flares, no food. Suddenly they've got to forage, fish, and scavenge the shore for supplies. Chris likes the company of a curious, friendly raven more than he likes the prickly Frank. But the boys have to get along if they want to survive.

When the world sees Frey, they think they see her twin sister, Rafi. Frey was raised to be Rafi’s double, and now she’s taken on the role...without anyone else knowing. Her goal? To destroy the forces that created her. But with the world watching and a rebellion rising, Frey is forced into a detour. Suddenly, she is stranded on her own in Paz, a city where many of the citizens attempt to regulate their emotions through an interface on their arms. Paz is an easy place to get lost...and also an easy place to lose yourself.

All Ruby Behl wants for her 17th birthday is a good career path match, and to kiss her best friend and longtime crush, Wesley Fairchild. Unfortunately, the simplicity of teenage wishes evaporated a decade ago when the Tercera virus nearly wiped out the human race. Transmitted through touch, the slightest contact is prohibited in the safe haven community of Port Gibson.

Hava sails across the sea toward Monsea with her sister, the royal entourage, and the world’s only copies of the formulas for the zilfium weapon she saved at the end of Winterkeep. During the crossing, Hava makes an unexpected discovery about one of the ship’s crew, but before she can unravel the mystery, storms drive their ship off course, wrecking them in the ice far north of the Royal Continent.

McKenna Barney is trying to hide her worsening eyesight and has been isolating herself for the last year. But at the request of her little sister, she signs up for a commemorative mail run race in the Canadian wilderness - a race she doesn't know if she can even see to run. Winning would mean getting her disease - and her sister's - national media coverage, but it would also pit McKenna and her team of eight sled dogs against racers from across the globe for three days of shifting lake ice, sudden owl attacks, snow squalls, and bitterly cold nights.

It has been over a year since the invasion of Earth was thwarted in Pittacus Lore's United as One. But in order to win, our alien allies known as the Garde unleashed their Loric energy that spread throughout the globe. Now human teenagers have begun to develop incredible powers of their own, known as Legacies. To help these incredible and potentially dangerous individuals - and put the world at ease - the Garde have created an academy where they can train this new generation to control their powers.

With every day that passes, Dust is more afraid of what he will become. His powers are growing far beyond what he can predict, and he is reluctant to tell his make-shift family that he isn't sure when - or if - it will ever stop. His goal is to get to Portland, Oregon, and find his aunt and uncle. Ideally he would get there alone, because he's far too much of a danger to the people around him, but they aren't willing to give up on him, and an old enemy isn't far behind.

The fifth book of the New York Times best-selling series! Surviving their first winter after the Monster Apocalypse was no easy feat, yet Jack and his buddies waste no time springing to action against some of the nastiest, most evil monsters around. When Jack discovers his Louisville Slicer has new, otherworldly powers, he's thrown into epic training to find out what kind of destruction the blade can wield.

Jack’s friends make a startling discovery: They may not be the last kids on Earth, after all. This is great news for everyone...except Jack. Once they’ve found other humans, his friends won’t stick around for long! Jack’s only hope for keeping things the way they are is to prove that everything here is perfect, life is crazy fun, and nothing else could be any better. After all, they live in a mind-clobberingly cool tree fort, speed through town playing real-life Mario Kart, have a crew of monster buddies, and battle zombies on the regular. That's as good as it gets!