Fiction Survival Stories

Hatchet meets Wild in this harrowing YA survival story about a teenage girl’s attempt to endure the impossible, from the Edgar Award-winning author of The Female of the Species, Mindy McGinnis.

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.

Ever since he woke up ina terrorist torture chamber--with a year of his life erased from his mind - Charlie West has been on the run. He has one desperate hope of getting his life back: track down the mysterious agent named Waterman. But in fact, reaching Waterman - and recovering the secrets lost in his own memory - will only increase his danger. Because a team of ruthless killers is rapidly closing in on him, determined to stop him from finding the answers.

The nightmare of the outbreak is finally over, but Cat’s fight has only just begun. Exhausted, wounded, and reeling from revelations that have shaken her to her core, Cat is at a breaking point. Camped in the woods with Cole and Leoben, she’s working day and night, desperate to find a way to stop Lachlan’s plan to reprogram humanity. But she’s failing - Cat can’t even control her newly regrown panel, and try as she might to ignore them, she keeps seeing glitching visions from her past everywhere she turns.

Rick, Tina, and their new family members embark on a journey with Annette to Miami, Florida, for a cruise where trouble was brewing. Once again, Rick, Tina, and their furry owners must use their preps and wits to survive the fury of more than a mere hurricane. With first Tina and then Owen going missing, Rick and his canines must race to find them before it's too late.

Having narrowly escaped a pack of vicious wolves, canine heroes Max, Rocky, and Gizmo are happy to find a moment of peace as they travel down the mighty river. Soon, the trio come across a lavish boat moored close to shore. They're wary of facing another community of dogs, but when they climb on board, they discover that things are different on this ship. These dogs aren't like the power-hungry ones they've encountered in the past. Food is plentiful and rationed fairly. Plus...they've seen humans, who Max, Rocky, and Gizmo thought had disappeared without a trace.

The Swiss Family Robinson has delighted generations of readers with its exciting tale of a family which, though shipwrecked, displays “the right stuff” and builds a charming colony that later, they do not want to leave. Cut off from the comforts and companionship of other humans, they use a familiarity with natural history and biology to find the resources and build the tools to construct a canoe, weave cloth, irrigate a garden, and turn an immense hollow tree into a lofty house with a spiral staircase.

Sam Hopkins is a good kid who has fallen in with the wrong crowd. Hanging around with car thieves and thugs, Sam knows it’s only a matter of time before he makes one bad decision too many and gets into real trouble. But one day, Sam sees these friends harassing an eccentric schoolmate named Jennifer. Finding the courage to face the bullies down, Sam loses a bad set of friends and acquires a very strange new one.

Adam's muscular dystrophy has stolen his mobility, his friends, and in less than a year, it will take his life. Virtual reality games are Adam's only escape from his wheelchair. In his alternate world, he can defeat anyone. Running, jumping, scoring touchdowns: Adam is always the hero. Then, an artificial intelligence program hacks into Adam's game. Created by Adam's computer-genius father, Sigma has gone rogue, threatening to kill Adam - and the entire human race. Their one chance to stop Sigma is using the technology Adam's dad developed to digitally preserve the mind of his son.

Landfill has lived his whole life as a scavenger, running with wooflers, swimming with turtles and feasting on fresh gull. Old Babagoo has always looked after him, on one condition - follow his rules. Never come looking outside. Never rise above the wall. But despite the dangers, Landfill longs to see Outside. And some rules are made to be broken.

Graham Salisbury has received numerous high-profile accolades from the ALA, VOYA, and several parent organizations. A Junior Library Guild Premier election, Night of the Howling Dogs is a rousing adventure set in Hawaii. On a Boy Scout trip, Dylan is looking forward to camping out at the foot of the Pu¹u Kapukapu volcano. But when an earthquake strikes, Dylan is forced to team up with a bully named Louie on a daring mission to rescue many of their scattered comrades.

New York Times best-selling authors Ally Condie and Brendan Reichs team up to co-author this thrilling first book in a darkly suspenseful middle grade series. Everyone in Timbers knows Still Cove is off-limits, with its creepy Beast sightings and equally terrifying legends. But when a bullying incident sends 12-year-old Nico Holland over a cliff and into Still Cove's icy waters, friends Tyler and Emma - and even Opal Walsh, who usually runs with the popular kids - rush to his rescue...and discover a mysterious island hiding in the murky, swirling mists below.

Omega, they called that day. The end of the end. One enormous burst of electromagnetic radiation and everything that was even remotely electronic was fried to a crisp.With the country in ruins, the new government declared it the Republic of the True America, imposed martial law, and separated all survivors into settlement camps. Now, 20 years later, three 16-year-olds uncover the dark truth: All this time they've been labeled Less Thans.

Our ‘fight of flight’ response is something hardwired into the primitive part of our brain. Our need to survive, to outlive whatever danger poses, that immediate threat to our lives is little short of a marvel. Everything else is abandoned in order to survive. Whilst in modern times that ability has been somewhat modified and ‘reasoned’ away to an extent, in past years it’s what usually kept you alive. In this volume people struggle valiantly to survive and to exist no matter the extent of the threat they face.

Three lonely riverside dwellers - a boy, a firefly, and a cricket - are all trying to make sense of unexpected changes in their world. Each has a secret dream, but each finds himself trapped. Becoming friends brings them happiness and solidarity, but more changes are in store. Each character stands up to his greatest fear, and, in doing so, finds his greatest strength.

When Helicity Dunlap flies for Texas to spend time with her best friend Mia, she hopes to leave the tragedies of the devastating tornado and flash flood back in Michigan - at least for a little while. Her responsibilities at Mia's Aunt Suze's beachfront bed-and-breakfast are pretty simple and leave her lots of time to enjoy hunting for sea glass, sunbathing, and exploring a summer romance. But Helicity comes by her name honestly - helicity means to spin - and her troubles from home follow her south.

When a deadly shooting breaks out in a Portland shopping mall, a diverse group of teens ends up trapped behind a store's security shutter. To her own surprise, 17-year-old Miranda finds the others looking to her as their leader. But she's hiding a big secret - and she's not the only one. The group has only three choices: Run, hide, or fight back. The wrong decision will have fatal consequences.

Brit Pheiffer has trained to backpack the Teton Range, but she isn’t prepared when her ex-boyfriend, who still haunts her every thought, wants to join her. Before Britt can explore her feelings for Calvin, an unexpected blizzard forces her to seek shelter in a remote cabin, accepting the hospitality of its two very handsome occupants - but these men are fugitives, and they take her hostage.

When the world started to fall apart, the government gave everyone two choices: move into the Bubble Cities... or take their chances outside. Twelve-year-old Maggie and her family chose the latter. They live in the world that was left behind. Deciding it's time to grow up and grow tough, Maggie rechristens herself "Ford Falcon" - a name taken from the beat-up car she finds at a nearby junkyard. This is where Ford's family goes to scavenge for things they can use and barter with.

Alan Russell thought about his family night and day. They didn’t just mean the world to him, they were his world. As a devoted husband and father, his sole purpose was to love, support, and protect them. Yet Alan had gone a step further, doing everything in his power to ensure his family’s survival in what he believed would become a perilous and uncertain future. On the day civilization changed forever, he found his efforts hadn’t been enough.