GUEST: Susan Kelley - EXILE'S SAVAGE LADY #Apocalypse

Where Would You Want to Spend the Apocalypse?

My latest novel, Exile’s Savage Lady: Book #3 of Survivors of the Apocalypse, wraps up this futuristic three book series in which two distinct groups of people must work together or watch mankind spiral into extinction.

Thousands of people have survived the pandemic inside a sealed biodome. A much smaller and scattered group of people survived the deadly illness that swept the globe three hundred years before. Both sets of people face particular challenges due to their environment.

Let’s look at the essentials. Water is the leading necessity to life. Outside the dome, there is abundant fresh water. They have no shortages for drinking, cooking or bathing. In the sealed biodome, all their water is recycled and has been for three hundred years. It’s not tasty and is rationed like everything else.

Second need is food. Once again, the people living outside have large resources of food, both plant and animal. They can hunt wild animals and have domesticated livestock as well as growing their own crops. Inside the dome, the soil has grown poorer with centuries or use despite attempts to fertilize it. The dome itself has grayed and darkened so less sunlight gets in for the plants. Food is rationed to near starvation levels.

Third in our hierarchy of needs is safety and shelter. Those on the outside have plentiful wood to build homes and can scrounge other materials from old ruins. The city was fully constructed before the pandemic. Its buildings are well build along with real streets and indoor plumbing. For safety, the city has a fully realized police force. There is little violence and since no one has anything to steal, little theft. The outside couldn’t be more different. The few people are scattered and live in extended family forts. Roaming through the wilderness are ruthless gangs who take what they want from those weaker than themselves. It’s a dangerous world for anyone not protected by a strong family.

In terms of comforts, the city doesn’t have to face dangerous weather situations like tornadoes or blizzards. The city has solar powered electricity. The outsiders know how to live through the changing seasons, but it’s a dangerous time. Without modern technology to warn them of incoming bad weather, they’re in constant danger from the elements.

Transportation in the city is mostly by foot, though there are some railcars. The outsiders use horses. Those stuck on the outside use oil for lighting and have harnessed the wind to draw water from wells. Though their lives are filled with hard work, the outsiders are healthy and happy.

Education in the city is similar to our modern world though children are directed toward certain area of studies based on early testing. The school system has professional teachers, and there is a university system where doctors, engineers, and other professions are educated. The outsiders have only homeschooling and only then if the parents bother. The only people they have as doctors are people who have learned what they can about medicine from old books scavenged from civilization’s ruins. Medicine itself is nothing more than herbal remedies. It’s a very frontier life on the outside. Those inside the city have medicines though like everything else, it is carefully rationed.

What do the outsiders need that the biodome does have?  People. The outsiders are few and scattered. What does the biodome need that the outsiders have in abundance? Resources of food, water, and freedom.

Exile’s Savage Lady: Book #3 of Survivors of the Apocalypse, is the final story in this saga of an America after a pandemic has nearly wiped out mankind. Robin Linden was saved by the Gibbs family when he was exiled from the domed city. He can’t enjoy his new life in the outside while those inside the city are slowly starving. Kerry Gibbs has finally found her match in the strong, quiet city man. When he decides to sneak back into the city and rescue his people, Kerry can’t allow him to go alone. Once inside the decaying metropolis, Kerry realizes the man she’s grown to love intends to save the poor city folks even if it means sacrificing himself. She’s not willing to let him, but the power-hungry city leaders might take the decision out of her hands. Is her love enough to keep Robin at her side? Find this book on Amazon.

Susan Kelley lives in a large, country home in Pennsylvania where she and her husband raised six children. She has been a fulltime writer for years after retiring from teaching high school. This is her nineteenth published romance.

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Where would you want to spend the apocalypse? In the biodome, or would you rather take your chances among the dangers of the outside? Thanks for spending some time learning out the world I created for Survivors of the Apocalypse.