Jane, Buzz, Carter, and Vanessa, aged nine to thirteen, are on a sailing trip in the South Pacific intended to help them bond in their newly-blended family when a massive storm strands them on a deserted island.
Deuce attempts to raise an army and lead the refugees of Salvation to safety, after the town was destroyed by a horde of Freaks, and along the way, she tries to help Fade recover from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Deuce struggles for respect in a new topside town where she is treated like a child and avoided by Fade, a situation that compels her to volunteer for patrol duty and protect topside citizens from an unexpected upsurge in Freak activity.
On a school trip to snowbound Scotland, several students become infected and turn into hungry zombies, leaving a small band of survivors to take refuge in the school bus.
Reese, forced to go on vacation with his family, finds himself shipwrecked with them on a strange island full of weird plants and animals, and pursued by an unknown entity on the hunt.
When fifteen-year-old Miguel's time finally comes to leave his poor Mexican village, cross the border illegally, and join his parents in California, his younger sister's determination to join him soon imperils them both.
A brother and sister recount their harrowing experiences as they sail a small yacht across the Atlantic Ocean, after their mentally unstable mother's boyfriend is washed overboard.
