Lone Journeyman Book 1: Alligator Dances Part 1: Lone Journeyman

By Frank Reliance

This is the first part sampler of Book 1: Alligator Dances.

He goes as the “tall man” - real names are not good when traveling outside the cities after the economic collapse of the USA. His dreams of a regular life have been destroyed as the econolypse unravels the world. He’s been watching society's slow burn, collecting his gear and guns. Now he’s searching for a place to survive. But he needs to get out of the powerless city before winter. Or, he's dead.

He’s looking for someplace warmer where he can grow food all year long and live without heating. Someplace he can be free. Maybe Mexico or even further south. But, he's got to hurry, as the city is going to be locked down. If he doesn't move fast, it will be certain death, due to lack of water, food, heat, and sanitation -and the wandering gangs with violence on their minds, not all of which are with the government.

It's a desperate journey for him, out alone, seeking a place that will hold the key to his long-term survival in a world where most everything as he knew it is gone.

Book 2: Storm Clouds is out.

Book 3: New Lands out now (the conclusion).

Other books by Frank Reliance: Alone in a Cabin for the Winter

• Language: English
• Publisher: Frank Reliance
• Release date: Oct 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519997203

Book preview

Prologue

It was early evening on a lovely August night by the lake on the northeast coast; warm, pungent, and beautiful, even for the end of the world.

And it was the end for many—or would be, soon. Modern, industrial civilization had come to a violent shutdown. The planet Earth was just fine (so far—the nuclear plants had not melted down, yet); it was the humans who were in trouble, most of them dependent on an interlinked technological and financial system for survival that was no longer there.

Hundreds of thousands had died already and millions more would die, due to the global economic collapse that began in the USA and spread like an out-of-control forest fire around the connected markets of the world, taking them all out, too, like so many tragic dominoes. The dead bodies alone were the source of many more deaths as they rotted, left out in the open in cities with no one to burn or bury them, allowing the spread of diseases. Many had died from lack of water within days of the collapse. Soon after, others continued to meet their fates at an exponentially growing pace from starvation, lack of sanitation, and violence.

Some had seen the writing on the wall, however. They had been expecting the coming collapse for years, if not decades, and they had prepared. These people still had a chance. Most of the others did not and it would only be a matter of time before they were dead.

But even for the prepared life had suddenly gotten a lot more desperate, and one's best friends were now a good gun and a big supply of bullets. Because not all those who had prepared had the best of intentions.

The tall man (he prefers not to use his real name on the run) was prepared and had escaped from the worsening conditions in his once great city just as the authorities sealed it off, leaving those trapped inside to kill each other or simply die from lack of food and disease.

Now he searches for a safe place