Ashes, Ashes Series

After a nuclear bomb levels Washington, DC, a teen embarks on a treacherous 200-mile trek through a harrowing wasteland populated by desperate survivors to get his disabled sister to safety. First of the acclaimed six books in the Ashes, Ashes series, these adventures follow Liam Harper and his friends on a struggle for survival that tests their physical endurance, the bonds of friendship and their humanity.

Fifteen-year-old Nester Bartlett's biggest worries had been growing up Black in America...but the nuclear apocalypse has changed all of the rules. Now, instead of getting good grades and struggling against the negative stereotypes against African American men, he's fighting to stay alive. With no skills for his new life of tending animals, maintaining fires, and defending their mountain cabin against intruders, he's unprepared for the threats that bombard him and his friends from the weather, escaped prisoners from a nearby correctional facility, and their own grief over their losses.

What would send someone back to the Wasteland after nuclear devastation? The hazards of nuclear fallout make the trip a death sentence but when a desire to see his home and the hope of finding his lost family overcomes Rod Wasserman, he leaves the safety of the Mountain Place on a final, desperate journey back to the remnants of his old life.