The Nuclear Frontier — Matthew S. Cox

For survivors of nuclear war, normal is what they make of it.Harper Cody never figured out what she wanted to do with her life, until planning a future became pointless. No longer stressing over choosing a college major, her biggest worry is making it to the end of any given week alive. She's mourned her dead parents, mourned her missing friends, and sacrificed her innocence to protect her little sister.The girl who couldn't kill bugs has a body count.Life in Evergreen, Colorado isn't easy, but it beats the alternatives. Electrical power is about as reliable as a thirty-year-old Ford, gangs could attack at any moment, and medicine is fast depleting. Little by little, they've rebuilt a sense of civilization, even if it's closer to the 1800s than Starbucks and malls.Two strangers on horseback arrive bringing word of other settlements and a means to contact them, peeling the scab Harper used to seal away her grief. Her friends might be out there... but searching for them could cost her life.