Empty Earth

By: Rick McManus

Narrated by: Nettie Rose

In a world ravaged by climate catastrophe, the earth lies nearly empty, its remaining inhabitants scattered across a destroyed landscape. As the land heaves, skies blacken, and seas devour coastlines, the few survivors cling to existence by a thread. Yet amid the ashes of civilization, defiance still flickers.

Eva, a fierce-hearted rebel from San Diego, stands against the tyrannical remnants of the American government. Her refusal to submit lands her in an Arctic prison facility, where thousands of young captives toil in a concrete maze, growing food for the elite and for scientists racing to find salvation from "the warming" before it's too late.

Through the walls of her frozen cage, Eva discovers Adam, imprisoned in the neighboring British enclosure. Their whispered conversations in the dark become a lifeline, their love blooming like a stubborn flower through cracks in concrete. Yet every shared word reminds them of the barriers keeping them apart.

But Eva harbors a secret hope: a letter smuggled among her few permitted possessions holds a clue to what might be her beloved grandfather's sanctuary somewhere out there. If she and Adam can break free, they'll face a perilous journey across a transformed continent—from the bitter Arctic through treacherous American wilderness—guided only by her grandfather's cryptic message and their determination to survive.

Each passing day brings humanity closer to extinction. For Eva, fear isn't an option. She must choose: surrender to a slow death in captivity, or risk everything for a chance at life beyond the walls. Before her stretches a ravaged earth where their love story will either become humanity's last whispered tragedy, or the first chapter of its most defiant triumph.

©2014 Richard McManus (P)2025 Richard McManus