The day of retribution is at hand. Years before the outbreak, an unexplained illness in the Congo that mimicked different hemorrhagic fevers brought scientists from the CDC to the jungle. Rebels attacked and destroyed all of the data and blood samples before their research was completed. The true nature of the disease remained a secret. Months before the outbreak, contractors began to build and secure caches of military equipment and supplies across the US. What was their purpose? Days before the outbreak, everything seemed normal. The public had no idea that terrorist forces planned to unleash a literal hell upon the earth. The US and British intelligence community knew, and sent a covert team to North Korea to try to stop the extinction event before it began. This is their story. The Days Before is the prequel to the bestselling Five Roads to Texas series written by W.J. Lundy, Rich Baker, Joseph Hansen, Allen Gamboa, AJ Powers, Brian Parker, and JL Bourne. Find out how it all began.

From the best story tellers of Phalanx Press comes a frightening tale of Armageddon. It spread fast- no time to understand it- let alone learn how to fight it. Once it reached you, it was too late. All you could do is run. Rumored safe zones and potential for a cure drifted across the populace, forcing tough decisions to be made. They say only the strong survive. Well they forgot about the smart, the inventive and the lucky. Follow five different groups from across the U.S.A. as they make their way to what could be America’s last stand in the Lone Star State.

The infected rule the world beyond the protective walls of the Texas Safe Zone. Fort Bliss, Texas is home to four million refugees, trapped behind the hastily-erected walls of the Army base—too many people and not enough food. In a desperate gamble, the soldiers responsible for securing the walls begin searching for pre-outbreak food storage locations. Not everyone will make it home. For Sidney Bannister, the Safe Zone's refugee camps have become a nightmare that she can no longer endure. She must find a way to leave before her baby is born, or risk never experiencing freedom again. Follow Sidney's story from the Phalanx Press collaborative novel Five Roads to Texas.

El Paso wasn’t the Promised Land that Ian and his crew had hoped for but it wasn’t a total bust either. The concept of a safe haven in today’s world was a fool’s errand at best. This was the consensus of their tiny band and to keep moving, their only salvation. While others waited in their pens the four from the private security company moved on taking on as many they could help, in hopes that they too would join the fight. Their journey was long and arduous but it was worth it… they hope. El Paso is where the final evidence that this is more than a simple lab experiment gone wrong. It was too focused with too many players who knew too much too early in the game causing assumptions to be made. Assumptions that gained strength with every step they took until the small troop was convinced that this was not just a simple virus of natural origins, America was under attack. For Which We Stand is a post-apocalyptic thriller that lends credence to the fears that many share. Is it possible? No one can say, Five Roads to Texas is but one of hundreds end of the world scenarios. We all know it’s coming, how and when is the only question.

"—An action packed tale of love, betrayal and retribution." —J.L. Bourne Even in death, life rarely goes as planned. Having nothing left to live for, Malcom is given a shot at redemption when a woman named Tessa needs his help. With death looming, Malcom, Tessa and her children flee Cincinnati with their sights set on El Paso. They know the trip won't be easy, but nothing could prepare them for the nightmares ahead. Follow these new characters in the Five Roads to Texas series as they set sail on a harrowing journey to what might be the last bastion of hope in America.

A global pandemic burns through the population leaving America in shambles. Sarah Washburn and her crew are forced to go on the run from an indefensible horde. Isolated in the Colorado high country, they’re pursued at every turn by mercenaries who want something they have. An impossible situation with low odds of survival, and their luck running out, they have one shot. A final chance to take a stand in a showdown that will alter the fate of the new world.

Winter has never been so hot, nor the world so dangerous. Sidney Bannister has been lucky so far. With no survival training and no real skills besides her street smarts, she realizes that she must learn to fight so she can protect her newborn baby from the infected that plague the United States. Enemies from her former life arise to bring the AWOL Lieutenant Jake Murphy to justice. The hunt intensifies as the remnants of Jake’s old unit close in around him and his group of survivors. In the middle of the chaos, Iranian aircraft fill the skies of Kansas, forcing the Americans to make decisions that will impact all of their lives. How much is Sidney’s small group willing to sacrifice to stay together? ~ Follow the action that began in the Phalanx Press collaborative novel Five Roads to Texas as the series continues to grow.

The crew has split. Toby has been placed in charge of a small group headed north to combat the Great Lakes Navy whose M.O. is to acquire all remaining resources and peddle flesh. Americans young and weak have become their currency, their objects of dominance. Ian and Kinsey are still on mission to get to D.C. accompanied with new recruits from Mingo Junction and Albuquerque. Both groups trying to restore a little bit of sanity to a world that won’t cooperate. While Toby finds bands of fighters still ignorant to the existence of intact portions of the military, nor did they have comprehension to the invasion force that threatens their very right to exist, Ian and Kinsey in the east are finding beasts of a whole different nature. The invasion is on in full force, Americans are under manned and being assailed on all sides. Infected continually plague their movements as evil floods their city with well-armed yet undisciplined warriors hell bent on killing every American who survived the plague. Making it the responsibility of the very few survivors left to stop the evil on all fronts. United we could stand and divided we will fall, making it imperative that we stay indivisible. Five Roads to Texas is a collaborative project with authors; Allen Gamboa, AJ Powers, Brian Parker, Rich Baker, WJ Lundy, and Joseph Hansen.

While the infected run wild across a broken America, Rick ‘Ram’ Ramacher and Jesse Moreno struggle to make it back home to Northern California. The two slowly come to realize that Ram’s blood may hold the key to a vaccine for the flesh eating virus and that they have to decide on saving Ram’s family or try to save the survivors of the shattered United States. Invading North Korean and Iranian forces, along with a group of mercenaries, are also searching the ravaged America for Ram and the precious key to an antidote.

America, as we knew it, is gone. The survivors are being hunted. Foreign troops search daily for Sidney Bannister and her new family, systematically eliminating their means of survival. She’s gone on the offensive, but will her initiative bring further pain and suffering to the family? Lieutenant Jake Murphy’s mission to Washington, DC hit a major snag when they discovered that the nation’s capital was completely overrun and inaccessible. Will New York City hold the answers they seek or was their trip across country all in vain? The remnants of the US Army, trapped at Fort Bliss, are desperate for answers as unknown forces intercept their communications, further isolating them from the fragmented government. Nearly a year after the rise of the infected, a road-weary traveler finally makes it back to the States with information that will change everything. Just how far is America’s military willing to go for revenge? Follow the action as the Sidney’s Way storyline from the Five Roads to Texas series draws to an end.