People refer to the infected as "zombies" although that's not what they really are. The word zombie implies the infected have died and reanimated. The thing is, those infected with Mad Swine, they didn't die. They're still alive; they even breathe. They're just not...human anymore. No one really knows how or why it started. What we do know is that the H1N1 virus—or the damn vaccinations that everyone so anxiously lined up for hours to get—mutated in a bad way. Now whether this mutation happened naturally, like the seasonal influenza does every year by changing its signature protein, or if it was the work of some mad dictator bent on bringing hell into the world by unleashing the bastardized disease, no one can say for sure. For Matt Danzig and the small community of Randall Oaks, the only thing that matters now is survival in this new world.

Three months after the beginning of the Mad Swine outbreak, the residents of Randall Oaks have reached their breaking point. After surviving the initial outbreak and a war waged with their neighboring community, Providence, their supplies are severely close to depletion. With hostile neighbors at their flanks and hordes of infected outside their walls, they have become prisoners within their own community. When new allies arrive with an old friend, the brave men and women of Randall Oaks will be faced with the decision to stay within the confines of the community only to die of starvation or to leave the safety of their walls in pursuit of a promise land, the survivors must make their choice—and face a new enemy unseen. Will the remaining members of Randall Oaks continue to survive the apocalypse or will it be a Dead Winter?