Five years after a devastating solar storm wipes out civilization and spawns a strange race of mutants, Rachel Wheeler and her misfit family must choose whether to hide away or fight to join other survivors. As their food supply dwindles inside their bunker, radiation from abandoned nuclear plants is altering the world around them. Not only are the mutants building their own cities and weapons, the remaining dregs of the U.S. military are massing for an attack. In this decaying environment, hostile new creatures crawl out from the crevices and up from the waterways to threaten them all. But as a half-mutant, Rachel’s choice isn’t as simple as mere survival—the mutant way of life might be more promising than anything humans could hope to restore. And Rachel’s next decision could tear apart her family and the entire world.

As the remnants of the human race mobilize for an attack on the mutants who have taken over the abandoned cities, a small band of survivors are caught in the middle of the conflict. Rachel Wheeler’s own mutant abilities could make her a valuable resource for the new government and the army it has formed in the wake of the apocalypse. But the people who want to take back the world have a ruthless vision for the future, and a toxic planet is unleashing its rage in the form of deadly predators. Meanwhile, the mutants are evolving at an astonishing rate and establishing a social order that defies human control. When her group is drawn into the ultimate war, Rachel must decide whether to stay loyal to the ones she loves or fight for ideals she doesn’t fully embrace. The top of the food chain is at stake, and the extinction of the human race may not be the worst possible outcome.

When mutants develop technology that threatens the dwindling human race, the last survivors fight to regain control of their world. Rachel Wheeler and her friends are dropped into the enemy stronghold of Wilkesboro as part of a desperate military operation. Their mission is to disrupt a new energy source that will give the mutants unlimited power. Little do they know that the remnants of the central government have launched nuclear strikes on all major mutant colonies, and they will be caught in the fallout. Will the nuclear holocaust deliver a final victory to the human race, or will the survivors face their own extinction in a world overrun with monsters and strange new races?

In a contaminated wasteland, Rachel Wheeler and an intelligent mutant baby find shelter in a silver city where neither belongs. As the dwindling human race desperately fights to survive, they’re forced to adapt to the mutant technology and the new race that threatens them with extinction. But the hostile environment poses other threats as well—strange creatures and giant predators roam the wilderness, fueled by the mysterious radiation leaking from the advanced cities. Rachel’s friends come to the rescue, but they discover she’s crossed a border from which no human ever returns. But something else might…

Rachel Wheeler and her friends are held captive in a strange city ruled by mutant Zaps, but she is determined to use her powers to overthrow their captors and escape. But the domed city is more than it appears, and the Zaps have developed mysterious technologies and materials that mimic organic tissue. The Zaps are building sinister new creatures, hoping to replace the Earth’s natural environment with one of their own creation. Meanwhile, the world beyond the dome is becoming increasingly more contaminated and hostile. As Rachel and the others fight for survival, even the city itself seems determined to destroy them.

The exciting conclusion to the Next series. After a post-apocalyptic showdown with a race of advanced mutants, Rachel Wheeler has lost everyone she loves in a hostile, contaminated land. A half-mutant herself, she searches for the few remaining survivors with a dream of building a new civilization. But the survivors reject her strangeness, and the mutants don't trust her loyalties. Rachel is torn between two worlds, but she might be the key to stopping a terrible, ruthless world that will destroy them all.