Bobby’s whole life has been about surviving in the aftermath of the First War. The Folks taught him about the Creepers. Ol’ Randy taught him how to kill them, how to hide from them, and how to protect himself. But Ol’ Randy never told Bobby the truth of his existence. After sneaking beyond the Settlement’s razor wire fence, both Bobby and his brother Ryan are bitten. Life as they know it should be over, they should be dead. They should be Creepers, rotting members of the undead. But they're not, and before they can find out why their world comes crashing down around them.

Bobby’s brothers are dead, along with his surrogate father and the rest of his old life. The Settlement lies in ruins. Colorado’s snow-covered mountains hold nothing but old horror. If he’s going to make a life with his new wife and child, he has to move on. The Creepers are never far, and he can feel their hunger. Baylor and his steam train offer Bobby a way forward, a genuine shot at a future. But he is not the only child born in the west, and the past has other ideas. The warlord Moya is desperate to forge a new world in her own image. She has an army behind her, rising up from the south, and Baylor’s train is an irresistible target. Before Bobby’s new life can even begin, his family is torn apart, and he and Baylor are engulfed in a brutal fight. Their one slim hope lies deep in the hidden truths of Bobby’s past, but that path holds dangers of its own...