What if the fight for survival isnโt worth the cost?
The collective isnโt the safe haven Alessandro had hoped it would be. Many of the members suspect heโd sell them out in an instant for his own benefit, and the threat of more assaults coupled with the dwindling food supply have left them with no other choice than to search for a more defensible location.ย
Valeria is doing her best to grapple with her losses and adjust to her new reality, but when the collectiveโs leaders reveal the location of a secret underground agricultural facility and announce plans to move there, she fears theyโre putting too much stock in the hope that the facility will be their salvation. Yet if everyone is to survive, theyโll need the facilityโs technology to grow their own food.
The perilous journey turns out to be the least of their worries. After a devastating betrayal, can the collective find the will to stay together or will they too dissolve, pitting member against member in a deadly battle for existence?
Nicole has progressed from scribbling in notebooks to banging on keyboards, but sheโs never managed to stop daydreaming at inappropriate moments.
When not answering the demands of her characters, Nicole can often be found curled up with a good book or spending far too many hours acting the hero in whatever video game is her obsession of the moment.
One of Nicoleโs other great passions is travel. She loves being married to a native Belgian, both because she likes the idea of being โThe Americanโ and because it gives her plenty of excuses to visit Europeโthat wondrous land of coffee, chocolate, pastryโas often as possible.
Michigan born and raised, Nicole lives there with her honorary Michigander/Belgian husband and her two children.ย