After a house party, James Ryan wakes to a truly different world, one where the dead walks, runs, rips and tears and where he and his friends are forced to become the heroes they've always read about.Within mere hours of fighting off a hangover James Ryan, college student, and hopeful teacher, finds himself rallying his friends, finding supplies and fleeing for safety in a world brought to ruin, but first, he has to convince them to go. Believing that his childhood home would promise safety for him and his friends he leads them to the small town of Astoria, OR, the famous end to the Oregon Trail. James arrives at an empty house, his family gone and beyond contact, even the family dogs are missing. Every bone in his body is crying out for him to yell, to scream, to grieve the loss of his family, but instead, he turns his anger towards fighting the undead and protecting the only family he has left, even if it kills him. Though he will deny it time and time again James quickly steps up to not only become a hero but to show his friends that heroes aren't born, they're forged in the fires of adversity.