Deric Budendorf

Quentel: a Post-apocalyptic Novel Deric Budendorf

Imagine a world without parents or any other grown-ups. In just a few months, all of the country's adults have been killed by the Amazonian Plague, a genetically enhanced virus. Children are the only ones to live through the bio-terrorist attack. Total chaos abounds. Looting and cruelty is commonplace among the desperate young survivors. Many form clans to protect themselves and to stay alive. Quentel is one such clan. When a group of children takes shelter in his family's farmhouse, Ben tells them of his vision of Quentel: a perfect society where citizens are treated equally and there is no need to fight. But the new world may not be ready for utopia. Not only are the older boys such as Mike, Nick, and Scott battling to take leadership, but the clan sees no alternative than to fight other clans for the limited resources of land, equipment, and food. And they must be on constant alert for attacks by other gangs who seek to plunder and rule. Struggling against raiders from its borders, mutiny, and Mother Nature, it remains to be seen whether the young farming clan can form any sense of civility in the lawless, post-apocalyptic world they inherit.