Freedoms Cost: Sunshine State EMP Blackout (Blood is Thicker Series)

Freedoms Cost: Sunshine State EMP Blackout (Blood is Thicker Series)

They say freedom isn't free. Joe Kelly's group learned that lesson when they killed Chuck Warner. They won their fight. Built their community. Found hope. But victory was just a down payment. That bill is now due. The scars from Book 2 run deeper than anyone knew. Two women face impossible futures, the consequences of Chuck Warner's brutality. Some wounds don't heal—they just teach you how to survive anyway. Jake's worry about his brother becomes unbearable. Dave is a guard at Raiford—a maximum-security prison. No word. No contact. Just silence since the EMP. Jake needs to know if his brother is alive. Joe is against the mission. Too dangerous. Too far. Too many unknowns. But blood calls to blood. And Joe understands that better than anyone. The road to Raiford tests them in ways the cabin never did. Every mile brings new dangers. Every decision could be their last. But this is what family does. Even when it's hard. Especially when it's hard. While Joe's group has been building something good, someone has been watching. A man who sees opportunity in the chaos. Someone who wants what Joe has built. The Colonel. Charismatic. Strategic. Ruthless. He invites Joe to join his growing army. Promises protection, resources, power. All Joe has to do is bend the knee. Joe knows exactly what this man is—another tyrant trying to fill the void Chuck Warner left. Joe refuses. The Colonel smiles. "You'll regret this." War is coming. Joe's group preps for the inevitable assault. They fortify their position. Plan defenses. Ready themselves for battle. When the Colonel's forces attack, Joe's strategy works. They hold the line. They drive the enemy back. But the Colonel isn't finished. The second attack comes when they least expect it. This time, the Colonel takes something from Joe that can never be replaced. This is what freedom costs. Not just bullets and sweat. Not just fear and sleepless nights. Real cost. The kind that breaks you. The kind that changes what you're fighting for. By the final page, Joe isn't just defending his community anymore. He's hunting. Book 3 will break your heart. Book 4 is about Joe breaking everything else. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Book 3 is personal. It’s where the series gets real. I wrote a scene that made me cry. Not because I enjoy hurting my characters or my readers, but because survival without sacrifice isn't survival—it's fantasy. Someone close to me read this book and said, "I understand why you did it." That's all I needed to hear. The stakes are real now. No one is safe. And that's how it should be. If every battle ends clean, it's not honest. The world doesn't work that way. Survival fiction shouldn't either. But alongside the darkness, there's hope. There's redemption for those who seek it. There's community built from broken people. There's love worth fighting for. This is survival fiction with soul. That means sometimes it hurts. But it also means the hope is earned, not given. Joe Kelly faces his darkest moment. What he becomes after that moment defines the rest of the series. WHAT READERS ARE SAYING: "I had to put the book down and ugly cry. Then I picked it back up and finished it in one sitting. Brennan doesn't pull punches, but he earns every emotional beat." — Amazon Review "The Colonel is terrifying because he's smart. This isn't a mindless villain—he's strategic, charismatic, and worse than Chuck ever was." — Goodreads Review "This is where the series becomes something more. The action is still there, but the emotional depth? I wasn't prepared. Nobody warned me." — Beta Reader They won the battle. They thought they'd paid the price for freedom. They were wrong. Some costs don't come due until after victory. And some losses can never be repaid. CONTINUE THE JOURNEY. DISCOVER THE COST. Bruno Brennan combines his passion for writing and his creative mindset to create hours of enjoyment for his audience. His main passion is the "What If" niche. Crafting tales of "What If" this happens or "What If" that happened. Bruno loves mostly writing stories of Post Apocalyptic EMP adventures with dashes of danger, excitement, perseverance and adding in a bit of romance. Dystopian Thrillers, EMP survival fiction and EMP Post Apocalyptic Thrillers are Bruno's passions