THE RETREAT

THE RETREAT follows the story of three eighteen-year-olds struggling with life below ground, seventeen years after an airborne plague nearly wiped out humanity. Milquetoast nerd Jasper Huxley resents his low station in the Bunker. Unlike his best friend, outspoken lad Marcus X, Jasper is denied entry into the Scouts. Clad in hazmat suits, this select team of men brave the Earth's infected surface to scavenge for resources, all while warding off an armed group called the Retreaters. Embittered by the rejection, Jasper gets dragged into a conspiracy group who tell him the 'truth' about the plague: that it's just a ruse to keep them all trapped underground, subject to the whims of the Bunker's despotic leadership. Desperate to win the affections of his life-long crush, sweet-but-elusive Hattie Osborne, Jasper takes part in a daring scheme to escape the Bunker. However, the unstable young chap buckles under pressure, and his spiral into mental collapse threatens to uncover the conspiracy - as well as some difficult truths about his past. Suitable for readers aged 16 and above.