Five Days Dead by James L. Davis

In the New Age of Discovery, there are those who say Earth has grown tired of humanity. She is cleansing herself of us. It is called the Rages. The Rages are Mother Nature at her worst, or her best, depending on your perspective. Drought, fire, pestilence, super storms and wildlife that stalks and kills, the Wilderness is no place for Man. There are those who would rather live in the Wilderness than the utopia of the Hubs, where life is whatever you dream and just as fleeting. They are called Pilgrims and Neands, those few who have no interest in the collective society of the Link and the wonders of the Digiverse. The Rages of nature are not the only terrors in the Wilderness. There are the Wrynd, zombies by choice and addiction, flesh eaters who prey upon the outsiders of society. Warped by a drug that makes them more and less than human, they are a plague on both nature and humanity. And then there is Harley Nearwater. He is a man of little to no redeeming quality, with chaos running through his veins. Harley knows something of the nature of fear; it has ravaged him, and he has ravaged others with it. Humanity has cured its ills but lost its soul and that suits Harley fine, just fine. He takes what he wants, kills when it suits him and answers to no one. Until the day his murder of a Federation soldier and compassion toward a father and his children alters his course forever. Pursued by the lunatic Wrynd, hunted by Federation Marshals, and fleeing the ravages of the Rages, Harley Nearwater is quite sure things can’t get any worse. But his deviation from his true character has drawn the attention of forces more powerful than he can imagine. The Rages are nature's answer to mankind's dominion, and Harley's actions have put pieces into play before their time. He has upset the delicate balance between good and evil and nature itself. For that, there will be a reckoning. The end of everything is about to begin.