Dead Drop Empire

The transport plane explodes over enemy territory, scattering Evie Cross, twelve stranded soldiers, and a fortune in supplies across the wasteland. Her radio crackles with one order: Save the cargo—or leave the screaming survivors behind. Evie was paid to drop the supplies and disappear, not become anyone’s commander. But when the Red Hammer militia starts slaughtering villages and seizing food, the young recruit who calls her “Captain” refuses to let her walk away—and the wounded medic beside him dares her to prove she hasn’t lost her humanity. Outnumbered and hunted, Evie turns twelve desperate stragglers into a ruthless fighting force, stealing weapons, recruiting refugees, and bleeding the enemy one ambush at a time. Now every warlord in the Midwest is coming for her supply line—and Evie must choose: abandon her people and escape to safety, or start a war big enough to make her the wasteland’s first queen.