A year has passed since the great unwinding, and life has dramatically changed for those who survived. The collapse was global. There was nowhere to hide. A fifty-year experiment of uncontrolled, reckless money printing ended as the economies of the western world smashed into the wall of economic reality. When the west failed, the rest of the world was pulled down into the financial abyss. Hyper-inflating national currencies destroyed purchasing power. Gold soared to untold heights as people plowed their rapidly melting money into precious metals. In the final panic, others chose to stock up on bullets, beans and band-aids. National governments tried to maintain order with more extreme measures. This only fueled mass demonstrations. Entire supply chains collapsed. Food-store shelves became bare. The big eighteen-wheel transport trucks stopped delivering fuel to filling stations. Public transit failed shortly thereafter. The electrical grid eventually stopped operating. Brush-fire wars broke out across the globe as the final mad scramble for resources played itself out.

Hard Survivor tells the stories of some of those who have made it so far. Life is hard. In the chaos of the collapse, only three types of people survived - the lucky, the prepared and the ruthless.