When the earth's atmosphere explodes into a blazing wave of global fire, few could hope to escape with their lives. But John Thomas Rourke—ex CIA Covert Operations Officer, weapons specialist and survival expert—would not be denied another chance at life to thwart the communist takeover of the devastated planet... A secret weapon, buried before the fiery apocalypse of world War III, is unearthed from the sands beneath the shadow of the Great Pyramid—a weapon that Hero Marshall Vladmir Karamatsov will use to establish himself ruler of the new earth. And as John Rourke searches the icy wastelands of the Ural Mountains for the secret entrance to the Soviet underground City, he is inexorably drawn into Karamatsov's plan for world conquest. Because Rourke, now more than ever, must kill Karamatsov to avenge the murder of one of Rourke's own—even if it means spearheading a commando raid into the midst of a bloody battle of Russian against Russian. John Rourke has no choice but to fight on—he is... THE SURVIVALIST. IF CIVILIZATION WERE DESTROYED TODAY—WOULD JOHN THOMAS ROURKE BE ABLE TO SURVIVE...?