Training Ground

Antonia Silva is a survivor. Having escaped the ruins of post-disaster San Francisco and the brutal husband who trapped her there, she finds refuge aboard a ship bound for Portland. But this is no ordinary voyage. Her rescuers are part of the Terra Colony Project, a daring mission to settle a pristine new world light-years away. They offer her a one-way ticket to a fresh start. Before she can leave Earth behind forever, she must tie up the loose ends of her past life and enter the Training Ground.

Here, in a remote corner of Oregon, colonists build a new society from scratch as a dress rehearsal for life on Terra Nova. For Antonia, the challenge isn't just learning to farm, build, and survive-it's learning to trust, heal, and open her heart again. As she forges new friendships and discovers an inner strength she never knew she possessed, she finds herself drawn to Brian, a quiet geologist with his own hidden scars. Though she found him irritating on their voyage, he had good reason for his avoidance of her.

The shadows of the past are long, and the broken Earth they plan to leave behind is more dangerous than ever. With rover gangs growing bolder and the ship's berths filling fast, Antonia must make a final choice: stay in Portland and start a new life there, or stay with the friends she's grown to love and face an uncertain future in a new world. Can a community forged in practice survive the reality of an alien frontier? And can a woman who has lost everything dare to build a new life-and a new love-in a new world?