The Maiden Maverick As a result of Hal's untimely death, Nancy Perez is living alone in a post Covid-24 world, where the country has lost three-fourths of its population. Basic government services like police, fire, sanitation, and post office are nonexistent-along with electric power and phone service. Coal stoves are used to cook food and heat homes. The Elm Park neighborhood has banded together to obtain food, shelter, and security. Reminiscent of the old west, everyone carries a gun - the ubiquitous 22-caliper handgun. On a nighttime walk to the Kill van Kull, Nancy meets Sam Worthington, a husky black man, with a troubled past. He becomes a guardian - stopping abuses of Darren Trupp's Brown Shirts who barge into people's homes - stealing valuables and assaulting women. The Truppers use drones equipped with cameras and lasers to surveille and attack individuals they deem to be rebels. The Resistance is coordinated by Gerald Hopkins from his office in Wolstein's factory. Hopkins and his aide, Mason, provide Nancy and Sam with guns, bullets, grenades and dynamite to fight the Truppers. There's a plan by the Truppers to sabotage a coal-powered generating plant - shutting down power to the North Shore. Nancy, Sam, Freddy, Billy, and others engage the Brown Shirts in a gun battle outside the plant - routing them into the swamps of Travis. After the gun battle at the power plant, Sam moves in with Nancy. Soon, an old Army tank appears on Eggert's Field, the grass-and-flower filled field across the street. A well-aimed grenade takes care of the tank, but a new challenge appears in the form of a refurbished World War Ii destroyer.