Survivor: A Desperate Journey Beyond the Mountains

Vernon Randall Hume once measured distance in driving time and danger through legal arguments. Now an invading army has erased his city, separated him from his family, and driven him into a hostile wilderness. Wounded and alone, Hume has only one destination: the mountains, where he believes his people remain safe beyond the river.

Every abandoned house and passing caravan reminds him how quickly ordinary life disappeared. Hunger weakens him, terror controls him, and the road ahead offers no certainty. Yet Hume’s determination grows stronger with every mile. As he crosses the desert, however, his fear gives way to a disturbing sense of mastery. The helpless creatures around him become targets, and violence begins to feel less like necessity than proof that he still commands something.

Survivor is a fierce story of invasion seen through one frightened man’s narrowing world. Irving E. Cox Jr. keeps the reader close to Hume’s thoughts as confidence replaces panic and civilization’s restraints begin to fall away. A second journey unfolds nearby, following a father and son toward the same promised refuge. Their paths create a mounting tension shaped by mistaken appearances and the desperate need to identify friend from enemy.

Irving E. Cox Jr. published Survivor in the April 1953 issue of Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader. Born in 1917, Cox produced numerous short stories between 1951 and 1965, along with the 1956 mystery novel Murder Among Friends. His science fiction includes The Guardians, Adolescents Only, Impact, Export Commodity, The Pioneer, The Earthman, and To the Sons of Tomorrow.