When agronomist Ben Harker discovers a catastrophic collapse in regional pollinator activity, he assumes it’s a data error.

Until the bees start dying outside his own lab window.

What begins as a scientific mystery quickly becomes a survival nightmare.

As crops fail and insect life vanishes across the Midwest, Ben and a small group of rural families uncover the truth: the collapse wasn’t natural. It began with HELIX—a classified bioweapon, developed under the guise of an agricultural fail-safe meant to preserve food production after nuclear war… until it escaped containment and poisoned the foundation of the world’s food chain.

When federal agencies move to suppress the discovery, Ben and his group become targets in an escalating effort to control both the data and the narrative.

With the power grid failing, cities running out of water, and millions fleeing in search of food, the group retreats to a secluded Wisconsin farm—where they’re forced into the unthinkable: going fully off-grid.

Wood gasifiers. Backup generators. Hard-won livestock. Gardens. Perimeter security. Everything becomes about endurance.

As food riots ignite and supply chains vanish, they must defend their families, their friends, and their land with nothing but preparation, resolve, and rural grit.

Because in a world without guarantees, only the prepared will eat.

Then they make an impossible discovery: living wild bee hives.

A glimmer of hope. A second chance at agriculture. And a target for anyone desperate enough to take it.

The HELIX Deception is a realistic, hard-edged post-collapse survival thriller for readers who believe in preparedness, independence, and the brutal truth that when systems fail, neighbors matter more than governments.