In 2065 a small number of egotistical and unbalanced leaders put the wellbeing of the civilised world in jeopardy by internationally embarrassing and then confronting each other. Due to the distrust of those with the responsibility for controlling weapons of mass destruction, the planet was almost destroyed within a few days.

Four small areas in the world became havens for survivors. One of those places was in the Scottish Highlands, a disused railway tunnel which became the initial place of safety for a coach of tourists.

Among the passengers on the coach were a police detective and a woman convicted for murder. Within the first few hours of the coach having safely arrived inside the old tunnel, the police officer was found dead. A few days later the female suspect left the tunnel via an emergency exit, knowingly condemning herself to survival in a post-apocalyptic wilderness.

She survived alone for weeks before meeting anyone else, and when she did, it did not end well.

In 2066, one year after leaving the relative safety of the railway tunnel and the companionship of the other survivors, the woman delivered a child in the shallow waters on the banks of Loch Awe.

This is the story of that child, Sylvia ‘of the forest’.

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