Damnation Alley
Roger Zelazny
 Both the short story and the novel open in a post-apocalyptic Southern California, in a hellish world shattered by nuclear war decades before. Several police states have emerged in place of the former United States. Hurricane-force winds above five hundred feet prevent any sort of air travel from one state to the next, and sudden, violent, and unpredictable storms make day-to-day life a mini-hell. Hell Tanner, an imprisoned killer, is offered a full pardon in exchange for taking on a suicide mission&mdash;a drive through "Damnation Alley" across a ruined America from Los Angeles to Boston&mdash;as one of three vehicles attempting to deliver an urgently needed plague vaccine.