Black Morning

The lights are gone. The taps are failing. Stonegate has seventeen days to decide who gets to live.

The EMP leaves some engines running, many machines dead, and every official promise unenforceable. Daniel Mercer's family has only what remained outside the warehouse he trusted. As water pressure fades and sanitation breaks down, swimming pools, private tanks, and half-remembered claims become the new measures of wealth.

Daniel helps build a household roster to protect the vulnerable and hold the neighborhood together. Then Laura's illness worsens. Desperate to keep her functioning, he adds one person who does not exist and steals an extra water share in plain sight of the system he created. Someone notices.

When scouts find a municipal tanker under armed control, Stonegate sees salvation. The driver, Wallace Dobbins, claims he received conflicting orders and is protecting injured people and stranded families. Grant Heller, a capable and volatile former medic, calls him a thief and prepares to take the water by force.

At the final parley, Dobbins raises one hand and reaches toward his belt. Daniel has seconds to decide what the gesture means. His choice will give Stonegate order, water, and its first blood.

Black Morning is Book Two of The Ash Commonwealth series.