When the sound of an incoming helicopter interrupts Ash and Caleb Solomon’s fishing, it reminds them that their mountaintop community of Beartooth may be isolated, but it’s no secret from the outside world.

Ash, Caleb, and the residents of Beartooth struggle to develop stronger defenses, a new source of electricity, and increase food production to survive the longer, colder winters resulting from the government’s geoengineering program. As the residents of Beartooth search for solutions to a growing number of threats, the rest of the world slips further into anarchy.

With few ways to protect themselves against intruders, the residents retreat from conflict, but will it be enough to save them from their first encounter with their ruthless neighbors?

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	Preorder Coming Soon!
GENRE Dystopian Romance
Teen
Available November 2024

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Excerpt

Two months ago, Ashley was nearly incapacitated by fear when she found the man who assaulted her on her wedding day standing between her and the only exit from the greenhouse. Tyler Hewitt had tried to stop her from marrying Caleb Solomon, and it got physical. When Caleb found out, he broke Tyler’s nose and warned him to never go near Ash again, especially when she was alone, yet there he stood, knowing full well that Caleb had gone hunting.

Ash’s heart rate accelerated as her mind replayed that morning in the greenhouse. She had her back to the door. When she heard his voice behind her, frightening scenarios raced through her mind. She stood, turned, and eased her hand toward the bear spray holstered at her hip.

She could still hear his voice in her head. “Ash, don’t be stupid. You dispense that in here and we both suffer, besides, I just want to talk.”

He told her he wanted to marry Melora and begged her not to tell Melora about the incident, afraid it might scare her away. Ash felt her good friend deserved to know the truth before making such a commitment, and when she told him as much, his anger flared. He took several steps toward her, and she raised her arm, pointed the can at him, and thumbed the safety off. He stopped, softened his tone, and continued to plead his case.

Ash wasn’t sure what would have happened next if Melora hadn’t walked in, demanding to know what Tyler didn’t want Ash to tell her and why Ash was pointing a can of bear spray at him. Ash told Melora the whole story while Tyler scowled. She was glad it was finally out in the open, but Tyler was furious with her.

Things were starting to cool back down somewhat. Melora married Tyler, and she continued to mediate whenever they were all together, but they had a long way to go.

“Something wrong?” Caleb asked as he hopped up onto the boulder next to Ash. “You’ve had your line in the water for thirty minutes and haven’t caught a single fish. That’s not like you.”

“I was just thinking about the day in the greenhouse when I almost sprayed bear deterrent in Tyler’s face. Every time I think we’re getting past what he did to me on the morning of our wedding, we take a major step backward.”

“I hope you’re not blaming yourself for that. He should’ve never approached you when he knew I was gone, and you were alone. He’s lucky Melora was there when I showed up or I would have broken more than his nose this time. When I walked into the greenhouse and saw the three of you there, I just assumed she and Tyler came together.

“I doubt I will ever be able to trust him again, but I am trying to forgive him for Melora’s sake. He just doesn’t seem too remorseful. I ran into them this morning at the storehouse. She seemed so happy, and he just glared at me. I guess that’s why my mind drifted off to the greenhouse incident with Tyler.”

Caleb cast out his line. “I’ll always resent him for what he did to you, and for what he stole from you. Our wedding day was the happiest day of my life. It should have been for you too, but you suffered alone so as not to ruin the day for everyone else.”

“It was still the best day of my life. It’s not every day a girl gets to marry her soulmate.”

“I’m glad you feel that way, and now that Melora and Tyler are married, I have to believe we can finally stop worrying about him. Melora will surely keep him in line,” Caleb said as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Now, you better get to seriously fishing. If we return empty-handed, everyone will think you’re losing your touch.”

Ash chuckled and smiled at Caleb. No matter what life had thrown at them so far, they handled it, and they had come out of each crisis stronger. The more time they spent together, the more she loved him. She didn’t know how that could be possible, but it was.

The rare sound of a helicopter interrupted their fishing. The helicopter looked to be following the old, damaged highway toward their small, isolated, mountaintop community of Beartooth, Wyoming, located a mile away.

They quickly reeled in their lines. Ash gathered their gear while Caleb slung his quiver of arrows over his shoulder and grabbed his bow. They left the lake at a fast pace.

“We’ve never seen a helicopter this close or flying so low,” Ash said as she struggled to keep up with Caleb’s longer stride.

“I just hope they don’t land, and quickly move on,” Caleb replied.

As Ash and Caleb reached the field Caleb’s family farmed, which was furthest from the community, the helicopter gained altitude, made a wide, banking turn, and then headed west. They slowed their pace, hoping the helicopter’s departure meant the community was safe, at least for now.

They hurried past the Solomon farm and other cabins until they reached the storehouse. A couple dozen residents had gathered underneath its covered porch after hearing the helicopter, but wisely, stayed out of sight.

“Could you tell who it was?” Caleb asked Neal Yandell, one of the community’s original founders and the chair of the Community Leadership Board or CLB.

“We couldn’t see it, but we heard its approach. Thank goodness it turned around. I hope it was a research or road survey helicopter. I don’t know why anyone else would be up here,” Neal replied.

“Pryor’s militia was able to commandeer four National Guard transport trucks the last time the governor sent troops in to try and restore order in the resettlement city. Maybe they captured a helicopter too,” Caleb said.

The thought sent chills down Ash’s spine. Pryor, Wyoming was a city of about 80,000 residents established when the rising sea levels forced hundreds of millions on the east, west, and southern coasts to evacuate and move inland. Fifty such resettlement cities were built across the country. Some were much larger, and none had been overly successful, but Pryor was the most notorious. It had recently been taken over by a brutal group calling themselves the Freedom and Morality Alliance or FAMA. They killed anyone who didn’t agree with them or tried to leave, established a no-fly zone over the area, and repelled all attempts by the National Guard to restore order.

Pryor was Beartooth’s closest neighbor. Most of the roads and all of the bridges were damaged between them. Very rough and rugged terrain separated the two communities, preventing any wheeled conveyance from reaching Beartooth, so the thought that those in control of Pryor might have obtained a helicopter was frightening.

Neal turned to the group assembled on the porch of the storehouse. “Hopefully it’s gone and not coming back, but I think we should all go home and stay inside for a while just in case.”

Everyone except Caleb, Ash, and Neal left and wandered off in different directions toward their cabins. As the three continued to stare at the sky, Tyler and Melora jogged up and joined them.

“What do you think,” Neal asked Melora.

Melora and two other geologists moved to Beartooth last winter. Prior to becoming a geologist for the U.S. Geological Service, Melora had served four years in the military before earning a bachelor’s, and then a master’s degree in geology.

Everyone in Beartooth possessed special skills or provided some service. Since their small community only needed so many geologists, Melora had taken on the task of trying to assess vulnerabilities and look for ways to protect the community from outside threats—human or animal.

“I think it was a National Guard helicopter. We were over at the creek west of here, so we got a brief glimpse of it as it banked away from us. There was a red cross on the tail indicating it’s used for rescue and medical missions. I suppose they could have been searching for someone.”

“I pray you’re right. I like your theory much better than Caleb’s suggestion that Pryor commandeered it from the Guard.”

“Chilling thought, but we shouldn’t discount the possibility,” Melora replied.

“Let’s hope they were truly National Guard and are not planning to return,” Neal said as he left the two couples behind and strode off toward his cabin.

“I think we need to do more than hope,” Caleb mumbled.

“Me too, and just between the four of us, we have,” Melora replied as she looked over at Tyler.

Tyler was trained as a civil engineer but had expanded his base of expertise out of necessity since arriving in Beartooth. He’d become very good at making about anything the community needed out of whatever he could scrounge up. Along with building things, he kept the solar energy and water systems running and maintained and built equipment and machines.

“We brought stuff with us last winter that could be helpful. We have a drone we used to fly over geothermal features in the caldera. I don’t know if there is any way we can weaponize it. At a minimum, we can use it for reconnaissance. I also believe we could take a helicopter down by flying it into the rotors, but then we’d lose the drone. Graham, Fiona, and I also have two-way radios, which might come in handy for line-of-sight communication,” Melora said.

“I told Melora that I don’t think taking down a helicopter will set well with this community since it would likely kill its occupants. Almost everyone here is pretty opposed to violence.” Tyler added while glaring at Caleb, and then Ash.

“The community has been all for removing animal predators, but human threats are another thing. I don’t know how far everyone will be willing to go to protect our home and way of life,” Caleb replied.

“And how would we know who is in the helicopter and what their intent is until they land? Maybe they’re scientists, road survey crews, or search and rescue personnel from the states of Montana or Wyoming,” Ash added.

“That is the tricky part. We wouldn’t want to harm anyone with good intentions, but once we let the bird touch down, we would be very vulnerable and have few options for self-defense,” Melora stated.

“Maybe it’s worth bringing up at the next CLB meeting to at least get people thinking about how far they’d be willing to go to protect the community,” Caleb said.

“Probably a good idea. I’ve been going over the pros and cons. On one hand, if we took down a helicopter, it might just bring the wrath of its owners upon us whether or not they meant us harm. On the other hand, I hate sitting here with no way to protect ourselves. I realize I’m fairly new here, and I don’t understand all the community dynamics yet, so that’s why we’ve kept most of my ideas to ourselves.”

“This place was settled by people who want to live a simple, safe, non-violent life, but we also don’t want to give up what we’ve built, especially after hearing from the radio and you, Graham, and Fiona just how far the country has slid into anarchy. I know at least a few of us are willing to fight to keep what we’ve built,” Caleb said.

“For now, I guess we’ll see if the helicopter returns, and Tyler and I will keep looking for ways to use the drone the most effectively,” Melora replied as she and Tyler walked away.

Caleb and Ash headed for the apiary. Ash was relieved to hear activity again in the hives, verifying that many of the bees had survived another winter made colder by the government’s second round of stratospheric aerosol injections, or simply SAI, intended to cool the planet.

Ash moved to Beartooth with her widowed mother, Sara, when she was just three. She spent her childhood helping her mom tend bees. On the day the government commenced the first SAI her mom passed away, leaving Ash responsible for the future survival of the bees. She wasn’t sure if she could have endured the loss if it weren’t for her recent marriage to Caleb, whom she had known almost her entire life. He had been her best friend growing up, now he was her husband and partner in life.

She and her mom started out with six hives. Ash was able to successfully transfer a queen and establish a seventh last summer. She hadn’t harvested any honey from the new hive so the bees would have access to all of their resources to establish a new colony and prepare for winter. Ash was anxious to open it up and see how well it had done.

If losses were minimal over the winter, she’d try to grow her apiary by starting another new hive and by adding an additional honey super to the original hives. Garrett Winters, the community carpenter, was currently building components for a new hive so they’d be ready as soon as she could get a good feel for overwinter losses, and the bees started producing honey again.

Ash and Caleb walked from hive to hive and spotted a large number of bees venturing out. Wildflowers and other native plants were starting to bloom, and the bees were diligently searching for pollen sources. The Solomon farm’s crops and residential gardens were planted and would start to provide pollen in a few more weeks. The fruit trees and grapes in the Ferguson’s orchard were already covered with blossoms.

“Despite pollen sources becoming available, I think we’ll be about two weeks behind last year as far as the first honey harvest,” Ash said as she watched the activity coming from the hives.

“If the new hive was successful and enough bees survived the winter, surely that will make up the shortfall from having a shorter season this year,” Caleb stated.

“Before the stratospheric aerosol injections, I could harvest nearly year-round, usually getting three solid harvests per hive per year. In preparation for the first SAI, I stopped gathering honey over the winter, and I couldn’t start back up until mid-June. I was surprised I still got three harvests, though the third was smaller than usual. This year, the first harvest will probably not be until the end of June, so a third is less likely than last year.”

Caleb pulled her into his arms. “I’ll help any way I can, and I’m sure if there is a way to keep the honey harvest at previous years’ levels, you’ll find it. But I don’t want you worrying about it. You can only do what you can do. It sounds like everyone managed their honey consumption better this past winter, and they may have to ration even more in the years to come.”

Ash knew Caleb was right. She needed to quit worrying so much about everyone else’s needs and focus more on her own for a change.

“I know. I just don’t want to let the community down.”

“Everyone knows that you give your all to everything you do. And if anyone indicates otherwise, I’ll punch them in the face.”

Ash laughed. “I would rather you not give anyone else a fat lip, black eye, or broken nose on my account, but it is good to know you always have my back.”

“I have your back, and I give thanks every day that I have all the rest of you as well. I love you, Ash,” Caleb said as he pulled her to him and kissed her.

“I love you too.” She deepened the kiss, relishing the feeling of being in his strong embrace.

Caleb finally let her go and took her hand. She loved it when he held her hand when they walked. It made her feel safe and part of a team that could tackle anything.

 

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