Impact (Book 5): Black

BLACK
Impact Series
Book 5
By
E.E. Isherwood
Mike Kraus
 
 
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Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
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Special Thanks
Special thanks to my awesome beta team, without whom this book wouldn’t be nearly as great.
Thank you!


IMPACT Book 6
Available Here
 


CHAPTER 1
Sidney, NE
Grace startled herself awake. The train had been rumbling along the tracks since their escape from Denver, and the diesel engine’s whine put her to sleep not long after the sun went down. Now, in the front seat of her park service Chevy Suburban, she saw sunlight. “We’re out of Denver?”
Asher sat next to her, tapping on his expensive watch-phone. “Yep. We’ve been out of Denver for a long time. We’re in Nebraska. Nothing but flat fields and high grass.” Unlike the boring stretches of eastern Wyoming, Nebraska wasn’t as flat. There was a slight imperfection to the land, as if the horizon were ten feet higher or lower than their current position.
Shawn’s deep voice spoke from the rear seat. “I live on the plains, and even I don’t recognize where we are.”
Grace looked to the seats behind her. Shawn Runs Hard sat next to his boy. Diedre, Asher’s sister, sat against the far door, directly behind Asher. Her shoulder had bled through one of the blue security shirts they’d borrowed. The seat was stained. Twisting, she also saw bloodstains on the seat under Shawn’s leg.
“You two doing all right? We need to find a doctor.”
“I’ll be fine,” the big Crow man announced proudly.
Diedre was less enthusiastic, but she flashed a thumbs-up sign.
When they’d escaped Petteri’s security forces the night before, they’d done it on a train piloted by a group of men who’d been repairing the engine. As a kindness, they’d placed Grace’s truck on a flatbed car with a crane, so she would have it at their destination. She and the others had spent the overnight hours in the truck, which sat alone, secured to the flatbed. It was the last car on the train. A single green boxcar was linked between it and the diesel engine.
They’d arrived somewhere; the final lurch of the stop was what must have awakened her.
“It looks like we’re at another repair yard,” she said. Six parallel rows of tracks led into several hangars, almost identical to the one where they’d started their journey. Hundreds of train cars, mostly coal hoppers, waited on the tracks.
Beyond the buildings and tracks, there was nothing but wild grasses and squares of farmland with grass-like crops, which made it seem like Grace and her friends were on a tiny metal island in the middle of a green sea.
“We could ask that guy.” Asher pointed to Robert, the older Hispanic man in the grease-covered jumpsuit who was responsible for their escape. He stood about a hundred yards away, talking to several of his peers in front of a covered shed with more trains inside.
“I’m on it,” Grace said, opening her door. She had to carefully step outside while avoiding the edge of the train car. Once the door was shut, she sat on the wooden frame, then lowered herself down. When she walked toward the front of the three-car train, she saw Asher doing the same thing on the other side.
He smiled at her through the gap behind the engine.
When they met in front of the big orange machine, they closed ranks. “Fancy meeting you here,” she said, glad he was with her.
“What can I say? I’m trying to be a good partner.” Unlike her, he’d grabbed his rifle; it was slung over his shoulder.
“Well, after yesterday—” Behind the building, miles away, motion in the air caught her attention. A helicopter traveled the sky, not far off the ground, reminding her of a crop duster fertilizing the fields. “—I’d say you’re a great partner.” Together, they’d traveled hundreds of miles across multiple devastated states and made it all the way to Petteri himself.
“Thanks,” he beamed, before continuing. “I managed to get a signal before we left Denver. I told my folks we weren’t coming to the house and they should get somewhere safe outside the city. Petteri’s goons can’t get to me through them. They promised they would leave as soon as we hung up…”
“You don’t sound so sure,” she replied.
He stopped and held her from walking ahead. “My parents are stubborn.”
She tried to lighten the mood. “Now I know where you get it.”
Asher smiled at her. “I think they got the message. They said the radio has nothing but news about how TKM was shooting people downtown. I think that put the fear of God in them.”
Grace pulled out her phone, but it showed zero signal. Not surprising given their remote location. “I wanted to text my dad last