Page 1 of One Merciful Moment

PART ONE

Chapter 1

Boone

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The mower sputtered and died. Boone let go of the handle, walked to the courthouse steps, and picked up the gas canister. The hum in his bones faded, replaced by Everstill's familiar, suffocating stillness.

He looked up at the sky and wiped his forehead with his forearm. Storms used to come and go. Now that he remembered each day and the passing of time, the endless calm gnawed at him.

Two of the men had slipped out of Everstill during the last storm when the veil opened. They were back now, but Boone still waited for the next rumble of thunder. He was tired of doing the same fucking thing day after day. The grass didn't even grow, and yet he found himself outside every morning, landscaping until there wasn't a stray leaf or weed left on the courthouse lawn.

He filled the mower and set down the empty gas can. The pumps at the station had stopped working when the electricity shut down across town. He could probably mow the front lawn one more time, but not the back.

Movement at the edge of his vision had him turning.

A woman walked up the street like she'd taken a wrong turn out of reality. His pulse kicked. She moved like her legs didn't belong to her, her head swiveling left and right. The closer she came, the more details sharpened.

Pale. Mid-twenties. Fucking gorgeous.

She had brown hair, the color of cinnamon, dancing around her shoulders as she walked. He gazed at her breasts, moving up and down. She was probably five feet seven or eight. Soft in all the right places.

He glanced around town. No one else was outside. Moe had everyone rationing food, Copper had half the town in the gardens, and the rest stayed indoors because, without electricity, they had no jobs to keep them busy.

He was the only idiot outside, mowing grass that didn't need cutting.

Jogging away from the courthouse, he stepped into the street. "Hey."

She kept walking.

"Stop for a second. How'd you get here?" he asked.

"I wrecked my truck." She stopped in the middle of the road and rubbed the side of her head. "I can't find it now."

"Truck?" He frowned.

Nobody walked into Everstill. The road didn't connect to anything. If he kept walking, he'd hit the invisible wall they called the veil. The veil only opened when it stormed. There was no way she'd come in on foot.

She nodded, pointing behind her. "It flipped or slid. I don't know what happened. I was in it. Then I wasn't in it. I can't remember." She shook her head. "I walked away. I walked up the road. But it's gone. It's just gone, and I can't find it."

Boone looked over his shoulder at the sky again. Still. Silent. Unchanged. No storm. No veil. No chaos from the others over another woman showing up.

He stepped closer and lowered his voice. "What's your name?"

"Ashley." She blinked, flashing brown eyes. "Ashley Travers."

His chest tightened. Everstill didn't let people in without a reason.

He rubbed the back of his neck. The empty street surprised him. Everstill was always quiet, but there should be others out doing their jobs. If anyone else saw her before he figured out what the fuck was happening, it would turn into a problem. Finn and Moe would demand answers. Copper would go silent and slip into the restaurant where he hid. Kallie and Jillian would take Ashley under their wings and keep her away from him.

"Come on." He motioned. "Let's go inside, and then we can figure out where your truck is."

She hesitated, shifting back like she wanted to bolt. Boone lifted his hands, palms out, trying to look less like a man who'd spent half his life doing things that made people run.

"Listen. I can help you get back to your truck." He waited a beat. "But you need to sit down first. You're probably in shock."

She blinked at him, still pointing behind her. "I walked away. I walked up the road. The truck should be right there." Her voice cracked. "Can you call me an Uber?"