Literary Ecofiction / Post-Apocalyptic Fiction
During a catastrophic drought, Vicki Truax, a lonely Baltimorean, inherits land outside a remote Appalachian town. Amid the quirky townsfolk, she finds herself at home for the first time in her life. Her neighbor, Steen, a merciless businessman with a lucrative well, tries to seize her land, while desperate water thieves rove the mountain at night, seeking to tap its aquifer. While fiercely patrolling her land, Vicki meets and befriends Alaric, an eccentric local who supplies townsfolk and moonshiners alike from his own meager water source. One night, Vicki discovers a small trickle on her own land.
Thirsty refugees and profiteers keep pouring into town despite the townsfolks’ efforts to keep them at bay. Fearing a water war, Vicki keeps her newfound source a secret. But then Alaric’s source runs dry, and in the aftermath of a poorly planned raid, Steen’s well collapses, leaving Vicki’s tiny spring the only water source for far too many desperate, thirsty souls. Vicki must now make the ultimate decision: who gets to drink, and who gets to die.