Bayland Rippenkroeger

A group of four amateur adventurers who specialize in exploring remote and forsaken places pay a visit to Shookum Hills, a town in the remote Appalachian Mountains which was abandoned decades ago due to a mysterious coal mine fire.

Shot and left for dead by the commune of murderers and thieves who raised him, an 18 year-old pure-bred killer must trek across the lawless desert waste to exact his revenge and rid the world of their evil.

Jefferson Pierce is a man wrestling with a secret. As the father of two daughters and principal of a charter high school that also serves as a safe haven for young people in a New Orleans neighborhood overrun by gang violence, he is a hero to his community.