Impact Hour: Impact Hour, #1

By Harley Vex

Nobody saw the asteroid coming until too late.

Tessa Karsten and her younger brother have spent the past three years homeless, on the run from a deadly past, and hunted by those who should be their family. Now, at the University of Alabama, Tessa can finally rebuild her shattered life.

The asteroid strikes far away, but those who died on impact were the lucky ones. Now she's trapped on campus as fire rains from the sky and countless die.

Teaming up with Alex, a university student with a tragic past, could be her best chance of survival and of reaching her brother. Together, they must lead their band of survivors to safety.

Time is running out for her brother at home, and the past creeps closer all the time. Soon, it will catch up. Her dark past, it turns out, is closer than she thinks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Holly Hook
• Release date: Sep 6, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223871088

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

TESSA

Tessa swallowed as she studied the new text on her phone and dropped the pencil onto the classroom desk. She had waited for the opportunity to take her GED exam for over a year since running for her life didn’t help her education, and it was due to start in fifteen minutes.

Tell me about the property at 128 Magnolia Avenue.

The clock ticked on the white-painted wall. A tight feeling wrapped around Tessa's chest, but she breathed through it. She'd gotten quite good at that over the past three years.

Who is this? Sweat slipped between her fingers as she texted. Tessa hadn’t yet put her aunt’s former home–her inheritance–on the market and told no one she couldn’t afford the taxes and planned to sell, so this message was odd. She had to find out the danger level of this text before the instructor came in, and she was required to put away her phone. Every message was a potential hazard when you were on the run.

Tessa waited for the response, watching the clock’s second hand move. And just as she took another breath, her phone buzzed.

I'm just someone who drove by. I love the property. :> Heard old Ms. Karsten died. Sad, and I figured it would be on the market soon.

Tessa's heart stopped.

:>.

She'd spied the texts Larry sent to her mother before he consumed their lives, and he always used that odd smiley, the one that looked like a grinning predator.

Tessa studied the room for her stepfather, half-expecting him in the doorway, but only a few other test takers sat in the classroom. Larry could be anywhere, lurking around any corner, even here in Huntsville. California and his crazy movement was never far enough away.

Her neck broke out in sweat, and Tessa gripped the sides of the desk as her phone went dark. How had he figured out where she was now? Larry knew she had an aunt, of course, but her mother was forbidden to discuss her, or Tessa’s bio dad. And even if her mother spilled her aunt’s location, Larry wasn’t allowed access to technology in Modern Truth. The movement forbade it to low-ranking members.

She gulped as the thoughts spun. Larry could have climbed the ranks enough to earn it, or simply found a way to leave. Tessa wasn’t sure which possibility frightened her more. Larry was dangerous whether or not he lived in reality.

He was back. Larry was back, and after three years, he’d caught up to her and Brett, his estranged son, just as she was about to pull her life back together.

Her prepper father's voice pushed into her head.

Remember how quickly things can get worse, and always be ready to act.

Tessa rose quickly, seizing her phone. Now wasn’t the time to let panic take over. Brett was home by now, out of his freshman classes, and though Tessa was only four years older than him, she had to remain in charge. She would march in and order him to pack. He’d protest, since they’d only stayed at her inherited house for three months, but that was better than going back to Larry.

Anger flooded her chest as she stared at the clock and the door. Staying to take her test was too risky, because she didn’t know where Larry was.

She and Brett had come this far from nothing; it couldn't unravel like this.

But first, Larry circled. Then, he stole trust.

And then he would strike.

This time, she couldn't hold back the dancing nerves in her stomach.

Excuse me. Tessa paced past two other young women who had just seated themselves at desks. The test taker with all the tiny braids looked at her, and Tessa wondered if she also had a broken past.

Tessa exited the room, stepping into the glassy hallway of the Tech Center. The University of Alabama's Huntsville campus was huge, with many buildings for an intruder to hide in. She couldn't help but check up and down the hallway. She stopped at a window and looked across the greenway and the parking ramp across the plaza. Situational awareness was a must. Of course, the darkness hid the vehicles within.

Larry would wait; she might see him when it was too late. Three years might have been enough time for him to work his way up Modern Truth's ranks and be allowed out to collect his son.

Doors opened farther down the hall, but only the chatter of college students emerged. Tessa breathed a sigh, as that wasn’t her worry.

Coming through, a college guy said from her side. Footfalls came down the hall, pouring out of two different classrooms.

Tessa nodded at a young man in a polo shirt, and she moved to the side, covering her ink-stained jeans with her dollar store purse. Several other students, a diverse bunch of NASA-bound college kids, brushed past without a glance, filing into a small cafeteria.

She had to get out of here.

Brett might not run from his father.

He should.

Tessa whirled and looked at the stairwell just beyond the break room. Her heart pounded as she wondered what to do.

Her mouth dried out, and her teeth hurt as she thought of calling a Lyft and leaving her failure behind. She stormed down the hall, focusing hard on the red exit sign that glowed above the exit stairwell.

Tessa should have ignored that call from her aunt’s lawyer four months ago. She should have not given her aunt her phone number before moving across the country with Larry.

Now they had to run.

Again.

Tessa passed the break room, full of students just out of class. A television replayed a college football game while laptops opened, and young men and women went over study materials and formed groups.

She wouldn't look back.

But just as she reached the stairwell, her phone screeched with an emergency alert.

CHAPTER TWO

ALEX

Alex Thornton had just settled in front of his laptop, his homework glowing onscreen, when the break room filled with the cacophony of alarms.

People around him shifted as the game continued its replay on the TV. A sense of dread punched him in the gut. That sound was used for tornado warnings, but the sky was clear, so it couldn’t be that.

What the hell? his friend, Reem, asked beside him as he checked his phone and mouthed a few choice words. As Alex watched, shock widened his eyes.

Dude. I don't know. Alex's heart tried to hammer out of his ribcage. He straightened out his polo shirt while waiting for the alert bubble to appear on his phone screen.

CIVIL DEFENSE WARNING.

All at once, computerized voices rang through the break room, emitted by two dozen phones.

Take cover now.

Impact predicted over—

Extreme threat to life and property.

Mutters and shouts rang through the break room, and most other students shut their laptops. People rose, toppling plastic chairs.

What the hell? Reem repeated, holding his phone close to his eyes despite wearing glasses.

Alex shot out of his chair. He faced the TV. The urge to freeze swept over him as the replay continued. Why wasn’t this station switching to an emergency broadcast? They needed one right now. Alex couldn't freeze again the way he did in front of the burning car–

Alex would not return to that nightmare now and stand there as the horror unfolded. But voices filled the room and invaded his head, threatening to tip him back into the pit full of demons.

What's happening?

Read it, idiot!

"What is this? That Armageddon movie?"

The pit opened below him, and Alex shook his head. Move!

The computerized voices stopped as the alerts ended, and Alex scrambled to the television. Reem said something, but his words fell into the background and blended with the others.

Alex didn’t have to switch the channel. An emergency broadcast cut over the game replay at last. Everyone in the room quieted, and a map of the Southern U.S. took up the screen to the tune of a fast-speaking, nervous newscaster.

A dotted line plotted the path of an object through the atmosphere, with a black dot marking the thing itself. Was a satellite falling out of orbit? Relief coursed through Alex as he blinked, but then common sense struck because a falling satellite wouldn't trigger a Civil Defense Warning—

NASA estimates a diameter of up to one kilometer and an eighteen-degree impact. This object will probably impact near the Alabama-Mississippi state line and is one of several believed to be from the breakup of a larger object that made a close approach to the sun two years ago—

Reem uttered curses that would make his strict family cringe and the room filled with muttering.

Is this real? a young woman asked.

Maybe they just think it's a meteor? Her friend turned to her, and Alex spotted the denial all over her face.

He knew what that felt like and how a tragedy could make it all collapse in a moment. Alex's heart raced. He no longer had the self-defense mechanism that these others had, and he faced the break room and the twenty other students occupying it.

Alex raised his voice over the room. They're not faking it, and we're in serious trouble!

People stared at him, Reem included, and the newscast continued.

He had everyone's stares, and then the woman in denial shook her head, determined to stay there because it was an easier place to be. A couple of young men laughed with nerves, and Alex gulped. That wall wouldn't come down until something knocked it over with force.

...the force from the impact...

Listen. Alex struggled to speak as he pointed at the screen. He could barely wrap his thoughts around the happenings in his growing panic, and the floor felt ready to go out.

I have to go home! The first young woman whirled and faced the door, where another girl stood and blocked the way.

But the woman in the doorway–the one with the ink-stained jeans–shook her head. You can't. It's not a good idea to go outside right now. She sounded almost angry.

Two guys joked near the back of the room. I bet it's nothing. You watch. Or it's all just a prank.

Alex went back and slugged Reem on the arm as he finally found the word to describe the horror. It's an asteroid. He needed to raise his voice again because people stood in groups, frozen. Why couldn't he raise his voice?

A what? Reem asked.

The world turned strange and fuzzy, like it wasn't real, and everyone sounded as if they were underwater. Alex faced the rest of the break room, where they just meant to spend time between classes. Lips moved on a dozen faces while people stood in shock, staring at the television and the object advancing over the Atlantic Ocean and the Georgia state line. His mind went back to his studies. Dr. Kulloff's lectures. The report he wrote about near-Earth objects earlier that month. The Sentry monitoring system—

Don't freeze.

Shaking his head, he forced himself back into reality. Numbers ticked on the corner of the screen. Altitude. Forty kilometers. Thirty-nine point eight. Thirty-nine point two.

One kilometer in width.

How had the scientists missed this object until now?

But if it was coming from the same direction as the sun, using its glare as a shield—

An object of that size was big enough to—

Alex turned, shoved Reem away from the door, and took a breath. He wouldn't let more people die because of him, and the demons could have their meal some other time. Asteroid. It's going to hit somewhere close. Take cover!

No one paid him attention. The panicked woman continued to whirl, unsure where to go, and the jokers in the back laughed, their cackles full of nerves.

Everyone! Alex continued.

Reem nudged him. Dude, they're not listening. We have to save ourselves.

He took a breath.

No. Alex couldn't do that again. He searched the room for someone who would help him.

The young woman with dark hair still lingered in the doorway. She looked about his age—nineteen—and wore ink-stained jeans and a cheap purse. A phone glowed in her grasp. Alex had passed her in the hallway, and he'd seen her standing by the window before.

They made eye contact.

Her dark eyes were sharp and wary, and Alex understood that she also got it.

She bit her lip and nodded as the confused shouts continued.

He needed her. We need to get these people to duck!

Duck! Reem repeated his command into the room, but only one other guy obeyed, getting under a table as if he were sleepwalking.

Then the dark-haired woman cupped her hands over her mouth, and her projecting voice boomed across the cafeteria. Everyone!

People jumped and whirled, taking their attention off the TV. The newscasters should tell people to take cover, Alex thought. But taking cover would do little good if they were too close to the impact site.

Get away from all the windows. Don't look outside, the woman shouted. Her voice rang loud enough for the entire hallway to hear. She shifted leg to leg as if she had somewhere else to be, someone out there that she needed. Bolting into the room, she continued to shout. Get down! And then she tried closing the break room door, but instead of closing all the way, it bounced off a chair set there to prop it open.

We're going to die, Reem said, backing off towards the vending machine.

Alex swallowed.

He feared Reem was right, and as he turned to kick the chair out of the way, the power went out.

CHAPTER THREE

TESSA

All thoughts of Larry vanished as reality once again shattered. The hallway lights went dead, and Tessa stopped a few feet into the big break room, gripped by sudden panic as a fresh wave of screams rose from the small crowd inside. The dread was a familiar monster made of pure, black ice that pulsated through every fiber, freezing her as human bodies scrambled. The young man in the polo shirt dragged his friend behind the table.

This nightmare was her reality now.

Something was happening.

No. An asteroid.

The word sounded foreign in her mind, but so did many others. And that didn't matter, anyway. The universe did what it wanted, regardless of feelings.

But one thing The impact would happen in a minute. Maybe two.

Her father always said that asteroids would—

And so did Brett.

What's going on? The woman with the tiny, bunched braids rushed into the room, followed by another woman in a baggy sweater. Tessa's fellow test takers had gotten the warning and found people.

Get down! Tessa shouted, hating the guys who still laughed in the corner because denial would get them all killed. No fear. Just act. Just go. Everyone!

Braids still held her phone as she stopped beside Tessa. The polo-shirt guy and his friend had taken cover under the closest table several feet from a vending machine, and others had done the same, covering their heads. But too many people remained standing.

The break room had one big west-facing window opposite the door—

Tessa seized the woman's arm, which was why she hadn't ducked yet. We need to take cover. Away from the windows. N—

A brilliant flash of light exploded outside, illuminating the classroom in moving light and shadows, and the woman shielded her eyes and seethed.

Tessa whirled and squinted.

She kicked the break room door shut out of reflex, and now it shoved the chair out of the way.

But that did nothing to keep out the blinding light from the opposite window, which stabbed through her closed eyelids. A massive fireball, brighter and ten times that of the sun, burned on the horizon, looming over the parking ramp like a deformed, leering eye. Afterimages screamed into her brain. Tessa closed her eyes to shouts and curses, but the angry pinks and yellows remained.

She stumbled and bumped into a table, sending pain up her hip.

Duck! Her father's angry voice snapped through her head like a whip, and she hit the floor, pulling Braids under the table with her. The table shielded the light, but not much.

What's going on? Braids asked.

Brett had talked about this, and so had her father. But her stepbrother had an obsession with this particular disaster. The fireball could blind you. And then there would be—

Tessa cracked her eyes open. The outline of a round table appeared above against white-hot pain. Was the light screaming, or was that all the others?

Where was she?

Slowly, the light died enough to keep her eyes open.

Tessa squinted. She'd ducked under the table with Braids and two others. The guy in the polo shirt lay beside a young South Asian man with curly hair and a pointed nose. Both lay just a foot away, and Polo Shirt had his face in his hands. He muttered to himself, and despite the shouts and curses in the room, the words stuck out among all the others.

Thermal radiation. Seismic activity… He strung his words around mental calculations as if they were a life preserver.

Polo Shirt was like her brother, and Brett would do the same.

Tessa reached out and took his arm.

He looked up at her and blinked. The shouting and chaos seemed to stop for a second as the light faded.

The shock wave is coming, he muttered.

A loud boom shook Tessa's skull and the floor, hurting her ears.

Everything trembled.

Stay down! Tessa's throat burned from her shouting as she crawled forward, getting as much of her body as possible under the table. She met Braid's wide-eyed gaze.

Fresh screams rose all around the four of them. Tessa bunched up with Polo Shirt and his friend as Braids curled into a ball, covering her head with her arms. Laptops fell in the fading light, and people collapsed. The vending machine creaked as glass shattered in the hall.

Heat spewed into the room, so hot that Tessa feared her shirt catching fire. She was in an oven, a shaking, deadly oven, at the command of some demon.

Only the table blocked some of the heat from above. Tessa pulled her shirt over her face, but it did little to soothe the searing sensation.

It's hot! It's hot! a man shouted.

Something banged into her calf, and she pulled it under the round table as the shaking intensified. Tessa stared into the hazel eyes of Polo Shirt. He'd mentally checked out, and his blank gaze fell on the wall. Only his breathing told her that Polo Shirt was still alive.

Brett had done that before, too.

The iron scent of blood hit her nostrils.

Brett.

Her stepbrother would be home.

And the giants refused to release the world. Plaster rained from the ceiling, sliding off the table. People shrieked and screamed. The air reeked. Dust. Sweat. Burning leaves—

What the hell? What the hell? Polo Shirt's companion repeated.

He was about to make her lose it. Shut up! What else could she do? Nobody could hold in this terror.

At last, the shaking subsided, and the last of the searing light vanished.

Tessa blinked at the quieting of the world.

Ground yourself.

Panicking would keep no one alive.

She took a breath, relieved as the air cooled. Sweat soaked her body, and she could smell it and that of the three people under the table with her. Someone coughed. College girls cried, and a man babbled in another language. A laptop screen had shattered on the floor nearby. Another had fallen near the vending machine, and Tessa could see the homework reflecting from the still-intact glass.

Car alarms blared outside.

Shouts and screams of agony followed from outdoors.

A bomb, Braids said, opening one eye as she stared at Tessa. Something exploded. We have to get out of the building before it comes down and traps us!

Tessa tightened her grasp on her sleeve. During the chaos, she had never let go. It was from space. An asteroid, and they said it on the news. Are you hurt?

Maybe bruised. Someone's laptop fell on the back of my knee. Braids seethed. Took some plaster to the legs, too, but I'm sure I can walk.

Are we alive? Polo Shirt's companion asked.

Tessa took a breath as the guys lifted their faces from the floor. Polo Shirt sucked in a breath and seized the tile as if the hand of a giant would lift him away. The screams of pain and confusion continued from outside as those in the break room settled into shocked silence.

Brett.

If he had been outside—

Tessa swallowed, holding in her breakdown. What had her father said would happen next after an asteroid strike?