On the endless roads of America’s heartland, trucker Rook Dalton lives a life of silence and asphalt. But when a mysterious government container bursts open during a storm, he’s drenched in living silver — the Baptism of the Road. His veins glow like molten fuel, his heart roars like a diesel engine, and reality itself bends to his will.

Now hunted by the inhuman Freight Hunters — black rigs that drive themselves, piloted by the Road’s shadow — Rook discovers he’s part of something larger than the highways he’s driven all his life. There are others like him, the Baptized, outcasts gifted and cursed by the living power beneath the asphalt.

To survive, Rook must keep driving, mastering powers that twist physics and metal itself. Every mile takes him deeper into a hidden war stretching across America’s forgotten highways — a war between man, machine, and the living Road that demands loyalty or blood.

But the more he taps the Road’s power, the more it consumes him. And if he can’t learn why the Road chose him, he’ll become just another engine in its endless, hungry machine.

The highway never ends.
The Freight Hunters never stop.
And Rook Dalton must keep driving… or die

That night, Rook trained. Mara taught him to focus not on force, but on flow. "You're not breaking laws of physics. You're bending them. Ride the current instead of fighting it."


She made him move trailers without touching them, redirect collisions, balance loads on the edge of tipping. His veins glowed brighter each time, and when he faltered, Mara snapped at him.


Rook clenched his fists. "I didn't ask for this."


"None of us did," Mara said coldly. "Now shut up and drive."


Chapter 14 - Chapter 14 – Lessons of the Blacktop