Pearl Fields and the Oregon Meltdown

For most survivors sheltering in the wilderness along the upper Alsea River, Pearl's raspy voice announcing her arrival was music to their ears. Little wonder since she was the only outlier with enough nerve to trade goods out of a drift boat upriver and down through a dystopian landscape, patch up the wounded, bury the dead, and share the latest news about the Meltdown dragging on into its fourth year.But a few months ago, her luck went from bad to worse. Bounty hunters tracked her down. Jailers locked her away in a single cell with the well-worn gallows in her line of sight. A military court found her guilty of gunrunning during a declared disaster.Now Pearl faces her toughest challenge yet-confronting her own part in the chaos while talking her way out of being the next inmate hauled up those rickety stairs to take the long drop.