Pink-slipped and broke, journalist Craig "Stoney" Skerritt thinks a job offer from an energy giant is his salvation. Instead, at the site of Vulcaine's latest drilling rig in rural South Texas, he uncovers a community under strain, a corporate cover-up—and a deadly secret buried deep beneath the earth: dragons.
When legendary monsters rise to defend their disturbed territory, the neighboring town of Bonafides is thrown into chaos. Residents flee to a derelict mall for shelter as local, state, and federal forces rush in to contain the threat. But Bonafides is divided. Some want safety. Some want revenge. Others refuse to let their town become collateral damage in someone else's rescue plan.
Mallworld survivor Hannah and Craig are sent to sell the official story, but the truth they uncover is far uglier than the headlines: the monsters weren't the beginning of the problem—they were the response to it. As protests ignite and armed conflict erupts, Hannah and Craig must decide whether to back the powerful men trying to control the dragons or stand with the people who've been warning all along that human greed lit the fuse.
