I spent my entire life in Compound Eleven as a fighter. Surviving in an underground city filled with violence, oppression, and tyranny. We were told the world above was scorched, an immediate death sentence. I should have died never knowing the truth. Instead, when I fought Wren-a boy from the top floor, a Preme-I fell for him. And eventually learned that my reality was an insidious lie.

Escaping Compound Eleven nearly killed me and Wren. Now we're aboveground, where the world is anything but a toxic, burning wasteland. It's green and lush, filled with sunshine, fresh water...and hope. All of which tastes bitter when I see what it's cost me. Because something in Wren has changed. He's broken-along with whatever it was between us.

Now the tides of violence in Compound Eleven are rising, threatening to spill out and shatter this peaceful place with brutality, corruption, and death.

But do I stop them...or join them?