Life should be hard in any dystopia. So imagine yourself inside the body of the 10-year-old Regina Faulkner. The year is 2139. Decades after an untold apocalypse, the United States of America is no longer united. But Regina and her brother Tom still have the best. The rampant devastations and diseases barely affect Vernigan, where outsiders are more likely to be shot at the gates. This city is teeming with synthesized food, purified water and ramshackle homes. So a safe house and a fully belly. But everything changes after the Faulkners are accepted in the Seattle Literacy Program. Like any school, it is a dream for parents. Again like any school, it becomes a surrealistic nightmare instead. Their transport convoy is bared to the teeth and flames, triggering a deafening leadership crisis in Vernigan. Hungry and traumatized, the Faulkners have many reasons to be afraid. No evil bikers in ragged leather patrol these wastes. There are neither green mutants nor decomposing zombies as well. Their fear is realistic, for they need the help from the very communities who Vernigan has shunned for a very long time. Against the background of slavery, harlotry and banditry, Regina falls into the hands of a very powerful mogul, the Shorrosh. Despite experiencing unspeakable savageries including a mass rape, she has a strong reason to cling to life. At the head of the cavalry is her father, a trucker turned mayor. He forms an unlikely alliance with another crime family. This newfound coalition however does not in any way sit well with the President as any cooperation with criminals is treasonous. A political infighting unexpectedly festers into an open rebellion, shattering the shaky stability that binds the republic.