Humanity wasn't always doomed. There was a time when people were actually pretty decent.
Two hundred years ago, every person on Earth was connected through the stream of AVA: a hyper-advanced artificial intelligence system designed to give the world a fresh start. AVA cleansed humanity and rebuilt it on the ideals of progress and peace. With their pasts bleached and their futures filtered out, humans advanced in a startling leap. They thrived in the new world that AVA created. Then, the virus struck. Now, after a centuries' long apocalypse, humanity has returned to its violent roots. The few ragged settlements that remain fight each other for what little the Nothing provides and will do whatever it takes to stay alive. Charlize Smith doesn't know it yet, but her hometown might be the last civilized place on Earth. Born a Defect and forced to undergo a slew of dangerous experiments, Charlie dreams of the day when she can finally set out on her own. But when a tragedy pushes her to the edge, she's arrested and thrown onto a truck bound for the Nothing - where she's probably going to die.
