The world is broken. Sickness and fire rage across the land, and the last bastions of humanity struggle to survive. Bandits ravage the countryside, and most people are happy just to have walls around them. Society, such as it is, is a strict regime in which the only hope for a better life belongs to those who bite, scratch, and claw for it. Mouse is one of those people. Or, at least, she wants to be. Mouse is a born warrior, and she yearns to prove her worth to those chosen few who head out on patrol into the wilds. But when her rightful place is stolen from her, Mouse will have to find some other way to escape the drudgery. No matter what, or whom, it costs her.
