In a post-apocalyptic future, fifteen-year-old Deuce, a loyal Huntress, brings back meat while avoiding the Freaks outside her enclave, but when she is partnered with the mysterious outsider, Fade, she begins to see that the strict ways of the elders may be wrong--and dangerous.

When rebellion destroys the underground world in which Thimble and Stone have grown up, they take Stone's son and try to escape the chaos. Along the way, they must evade the Freaks, beings who feed on human flesh. Leaving behind the roles of Builder and Breeder, which they were assigned at birth, they wander the underground tunnels, looking for safety yet afraid to go "topside" where legend has it that the light and water will burn their skin from...

Deuce struggles for respect in a new topside town where she is treated like a child and avoided by Fade, a situation that compels her to volunteer for patrol duty and protect topside citizens from an unexpected upsurge in Freak activity.

Salvation is surrounded, monsters at the gates, and this time, they're not going away. When Deuce, Fade, Stalker and Tegan set out, the odds are against them.