When a broken teen addict is drafted to protect her brutal, adolescent-led society from monsters, she discovers they're being farmed as food to feed the beasts and will have to get her shit together, convince the others, and find a way out—before she transforms into one of the horrific beings herself. 

SYNOPSIS:

Traumatized from witnessing her brother’s brutal death up-close, MAE desperately needs to silence the screams in her head. Wyvern is just what the doctor ordered. She knows she’s addicted but couldn’t care less. In fact, Mae has no qualms about breaking all the rules whenever she feels like it. But in the brutal, child-led society of Southside the consequences for rule-breakers are harsh and Mae is whipped until she falls unconscious.

The next morning, her ex-bestie and lead breeder, SUZIN delivers the news... Mae’s been called to The Guard. No one sugar coats it. They all know it’s a death sentence.

The soldiers are cruel and nickname her “monkey” for sitting in a tree while her brother died. Mae doesn’t give a shit about protecting anyone, or herself for that matter. She makes fast enemies when her carelessness causes a fellow soldier to fry as she falls through the rim. Mae realizes she’s going it alone, until she meets the oldest soldier she’s ever seen… HANK. He takes her under his wing and starts to break through her impenetrable armor while pressing her to recall more about that traumatic night. How did she survive? The flood gates open and Mae can’t handle it.

Broken under the weight of haunting memories, Mae reveals her secret— she didn’t survive. The bane-beast stabbed her through the heart!

When word reaches the base that Suzin and her unborn baby are dying, fears of another family camp massacre set the Guard into action. Mae races to help save her brother’s child as a stampede barrels down on the camp. The Guard enters a full-on battle with the monsters while Mae cuts the baby from Suzin’s womb. The newborn lets out his first cry and the bane-beasts retreat—it’s eerie as fuck. Mae’s realizes what Hank told her is true, they are being farmed for food—but who would believe her?

In the aftermath, Mae discovers Hank has the exact same scar over his heart AND no one else can see him—has she hallucinated him this whole time? Ready to end it all, she runs away only to witness an actual “birth blessing” as wild game races into the Compass. However, when she spots people beyond the rim, shooing the game inside, she’s completely staggered. She has to tell the others… they’re not alone and it looks like it’s not only the monsters farming them.