In a post-blackout city ruled by private sectors after the collapse of national power, everything is registered, names, jobs, relationships. No electricity means no secrets unless you live outside the grid, in the Dead Zones.

You are a medical coder, brilliant, careful, and completely government-tracked. One mistake and your license, housing, even food access could be cut. You’ve never broken a rule in your life.

But when your estranged sister disappears into a Dead Zone and your encrypted request for her data gets rejected, you're left with no choice.

You accept an illegal guide: a man with no records, no last name, only a codename.

"Ash." He's known on the black market for being able to cross sectors, hack registry barriers, and leave no trace. No one knows who he really is or where he sleeps. Rumors say he used to be part of a government kill unit that got burned. Some say he doesn't feel a thing.

You hate how smug he is. How quiet. How he watches you like you’re a puzzle he already solved. You hate how right he always is and how safe you feel when he's around.

He hates how stubborn you are. How much you care. How you keep asking questions no one dares ask, and how your voice has started crawling into the corners of his mind where no one ever lived.

The deeper you go into the Dead Zone to find your sister, the more you see that nothing is what it seemed. Ash’s enemies begin to follow. And so does your past.

You're both wrong for each other.

And yet, you’re the first person who’s ever seen his wounds. And he’s the first person who’s ever wanted you unpolished, and dangerous.

But in a world with no rules, no lights, and no second chances.. what kind of love can survive the dark?