If you're reading this, i am not dead. i am so much worse than that. in the ruins of a state once called california lies the dystopian city of amaranth, where childbirth is impossible, disease is myth, and every resident relies on the lazarus serum to survive. when claire weston narrowly escapes an encounter with a mechanical man who is trying to kill her, she must travel to the future with darius, a hardened refugee with golden eyes, in hopes of surviving. darius is the leader of the octane angels, and he believes that claire will save amaranth. unlike claire, darius is willing to do whatever it takes to survive-even if it means killing hundreds for humanity's second chance. but despite his calloused exterior, darius falls in love with claire's creative ways of thinking and the hope she still holds for the future. together darius and claire fight their way to amaranth in order to save the world, battling giant glass spiders and mechanical men along the way.