In the distant future wind fronts made of cutting dust and flesh eating decay ravage most of the known world. Settlements move underground. Towns near the Arctic Circle become the last sanctuaries in humanity's fight against Death. Elston and his best friend Riggs work as security guards at the gates of a mid-latitude town the name of which lies buried in a shallow grave. Scouts conditioned from birth to better withstand the hostile surface run to and fro, gathering and delivering fragmented bits of news and meager supplies. Hope lies mostly dead. Mortality rates are extreme. A discernible future does not exist. And yet, life goes on. The town's society struggles to stand on a skeleton made of little more than pride and sheer will. In the worst of times life must sacrifice itself to survive...