The only way sixteen-year-old Nate, a Genetically Engineered Metatissue, can get life-saving medication is to work for a shadowy terrorist organization, which would mean leaving the boy he loves. Nate is a Genetically Engineered Medi-tissue (GEM) created as a cure for the elite from the fatal lung rot ravaging the population. Smuggled out of the laboratory and into the Withers, a quarantined, lawless region, Nate survives by using his engineering skills to fix broken tech in exchange for food or a safe place to sleep. When he meets Reed and his misfit gang of scavengers, Nate finds the family he's always longed for, even if he can't risk telling them what he is. But GEMs have a genetic failsafe-- a flaw that causes their health to rapidly deteriorate as they age unless they are regularly dosed with medication controlled by Gathos City. When violence erupts across the Withers, Nate's illegal supply of medicine is cut off, and he is left with only two options: work for a shadowy terrorist organization that has the means to keep him alive, or stay-- and die-- with the boy he loves. -- adapted from back cover.