"While on a routine assignment scouting the country's dwindling natural resources, Patricia 'Patch' and her best friend, Rexx, discover a cache of dangerous contraband--printed books from before The Seclusion. These texts spark an unquenchable thirst for the truth that leads to the arrest of Patch's father by the totalitarian Board, which runs the entire coutnry. Evading their own arrest, Patch and Rexx set out across a ruined future United States....