Five years into the apocalypse, humanity has lost all sense of compassion. Lara didn't die at the jaws of the zombies-yet she fell victim to the greed of those she once called comrades. When she opens her eyes again, she's six years in the past-before the world collapsed, before the people she loved perished because of her mistakes. This time, she swears: she will rise from the ashes, no longer the pawn, never the prey. She will do whatever it takes to protect herself... and the ones she truly cares about. But just when she starts reclaiming her life, a persistent senior-charming, irritating, and utterly shameless-shows up, begging to join her side, begging for protection, begging to be kept close. How will Lara handle him... without losing herself again?

It's been only a year since Utah became the last state to pass legislation granting age-of-majority sufferers of mental illness the Right to Die. When seventeen-year-old Koralee Benson wakes up in the hospital having survived a suicide attempt, her parents are desperate to get her help before her next birthday, when she will have the legal right to request a lethal dose of Repose7, a medication that has revolutionized the practice of assisted suicide. Dr. Crimm is the lead psychiatrist with Right to Life, an organization that promotes mental health treatment and support, and funds research into alternative treatments for mental illness and suicidal ideation. Right to Life was founded by the Wilkinson family, owners of tech giant Virtual Now, as a response to the loss of their own son to suicide. Their unconventional program combines the use of an experimental medication with a virtual reality technology that allows study participants to relive their traumatic experiences through the eyes of other people. Koralee is recruited to join five other teens from around the country, all grappling with their own demons, in an adventurous exploration of perspective, friendship, trust, and healing-possibly the only hope these suffering teens have at regaining the will to live. The country is engrossed in a recent news frenzy when seventeen-year-old Braden Ertz is found guilty of the murder of his fifteen-year-old girlfriend. He was discovered unconscious in her family pool with no recollection of the crime or his involvement in it. The country is already divided on his death sentence when Braden requests to stop his automatic appeals and be given the chance to take Repose7. When the judge overseeing his case hears about the experimental medication that could help regain his memories, he pulls R2L and Dr. Crimm into a battle of morals and ethics.