"Every word is a sin. Every sin leaves a scar. In a world where every spoken word brands itself onto human skin, silence is the only way to survive." Humanity was nearly wiped out. All that remains is the desert-and the scars left behind by words that can never be erased. The ruling elite govern in silence. Those who defy them bear the consequences on their skin. Olive has been raised to embrace silence. Kyle's body, meanwhile, is a battlefield of thousands of branded words. Hidden among them lies a secret powerful enough to cost him his life. When they are abducted and cast into the wasteland, they are forced to rely on one another, despite every reason to remain enemies. But amid relentless sandstorms, stitched-shut mouths, and forbidden glances, a dangerous question begins to emerge: What if words were never the thing that destroyed the world? What if silence did? And when the silence finally breaks, the world may burn for a second time.