A broken home. A ruthless gang. An eleven-year sentence.
Long before he became the hardened survivor of the apocalypse, Asher was just a boy running from his own mind. Left adrift by a grieving father, he finds a volatile new family on the streets with the Crazzos. What begins as loyalty and survival spirals into violence, and one night as an accomplice to a murder sends him straight into prison before his life can fully begin.
Auburn Prison doesn't care about a kid's regrets, it only demands respect. To survive a block crawling with predators, Asher is forced into a brutal evolution. Behind a fortress of muscle and fresh ink, he buries the scared boy he once was, thanks in part to Anthony, a ruthless inmate who teaches him exactly what it takes to become the hammer instead of the nail.
Discover the dark origins of the When the World Burns series in this intense prequel. Witness the secrets, the scars, and the moment Asher becomes something far more dangerous than the boy he started as.