Amaeric and its allies have been at war with the world for thirty years. Thirty long, terrible years during which nearly entire generations of young men and women have been wiped out and the world has fallen into ruin. It all started with a surprise attack from the south, an inevitable explosion of rising tensions, and now...well, now it continues because the people don't know how to do anything else. War is a cultural cornerstone, a part of every rising generation's identity. But what none of them yet know is that this is the last year. These are the last twelve months of the thirty year war. The tide is turning fatally against Amaeric, its allies are dropping away - all this generation of foot soldiers has to do is survive until the end. Don't die. It's simple enough in theory, but for twenty-one year old Private Tristan Byrne, nothing could be harder. Despite spending the last four years drafted at the Amaeric War Academy, he's unprepared for the hell that awaits him, and he knows it. Unprepared for the brutality and desperation. Unprepared for his monster of a captain - a man driven mad by thirty years of combat and determined to get everyone under his command killed in the name of valor. The only anchor in this storm is Tristan's boyfriend Jack - a corporal on his fourth tour who braves the world with a grin and swagger. But war is cruel, and its masters even crueler. And as the months drag on under Captain Howell's command, the simple rule of don't die becomes harder and harder to follow until Tristan is forced to face the unthinkable. What if none of them come back alive? What if they do?Because Howell is not the only monster lurking in the dark, and war doesn't always end on the front lines.