A Little Wilder

Beyond the Captain's Wall, the Beast booms and howls. Wilders scream, hungry for human flesh. Everything outside the broken town of Pit has gone to ruination after the Hellquakes, and there's nothing Finnley Mills, a girl hiding behind a buzz cut and a janitor's khaki, can do about that. It's inevitable: the Beast will eventually overcome Pit, too. Everyone left will turn Wilder. There'll be nothing left in the world but evil, no matter what the Captain promises. So why does she risk her life for other unwanted girls? Why save them from the soldiers? Why can't she just keep her mouth shut, her head down and Obey the Law as Birdie, the tough old woman who's almost but not quite her mother, tells her to? Because she can't. Because as long as the Captain's Wall is standing, she's not Wilder. Not yet. Not until the soldiers find her. Not until they bury her alive outside the Wall. Not until Cole-a dark-skinned mongrel who scares her, sure, but not nearly enough-saves her from death just to drag her into Hell. Because in the Wild, nothing makes sense. Who are the monsters? Who can Finn trust? Nobody knows the whole truth. No one is the person you believe them to be. And sometimes you need to be a little Wilder to save anyone at all.