Independently Published The shatter zone, paperback/janna kestner

Only the loyal are allowed to live in the tightly controlled city of Severance.

Escaping isn't an option; the outside world is too dangerous to inhabit, long ago blasted into ruin.

Within the city the Endurance Test rules.

The great danger of the test is the shatter zone, a deadly apex of exhaustion where the legs are like jelly, the lungs feel shredded, and the heart is a beat away from rupturing.

Derek Gao is a dreg on the bottom rung of society.

The Endurance Test is his chance to break free from the drudgery and make a better life for himself.

Unfortunately, his unlikely success draws the scrutiny of testing officials and now Derek must fight for his life.

Candice Kempe is the heir to one of Severance's preeminent families.

She has lived a life of luxury.

For her, the Endurance Test is a way to stop the rumors that surround her birth.

She will do all she can to prove the rumors wrong.

Flung together, Derek and Candice learn that the shatter zone is not a simple - or natural - physical point of exhaustion but a sinister tool that sparked war decades ago.