Book excerpt: In a shattered alternate future, brutal gangs struggle for supremacy in a New York City ravaged by nuclear war and catastrophic flooding. Zero is a bounty hunter who stalks the dregs of a ruined society, saving some innocents in the process. When a mission from a mysterious overseas organization is offered to him, Zero sees it as a ticket out of New York to the mythical promised land of Africa--but he's going to have to face some gruesome ghosts from his past first.