The Cleansing

The hatred is spreading.

As a homeless teen living in New York City, Kata Washington isn't sure what she wants to do with her life, but she is sure it includes food, shelter, and safety.

Then the cleansing begins. The cleansing is the government initiative to remove the homeless and other outsiders from live-work communities. Kata tries to evade the military by hiding in the old van where she lives in a crumbling parking deck, but that doesn't last for long. She's thrown into the back of a dump truck, just like the trash they view her as, and forcibly discarded off the grid, a place she'd never thought she'd be.

Her only survival skills include dumpster diving and programming, neither of which can help her survive the outside. Not only that, but the only person she knows is in the business of human trafficking. She must learn how to survive, and quick.

The Cleansing, the fourth novella of Habitual Humanity, takes place in 2071, and will complete the split between the outsiders and citizens. The apocalypse is about to begin.