They said the world was going to end on December 21, 2012. It didn't. But that was the day it started. On that day webarmor was invented: spider web fibers bonded together, sewn and worn like regular clothes, yet capable of stopping a bullet. In the aftermath of the Breaking, corporations rule and enforce that rule with their private security forces, the exclusive users of webarmor. People can work for the corporations by living in their Enclaves and by their rules - or fend for themselves in the Outerlands. Randal, inventor of webarmor, escaped the corporation's reach after the Breaking, but lives his life on the run. He is pursued by Hunters, elite assassins sponsored by the corporations to silence dissent and quash opposition. Driven together by chance and circumstance, Randal finds himself together with two Hunters as they try to survive as Prey in the Outerlands.