ASUA is a gritty, post-apocalyptic, coming of age story of Kate, a fourteen year old girl who is forced to grow up too soon.
Several years after the Softwar Companies fought each other, Kate lives with her mother, father and younger twin sisters on a tunnel farm. A Raider force from the surface, attacks the farm, murders Kate's mother and father, and kidnaps the Twins. Kate escapes by hiding in a prepared burrow away from the house. After burying her parents, Kate follows her parents instructions, "Take care of your sisters." Kate sets out to save her sisters from the horror of captivity and slavery.
Above ground for the first time in her life Kate finds the Twins, but is betrayed and captured by the Raiders. She and here sisters are taken to a large Raider gathering to be sold. There is a camp explosion which allows Kate and her sisters to escape. They find refuge in the Green Zone, a futuristic city inhabited by synthetic clones who are seeking ovum "donors."