The year 2083 isn't pretty. A strange plague has turned 98% of the world's population into violent, zombie-like creatures known as the Infected. The remaining 2% of the population live in three sectors that are precariously protected by the Earth's Viral Defenses (EVD), the new global government. And if that isn't bad enough, strange, ominous lights have started to appear in the sky. In a world such as this – one where survival is often measured in hours or days rather than in months or years – friends and family are everything. That's why 17-year-old Conner Weston and his older brother Tyson will stop at nothing to find each other after having been separated four years earlier during the initial Outbreak. Individually, the brothers' paths become entwined with the Thirteen, an elite faction of mercenaries who have been contracted by the government to rescue survivors outside of the EVD's protected sectors. At last the brothers have a chance to be reunited, that is, if they can stay alive long enough.