Assigned to the USCGC Surveyor, DC2 Elizabeth Townsend is at the end of her last patrol when the news breaks that civilization has been destroyed. A blood-borne virus has infected the human population with an absolute mortality rate. All of the major cities have fallen; the plague has no cure. After only a week of the Infection, the crew is told, the human race is an endangered species. Once ashore, Lizzy is transferred with several crewmates to a location somewhere in the desert. She is now a ward of the government in a secure, isolated settlement-a cage necessary for survival. But beneath...