At the age of nineteen, Roxy thinks she lives a somewhat normal life. After the death of her mother two years ago, she has had to pick up the slack around the house, helping her father and sister. Her easy-going personality is often viewed by her as a weakness. She yearns to be something of a leader or a go-getter, but it makes life easier for her when she goes with the flow. Her college dreams have not quite lived up to everything she expected.
While attending community college, she is working toward her goal of scoring a scholarship to a California University on the other side of the country. She is currently studying for The Aquarium Experience—an event for sixty invited students with seven Marine Biologists, each offering a scholarship. While home alone cramming, pandemonium erupts outside her home. Now she will be thrust into a new world—one where survival is the only way out. Without her family at her side, this relatively introverted girl will have to rise into a strong and resourceful woman. Fighting for her life and stopping at no end to find her family, she needs all the strength she can find within herself.
Father to two teenage daughters, Joe Harper is raising them the best way he knows how—on instinct. Since the loss of wife, two years ago, everyday life has been a struggle for him. He clings to his daughters with a newfound understanding of the fragility of life, often times making him seem over-protective. His eldest daughter, Roxy is nineteen and legally an adult in the eyes of the law, but that makes no difference to Joe. She is still his little girl. While taking his youngest daughter Kate to a carnival in mid-town, their evening of family fun takes an unexpected turn. Separated from Roxy, Joe and Kate will soon find that a plague is ravaging their town, as danger closes in on them.
Fourteenyear old Kate Harper has just finished her second week as in high school and is feeling on top of the world with plans to attend this year’s Harvest Festival with her father tonight. Her life thus far, has been one of ups and downs, but Kate does her best to keep moving forward and make the most fun out of life. She used to argue with her older sister quite often, but over the last couple years, she has come to look up to her sister as a form of mentor and friend. While at the Port Steward Harvest Festival, madness unfolds before her eyes. Kate will find that not only will panic and terror turn her world upside-down but her fears will be tested like never before.
After Dave’s tour in Iraq ended a few months ago, an old buddy set him up with a job at the Crazy Horse Saloon. Luckily, the job as a bouncer came with an upstairs apartment as part of his salary. With no family, Dave is just trying to get by, and decide what to do with the rest of his life.After an evening on the job turns deadly, Dave loses his place of employment and his apartment. While pandemonium seems to have gripped this small town that he calls home, Dave is in survival mode. Trying to stay alive is his number one priority, until he meets a young woman. Then, his priorities might just be in for some shuffling.
As the Chief Security Officer at Angora, Randy oversees the entire property. Running a tight operation is what Randy does best. He and his core team members also take care of necessary security risks that threaten Angora, well beyond its high walls. He loves his job and so do his men. While he may be hard on themoccasionally, they know his demand for perfection is a safety precaution. Randy has always completed the missions or tasks delegated to him by the chairman. But this latest mission, is proving rather difficult. The danger is not the worst of it. Randy would take on danger any day of the week. It’s something else—that is stealing his focus, and taking him back to dreadful time in his past. As he struggles with the ghosts of the past and his present workload, he gets a surprise that he never could have imagined. He meets someone that is uniquely different from the rest of the residents in this tiny town, different in a way that is just like him.
He is the founder and chairman of Angora Laboratories, a national corporation that specializes in genetic testing and disease research. James is a pillar of the community, offering free clinics from time to time and helping out local businesses. He is a member of the city council and has high hopes for a political career very soon.While it may seem to most that James is a just and righteous mainstay, he has his own plans for the future. With Angora’s stocks plummeting as of late, his plans may have to advance a little ahead of schedule, but like any good politician, he already has a contingency plan.
Mara is an exploratory genetic scientist at Angora Laboratories. Her lab is located in the basement,and she has two trusted lab technicians. Currently, they are working on an organic plant project, which is a low key, slow progressing assignment. James Meadows specifically requested that her team work on this project. She is enjoying the reprieve from dangerous diseases though, as her techs are virtually taking care of the entire project that should be wrapped up by the end of next week anyway. Then, back to real work. Mara’s world is about to be turned up-side-down, when she learns that there has been an outbreak of disease in her town. Mara soon finds herself at the epicenter of the endemic, as her career hangs in the balance and possibly even her life.
