A violent pandemic divides what remains of the world into victims, villains and heroes. Sixteen-year-old Jackson Riley is about to find out that sometimes, under the worst of circumstances, a person can be all three. Quiet and shy, Jackson has few enemies but even fewer friends. Family means everything to him, but when faced with death at the hands of his virus-crazed parents, he is forced to make an unspeakable choice. In the aftermath, he struggles to crawl out from beneath the crushing weight of guilt and responsibility in a world devastated by a pathogen designed to kill every adult. Alone but for his younger sister, he is easy prey for an enigmatic cult of superhuman beings hell-bent on exploiting him for their own nefarious intentions. Betrayed and teetering on the brink of defeat, he jumps at a chance to rewrite history and save the world, despite the consequences.