Alex Hawking is your typical college student; unsure of his future, often more interested in hanging out than studying, and frequently at odds with his father, Marcus. When tragedy strikes, Alex is thrust into a situation that will require him to draw upon an inner strength he never knew he had.
Mere hours after they had one of their typical arguments, Alex watched his father pass away, the victim of a genetically engineered microbe hatched in the lab of a group known as The Combine. Marcus had discovered some of their secrets, and before he breathed his last, made Alex swear to expose them. Unfortunately, not only did Alex immediately become a target of The Combine, he contracted the microbe from Marcus via skin-to-skin contact.
Now, Alex is on the run, with no family to turn to, no resources to draw upon, and suspicious of even the authorities: according to Marcus, the Combine had infiltrated every level of society. If they are as powerful as Marcus said they are, how can an ordinary kid like Alex possibly hope to expose them?
He’s seen their highly advanced technology first hand. If their agents can fade into walls and use microbes the way typical criminals use bullets, what else might they be capable of?
For most of his life, Alex has gone out of his way to not live up to his potential. Now, his choice is stark: evolve or perish.