"It's all about blood, Ivy. It always has been."

I've known something was wrong. I've sensed but avoided the truth that I was slipping. You'd think if you recognized that you were dying that you'd hurry to stop it, to heal whatever is sick. It's innately human to struggle for life. But for some reason, though it makes no sense, it's also innately human to lean away from eternal life.

Six years ago, when millions of people disappeared from the face of the earth in a silent instant, all hell broke loose. People did what you'd expect: they panicked. We've been programmed with the will to survive-to care for our loved ones at any cost. Husbands became murderers. Children became thieves. The world turned upside-down and survival was all anyone could think about. That was before we knew about the disease.

INFEC