As a mysterious disease ravages the world outside, disgraced microbiologist Edward Benevic bolts himself inside the last institution that will take him in, fixated on one thing alone: the dying man beside him, his mentor Novels. No longer possessing the facilities he had when he discovered the mysterious parasite, Edward struggles to keep the infected Novels alive long enough for the restricted vaccine to arrive, at the cost of estranging his wife and son. As everything falls to tatters around him, Edward delves ever deeper into the secrets of the IASP pathogen, whose terrifying symptoms appear to be more than physiological.