The change strikes without warning. All across the world men, women, and children cry out in agony. There is no pattern, nothing to explain why some are afflicted and others spared, but in the end a quarter of the population falls. A mere seven minutes later the corpses rise and begin to attack the living. The speed in which it happens, coupled with the survivors' disbelief and horror, is simply too great. Chaos takes hold. Civilization crumbles. Hidden away inside his home, Jacob Thornton prepares to flee. The streets belong to the shambling dead. Power vanishes. The airways are silent. To remain is to die. Sticking to back roads in an effort to pass unseen, he travels north. Others are encountered on the way, and together they gather supplies, seek a place of safety, and discover how to defend against the zombies, creatures which have begun to leave the population centers and spread across the land.