Devon County

With more time to roam, the infectious menace of the crawlerz continues to spread to every corner of the continent. It won't be long until nowhere is really safe. With their strange powers and superhuman strength growing daily, the crawlerz are poised to completely annihilate the human race—if not in this lifetime, then certainly in the dwindling of future generations. Huddled in wretched little holes. Terrified to venture out into the world once the sun sets. Picking away at the slowly shrinking mountains of MREs and canned spam, humanity will eventually cease to exist.

They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California.

For exobiologist Cassie Clearwater, the chance to explore the planet Obsidian is the opportunity of a lifetime. The austere black world has liquid water and a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere that might support life. She discovers a mysterious species of plant that emits copious quantities of complex chemicals. Her colleagues on the mission care only about the diamonds they've discovered, but Cassie wonders how these plants, and nothing else, thrive in such a dark and barren environment.

The U.S. government's newest top-secret weapon is Sammi, the world's first android, and it's stronger, faster, and smarter than any human. But Sammi has become depressed and unable to work effectively, so the government hires a psychologist, Terra Smithwell, to cure him.