Since childhood Nila Carter has been made to spend every weekend at the family cabin. In her teenage years she believes it to be a prison; as an adult it becomes her sanctuary and means to survive. When a mysterious outbreak occurs in India, Nila's brother, Bobby, a virologist with the CDC, places the family on a precautionary alert to be ready to bug out. Unlike anything he's ever seen, the rabies-like virus is not just deadly; it causes extreme violent behavior in those infected.

One of the greatest threats to mankind's existence has become a reality. The Yellowstone Caldera erupts with a force of a thousand nuclear warheads, expelling seven hundred cubic miles of ash and rock all at once into the sky. And it's not finished . . .

It happens on a routine red-eye from Las Vegas to New York. Just as the plane breaks the early morning sky, in a blink of an eye, 144 passengers onboard flight 6520 die. There is no rhyme or reason. Experts scramble to find an explanation on how and why those on Flight 6520 met their demise so quickly and violently. It is hurriedly explained as a terror attack to the public, but General Buford Cane knows better. He has spent his entire career dedicated to the investigation and prevention of globe-threatening events.

After emerging from a coma, Faye Wills opens her eyes to complete darkness and the feeling of being trapped. Soon she discovers she is in no less than a nightmare world and awakens in the worst place imaginable. She is one of thousands of bodies in a makeshift mass grave that was once a football stadium. Left for dead. There are no signs of life and the only sound she hears is the buzzing of flies that follow the stench of death.

A mysterious virus emerges after a meteor lands near a remote village in Peru. Authorities brought in to investigate discover the horrific virus not only kills, but it reanimates its victims, turning them into the walking dead. In spite of the government believing they have contained the outbreak, samples of the contagion are brought to the United States via infected military and other victims. The virus breaks boundaries and the infection spreads initiating the ground invasion of the War against the Undead.