A bioterrorist releases a mutating virus inside a building during a biotech conference. Within minutes, the infected begin to change. Authorities seal the building before anyone can leave.

The people trapped inside did not choose each other for this. Among them is a biotechnology professor who understands exactly what they are dealing with. That is not the comfort it sounds like. Knowing what something is and knowing what to do about it are two different things, especially when what she is looking at keeps evolving. Every time they think they have read its pattern, the pattern shifts.

The usual dynamics play out. People surprise each other. Trust is extended and occasionally handed to the wrong person. Resources become a conversation nobody wants to have.