Late Arrival

Wild and domestic animals in Western New York have started behaving oddly. Reports of assaults keep climbing, and a few people have disappeared without explanation. Something is making its way through the region, and the illness has a familiar root.

The new disease is an old one, rabies, in a version that has been altered. Rabies seldom alarms anyone in the developed world. Pets are vaccinated, schools teach people to recognize the risks, and treatment is easy to get after an encounter with an animal. The virus was slow and poorly adapted, and it posed little real threat. Faced with the prospect of becoming irrelevant, it changed its structure. The new strain spreads more easily and almost removes the incubation period. It is also far deadlier to the people it infects, though not to itself.

Those infected grow delusional and aggressive. Their single drive is to destroy and devour whatever stands in their way.

The story centers on a small group of ill-prepared, struggling people trying to make it through the chaos. None of them are soldiers, physicians, or federal agents, and none are heroes. They are barely managing their own lives, and they have little chance of rescuing anyone, least of all while their neighbors are trying to kill them.