In a world devoured by rot and ruin, Beth should be dead.The Rot-the plague that ended civilization-claimed cities, governments, and billions of lives. It turned the infected into mindless, flesh-hungry monsters known as the Rotted. Those bitten either died screaming... or lost themselves completely.Beth did neither.Partially infected yet fully conscious, Beth exists in a brutal liminal state-alive, undead, and hunted by both sides. Her body is changing: skin mottling green, nails sharpening into claws, senses sharpening beyond human limits. Each day she fights the hunger gnawing at her mind, terrified that one day she will wake up and Beth will be gone.She survives alone in the ruins of a dead city, scavenging food, avoiding scavenger gangs and the fully Rotted, clinging to memories of who she used to be. Compassion is a liability in this world-but Beth hasn't lost it yet.When she risks her life to save a starving woman named Marra, Beth's fragile isolation fractures. Protecting another human awakens something dangerous: hope. And hope gets you killed.Unbeknownst to Beth, she has already been marked.From the shadows of collapsed skyscrapers, Jacob watches her. A former scientist turned plague-hunter, Jacob has spent years studying the Rot-tracking mutations, cataloging failures, searching for anything that defies the inevitable collapse into madness.Beth is different.Her transformation is slower. Controlled. Evolving.She isn't just surviving the Rot-she's adapting to it.Jacob believes Beth may be the key to understanding the plague... or ending it. But approaching her means risking everything. Trust is lethal. Attachment is worse. And the Rot has a way of punishing those who cling too tightly to humanity.As Beth's body continues to change and Jacob's fascination deepens into something far more dangerous, their paths begin to converge-pulled together by survival, secrecy, and a growing tension neither can afford.Because Beth is not just plaguebound.She may be something new.And in a dying world, evolution always comes at a price.
