In 2002, during the initial outbreak of the Rage Virus,a young boy, Jimmy Crystal, flees his house in the Scottish Highlands as his family is attacked by the Infected. He takes refuge in the local church with his father, a minister, but finds him praying in ecstasy because he interprets the virus as a harbinger of the end times. Jimmy’s father bequeaths him a cross necklace and helps him to safety before submitting to the Infected as they break in. In 2030, the Rage Virus has been successfully driven away from continental Europe, leaving the British Isles under indefinite quarantine with few survivors. A civilised community has subsisted…