Author’s Note

Every breath you take, you inhale thousands of viruses. With every dip in the sea, you swallow billions. Half of those will only infect amoebae. Most of the rest are harmless as well. Some, however, are dangerous, and a few are deadly. Every day, somewhere, a virus mutates or the habitat in which it has lain dormant is disturbed, slowly swelling the ranks of the potentially fatal. This story attempts to depict plausibly the emergence of The Next Big One. May God have mercy on us all.