Fleeing across this nightmare-ish America is a group of regular people who happened to have found each other. They don’t know what caused the outbreak. There is no safe haven for them to find. They cannot rest. The best they can try to do is to make it to Alaska, where they are likely to find solitude in the freezing weather. Eventually the Crossed (the infected, called such because of a characteristic cross-shaped rash that appears on their faces) will die off, as they are wont to kill their own kind after going long periods of time without finding innocents. For the foreseeable future, there is no hope but to survive -- or die a quick death.

If you aren't reading this book, you should be!