Burrowing its way into the gut of animals—from small rodents to man—the virus attacked the cellular structure of its host, causing cancer, disruption of blood-cell function, deformation of the liver and other organs, leading eventually and inevitably to death. It was deployed via the water supply and thence by the contaminated hosts themselves, which passed it on to other animals and humans by means of direct contact, infected feces, and by the rotting corpses, each of which was a bacteriological factory in miniature. A single contaminated corpse, for instance, could wipe out a village or small town. It was the modern version of the Black Death, which swept Europe in the Middle Ages; only this time the plague was man-made, scientifically deployed, and a hundred times more virulent. No one had been forewarned. No one—not politicians, scientists, business leaders, nor even military personnel—could be trusted not to reveal the existence of the Primary Plan before its inception, and therefore everyone without exception in the Designated Areas was included.
