Near future. The asteroid Apophis proved worthy of its name. On its latest pass, it came extremely close to Earth, was captured—and then shattered by the Moon’s gravity, sending fragments rushing toward the planet, evenly covering its surface.
And it would have been fine—the damage was minimal—but the asteroid carried a delayed-action bomb: extraterrestrial microorganisms, viruses. Once they found a favorable environment, they multiplied explosively. Epidemics swept across the planet, literally mowing down the population; moreover, the viruses interfered with the genome of animals and plants, causing mutations.
After numerous unsuccessful attempts to cleanse the planet of the alien threat, out of desperation they turned to radical methods—burning out the infection with nuclear weapons.
The world lay in ruins, the population was on the brink of extinction; decline and total chaos reigned. But this radical way to fight the alien threat didn’t just eliminate it—it actually spurred the mutation processes…