Leon Tsarev is a high school student who longs for a scholarship to a good college. Until his uncle, a member of the Russian mafia, persuades him to develop a new computer virus for the syndicate's botnet—a slave army of infected machines used for their digital heists. The evolutionary virus that Leon creates based on biological principles is successful. Too successful. Computers around the world become infected. Everything—from cars to bank terminals and, of course, computers and smartphones—fails to function. With these technological advancements, the lifelines of civilization disappear: transportation, emergency services, and food supply. Billions of people could die. But evolution doesn’t simply end. The virus evolves.