I know this is labeled book one, but you really need to read the .5 novella first. 
 It gives you the very beginning of the bacteria outbreak. What caused it, what they tried to do to cure it and even some of the characters that will play a big part in this series. I think some readers would be confused in the beginning if they jump into this book first. 
 I found a great description of what The Scorpius bacteria is and what it does to people. This was in a training session our main character Jax quoted to the group who he was sending out to scavenge for supplies. I think it will help people to understand what this book series is about. 
 "You have to understand that the bacteria does not always kill human beings; sometimes the patient survives, but the Scorpius bacteria still remains within the body, stripping a small part of the brain. The contagion alters brain activity in everybody who is infected, but only turns half of the folks into killers. We don't know why. It might have something to do with oxytocin, which is a chemical we think relates to empathy. Some folks lose it all, and some only part or none." 
 To battle this bacteria, Lynne Harmony and Nora, who you meet in the novella, have discovered the need for Vitamin B. The Vitamin B is helping people to survive the bacteria and keeping them from turning into Rippers. 
 Rippers are the survivors who have been stripped of empathy mentioned in the quote above. There are two types of Rippers. The ones that are mindless and the ones who are extremely intelligent and can function as a human. 
 The problem is the bacteria has spread much faster than what they can do to research and the world has basically shut down to the point that it resembles the end of times. Not only are the survivors scavenging to find any necessities they can since there is no longer any in production, they are also having to fight off Rippers and any other formed group wanting these things for themselves. 
 This book focuses on Lynne and Jax. Lynne is the scientist who has been working on a cure from the beginning. Jax is military who has rounded up survivors and has created a safe place in L.A. Lynne comes to Jax for help to find a lab that has more research to help her with creating a solution to help their bodies naturally produce the Vitamin B they all desperately need. 
 In the middle of all this chaos, we get the to watch Lynne and Jax fall in love and the things they will do to keep everyone around them alive. 
 I'm seriously loving this series. The creativity the author has put into this storyline has blown me away. There is so much going on with all these people just trying to survive. You really get a sense of what the world would become if something like this were to truly happen. 
 I love how unpredictable the bacteria infection is. You don't know what the character will become if they survive the infection. There are hints that some of these survivors are being enhanced by the bacteria and I'm looking forward to where the author will take it.