Infected

Gr 7 Up—Seventeen-year-old Carina knows too well the pain of loss. A year ago, her mother committed suicide, and since then the teen has lived with her Uncle Walter. The book opens with Walter's memorial service after a fatal car crash. Sheila, another scientist from the Calaveras National Laboratory, where Walter and her mother worked, has taken her in. Carina discovers a secret letter from her uncle that reveals Sheila's sinister motives. She also learns of a hidden apartment containing his research. The teen and her boyfriend decide to pursue the clues Walter has left them to find out about the mysterious Project Venice. The two run away only to be hotly pursued by security guards. Project Venice, they learn, has nothing to do with its official description (nutrition) but instead deals with a synthetic virus that can improve the performance of U.S. soldiers on the battlefield. This highly classified virus can temporarily increase strength, mental processing, speed, and sensory perception. After 36 hours, however, if a soldier who has been exposed to the virus does not get the antidote, he will die violently. The duo realizes that they, too, have somehow become infected. Hunted down by different parties, they try every means of escape, including jumping off buildings, scaling fences, shooting darts, and hiding in sewer pipes. Time is not on their side as the 36th hour is fast approaching. Littlefield has written a heart-stopping adventure about a future in which science has become humanity's enemy.