The American Midwest: September, 2015. At the end of the Rational world, she holds the only key to the future, written in madness and blood.

Grace believed she was going to be a computer programmer someday and perhaps create programs that educate children or save lives. She never thought she would be fleeing for her life from her roommate. She also never thought that her roommate would be a ragged, undead monstrosity that had clawed out her own eyes.

Sometimes, life takes odd turns.

The turn in Grace's life came the night of the Wormwood Star, when the dead awoke and twisted aberrations began to walk the land. As technology and sanity began to corrode, all of civilization collapsed.

Meanwhile Grace and her new comrades struggle to survive and understand what has happened. But Grace has an advantage, one she doesn't truly comprehend.

Grace owns a curious gathering of old papers - a work convoluted with equations, constellation alignments, and dire dates in history. The more she reads, the more the nature of the work shreds the remnants of her mind, until eventually Grace cannot tell what is true and what is false. She has horrific waking dreams and begins to doubt all she knows.

Which is unfortunate, as the papers imply that she may, in fact, be the only person on the planet who can change what has happened.

This story is a peek into the possible future of Rational Earth, a future feared by the Facility. It is here that the same doom that has befallen other worlds first begins to overshadow our own - in the year 2015.