I left my hamster on the balcony overnight, freezing its mate to death and extinguishing the last of its pet-like docility. It began to mutate, learning at a speed beyond all reason, and carved its first warning into my palm with its claws. As pets across the world fell into madness one after another, I realized in horror that the creature I’d raised with my own hands was the source of this catastrophe. To survive in a crumbling world, I have to learn to coexist with this most familiar and most deadly “family member.” In the apocalypse, the affection I once showered on it has become poison, and there is only one new rule: tame the nightmare, or become its food.
