Sixteen-year-old Max Russell doesn't like people. During the day he lives in the sewers and eats rats, and at night he walks along the roofs of Los Angeles skyscrapers, runs away from clumsy police officers and dreams of stealing a real fighting slingshot from a store. But one day, the world he was familiar with changed dramatically. The police don't care about him anymore, and neither does anyone else. People are now busy with more important things: they turn into bloodthirsty creatures and eat each other. Who did this? For what? These two questions torment millions of survivors around the world, but not Max. After all, he is “special.” He's a savant!