Introduction, Chapter 1 Summary

The believed beginning of World War Z are given by the chairman of the local security council, Kwang Jingshu in an interview in Chongqing in the United Federation of China. Kwang, a physician, tells of his first encounter with the outbreak when he is called to a remote village called "New Dachang." There, he finds ill patients, who have bite marks from a human. The biter, "Patient Zero," is a twelve-year-old boy. He is imprisoned and with numerous wounds, although there is no blood. The boy is cold to the touch with no pulse or heartbeat. He is hostile, and when he struggles against being restrained, he rips his arm entirely from its socket. The boy had been fishing with his father in an area called Three Gorges Reservoir, where something bit him. Military support is sent, but cannot contain the...