The Day Las Vegas Dies

Inside a high-security BSL-4 laboratory, a young physician–biochemist works in silence, sealed inside a protective suit designed to keep death at bay. Sweat runs down his spine—not from heat, but from fear. When the work is finished, he stares at two glass containers resting in a reinforced case. They look harmless. Almost beautiful. He knows better.

My God, he thinks. What have I done?

Thousands of miles away, Zoey, Kris, Samantha, and Lindsay—four friends in their twenties—are celebrating a...