STRAIN V

Dr. Elias Thorne can engineer bacteria and map ancient plagues. But he cannot stop his own wife's body from destroying itself.

Desperate, he turns to the one thing the military asked him to weaponize-a modified fungus designed to hijack human brains. When he injects Sarah with the experimental strain, she doesn't just survive. She thrives. The pain vanishes. Her failing organs regenerate overnight.

Elias has cured death.

But the cure comes with a chemical leash-a daily suppressant called the Key. Without it, Sarah doesn't just lose her mind. She becomes something that doesn't feel pain, doesn't tire, and doesn't stop. Something that crushes steel with her bare hands.

Now the Key is failing. The parasite is adapting. And the military wants their weapon back.

When their seven-year-old son is taken to a black-site bunker, Elias makes a discovery that changes everything. The fungus has evolved a dormant form-one that spreads silently through human contact, waiting for a trigger that only he can pull.

To save his family, Elias must become the one thing more dangerous than the monsters in their blood.

He must become the Architect.

STRAIN V is a terrifying biological thriller about love, sacrifice, and the price of playing God.