Barely Alive: Curebound, Book Six

Everyone sees a monster. She has the test that could prove he’s still human—if they live long enough to use it.

Javi Soto is infected. That’s enough for most survivors.

Gray skin means dangerous. Dangerous means dead.

Mara Chen knows better.

Her father’s research suggests the people everyone is lumping together may actually be suffering from completely different conditions: active infection, severe vaccine reaction, exposure, recovery—or irreversible decline.

If Mara can finish the test, they might stop frightened survivors from killing people who could still be saved.

But the missing research is inside a Mojave laboratory connected to the company that helped fund Dominic’s work. And Javi has his own reasons for reaching it.

He once carried sealed samples through Dominic’s network. Now he needs to know whether his choices infected someone he loves.

Mara trusts data. Javi trusts evidence. Neither of them trusts each other.

But when every label can become a death sentence, proving what Javi is may force Mara to answer the harder question.

What does being human actually require?

Almost Human is Book 6 in Barely Alive: Curebound, a YA apocalyptic romance featuring infected hero, scientist’s daughter, mutual blame, lab survival, moral triage, enemies-to-allies tension, and a fight to prove that being sick is not the same as being lost.