Henry Kyllo is a member of a secret society called the Inferne Cutis. A Runner whose goal is to achieve full-body lead content. He is chased through the city every day by Hunters whose goal is to shoot the Runners - with the threat to both sides that if they do not participate, through a mysterious force no one understands, one of their loved ones will simply vanish from the face of the earth. Rumours abound about what happens when a Runner achieves "ascension", but it has supposedly never happened before, so no one knows for sure. Except that it has happened before. And it is happening again. This time, to Henry Kyllo.

"I'm harping on the family and loved ones and living rooms and personal space and the home here because a good many of the stories by Brett, Seth and Gary in this book touch on those themes. 'Touch on' might be too weak a term, come to think of it. 'Reach into' is better. 'Probe the way a surgeon does for a lump' is better still. A lot of these stories hurt. They hurt real bad. This is not a bad thing. Hurt can affirm life, and remind us we're not alone."--Michael Marano, from his introduction