Athena-1, a space station owned by gene manipulation company energyne, is destroyed after a laboratory rat mutates and wreaks havoc. dr. kerry atkins, the lone surviving crew member, is ordered by ceo claire wyden to retrieve research canisters containing a pathogen. atkins is able to flee in the escape pod when the station implodes, but due to damage from the rat it disintegrates upon re-entry, killing her. the falling pieces leave a trail of debris across the united states, including the everglades in florida, where a canister is consumed by an american crocodile, and a forest in wyoming, where a gray wolf is exposed to the pathogen. primatologist davis okoye, a former us army special forces soldier and member of an anti-poaching unit, works at the san diego wildlife sanctuary. he has befriended a rare albino western lowland gorilla named george, having saved him from poachers, and communicates with george using sign language and hand gestures. at night, one of the canisters crash-lands in george's habitat, and george is exposed to the pathogen..