Alicia finds Zero in New York City, but learns he is her infector, thus she cannot kill him. He befriends her and reveals he was originally Tim Fanning, who had a crush on Jonas Lear's girlfriend Liz during college. Later in life, when Jonas' science pulled him away from home in search of a cure for Liz's cancer, Liz and Tim had a brief tryst, though she turned down his request to stay with him. After Liz died, Tim eventually joined Jonas in his research to find a solution to humanity's challenge (resulting in Amy). The rest of his story is chronicled in the beginning of The Passage where Tim becomes the only one to survive infection, and thus becomes the first viral; Subject Zero. He reveals how almost drowning was what reverted him to human form, but retains everything else bestowed on him by the virus.
